Students, staff and art curators gathered to listen to selected featured artists expand on their experiences as formerly incarcerated or system-impacted students to be surprised with a mariachi band during the closing ceremony of the “Hope Restored: Justice Scholars” art exhibition on March 22.
A moderated speaker panel by art curators Summer Bernal and Alberto Lule, featured artists, Francisco Baldonado, Brian Burten, Mia Julianna, Adrian Nowak, Joshua Reyes and Miguel Zavala, shared their perspective on how to be comfortable as a professional artist, and how the criminal justice system affects both artistry and education.
According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 92,493 people were incarcerated in 2024.
“There are more prisons in California than there are universities,” Lule said.
Both Bernal and Lule had been working on curating the exhibition for over a year, after the initial idea was introduced to them by Justice Scholars program manager Sara Rodriguez.
Joshua Reyes opened by reciting an original three poem series, written during his time in prison.
The ceremony focused on the art and storytelling of the selected artists and many of them shared both their pasts and current realities that were not limited to homelessness, drug addiction and troubled childhoods.
Within the panel, it was expressed that the art pieces being shown in this exhibit are mainly forms of self reflection and how the Justice Scholars program helped students become confident in the transition of learning to rebuild their lives from incarceration.
“I think we are so conditioned to, depending on our upbringing and society, the communities we’re around, you don’t get that time to play and nurture that creative side of you until you go into spaces that allow it and encourage it and school is one of those places,” Bernal said.
Paintings, poetry, photographs, and films were displayed throughout the exhibit to show that life does not have to end after being impacted by the criminal justice system.
Featured artist Brian Burten speaking during the “Hope Restored: Justice Scholars Student Exhibition” closing ceremony artist panel on Satuday March 22. 2025. (Enrique Martinez)
Featured panelist Brian Burten shared information on his short film, after detailing his past: A 30 year addiction rooted in his parents’ drug use and his time spent on Skid Row, which fueled his fascination with film production.
Burten continued to tell the audience how he found his craft and what influenced the decision to pursue filmmaking.
He shared that movies from the 1980s had inspired him, especially when he would walk out of a movie theater and felt like he was coming back into a different world, realizing he wanted to make people feel the same way he did.
Community building was a large part of what attendees had said was important within the art culture.
“Justice Scholars believed in me when I didn’t even know what believing in myself was,” Burten said.