Each year the Ebon Dooley Arts & Social Justice Awards are shaped around recipients whose work creatively builds community and advances liberation. Honorees are recognized for their work with an award and community acknowledgment. Beyond that, the recipient has access to the ArtsXchange and opportunities for amplifying their work. 

Nominations are accepted for the following categories:

• Bridge Builder 

  • Nominees demonstrate an ability to help others collaborate, identify ways to contribute to a shared goal, and create a mechanism for them to work together to advance their shared goals, uplifting the work of each party. 

• Change Maker

  • Nominees demonstrate a history of work that has had an impact, resulting in tangible change(s) for their community.

• Economic Justice Champion

  • Nominees demonstrate a record of service to individuals, or a defined community, to achieve financial equality and stability by increasing access to resources for historically disenfranchised or marginalized groups and communities.

• Social Justice Champion

  • Nominees demonstrate a history of working individually and/or with others to achieve improvements in areas like living wage campaigns and job training; affordable and safe housing; Medicare for All; support for public education; and justice before the courts and police. 

• Emerging Leader

  • Nominees demonstrate a commitment to a body of work that supports the ways art can tell a story or illuminate the social condition. 

• Jack Sinclair Visual Artist

  • Nominees should be visual artists who empower artist-led exhibitions, spaces, organizations, projects and/or public art/site works, for, and with, communities, and support the production of independent and adventurous contemporary art – avant-garde, traditional or self-taught. This category is in honor of AXC gallery founder Jack Whitney Sinclair.