Who We Are

StoryShop is a growing collective of nonprofit professionals and formerly incarcerated artists and advocates working together. Our aim is to assist system-impacted artists in all media gain the professional development and financial education necessary to achieve personal agency and entrepreneurial empowerment.

The StoryShop planning team currently includes:

Wendy Jason, Founder/ED, Justice Arts Coalition

Gabrielle Lyon, Executive Director, Illinois Humanities

Faylita Hicks, Writer and Artist, Right of Return USA/Center for Art & Advocacy

Blanche L. Norman, Senior Development Officer, The New Press

Ricki Gold, Deputy Director, Rehabilitation Through the Arts

Morgan Mandalay, Program Manager – Designing Creative Futures, California Lawyers for the Arts

Ava Dennis, Programs Coordinator, Justice Arts Coalition

What’s Next?

StoryShop will be an accessible free, online initiative for directly-impacted artists and writers offering fundraising, grant writing, and business management workshops that help creatives prepare for, and manage, their professional lives. These sessions will be conducted virtually so that we can gather a diverse group of facilitators, subject matter experts and participants. 1:1 mentoring will also be available to provide more in-depth support to participants who are actively applying to funding opportunities.

We plan to start offering workshops in the fall of 2023 and are reaching out in order to get a sense of the community we hope to work with and serve. 

If you’re interested in being part of these workshops, please fill out the form below. We will stay in touch with you once we have more information about dates and workshop content. 

StoryShop was made possible through a generous grant from the Art for Justice Fund, a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Inc.