Nonprofit Spotlight

Linkage Community forms a creative network with and for people directly impacted by incarceration. Together, they dismantle isolation, build bridges of opportunity, and connect through creativity.

Linkage Community is a member-driven network of artists across Michigan who share lived experience of incarceration. Members lead the work — showing and selling their art, teaching and taking workshops, mentoring one another, and earning income from their creative work. Lived experience of incarceration is part of who they are and part of what makes their art matter. These are artists whose creative work contributes to communities, shapes culture, and opens new conversations — because of what they know, not in spite of it.

That work shows up in the world: exhibitions, performances, showcases, and murals across the state — and members whose art you can commission, hire, or collect. And they’re building new ways for the public to take part — community workshops, events, and collaborations with partners who share their values.

Linkage became independent in August 2025, after more than two decades within the University of Michigan’s Prison Creative Arts Project. Today it’s 200+ members strong across 25 counties.