Kristin Adair

  • Unchained Stories

  • 2019 Black Male Achievement Fellow

Kristin Adair
  • Unchained Stories

  • 2019 Black Male Achievement Fellow

bold idea

Amplify stories showing a world without prisons and policing using powerful visual storytelling tools and by partnering with directly impacted people and communities to fight for justice and fuel the movement.

organization overview

Unchained Stories is a social impact production company and media consulting firm that is creating a more just world through the power of stories. The Unchained Stories team includes storytellers and advocates with deep expertise in creating visual content that drives change. They are committed to deep listening and co-creating new models of film production and media-making. They recognize and uplift the dignity of each individual storyteller with whom they collaborate and honor the complexity of their stories. Unchained Stories’ work is deeply rooted in approaches that are trauma-informed and center the voices and the creative work of directly impacted people from start to finish in the production process. Their work advocates for abolishing incarceration, ending a system of policing rooted in racism and oppression, and building community-based alternatives for security and wellbeing. Unchained Stories offers project-based and comprehensive consulting and partnerships to help organizations, foundations, socially-minded businesses, institutions and advocates create impactful, story-driven content and campaigns. They are actively building training curricula for community organizations led by and centering the voices of directly impacted people. Unchained Stories shares tools to amplify these leaders and organizations to tell more impactful stories and take their advocacy efforts to the next level.

Personal Bio

Kristin Adair is the founder and creative director of Unchained Stories, a social impact production company that is building a more just world through visual storytelling that amplifies the voices of currently and formerly incarcerated creatives. Based in Washington, DC, she is a documentary filmmaker and multimedia artist with a background in law and non-profit advocacy and a lifelong commitment to the work of justice. Her work is deeply rooted in collaborative and non-traditional approaches to media-making and storytelling that center the voices of directly impacted communities and weave trauma-informed and healing modalities. She founded Unchained Stories with an array of creative and advocacy tools, from visual storytelling to campaign strategy, fundraising, and movement-building. After leaving her job as a non-profit lobbyist in 2011, Kristin helped create a mindfulness and arts program for incarcerated youth. She saw firsthand the combined power of art, healing, and storytelling in the juvenile justice space, and returned to graduate school to hone her existing skills as a photographer and storyteller and learn film production. In 2018, she released a documentary entitled Becoming Free, which looks intimately at the experience of young adults coming home from prison after years or decades behind bars. Kristin has a BS from Georgetown University, a JD from George Washington University, and a MA from Corcoran School of the Arts and Design. She is a 2019 Echoing Green Fellow.

  • Organization/Fellow Location ?

    Our most recent information as to where the Fellow primarily resides.

    Washington, United States

  • Impact Location ?

    Countries or continents that were the primary focus of this Fellow’s work at the time of their Fellowship.

  • Organization Structure ?

    An organization can be structured as a nonprofit, for-profit, or hybrid (a structure that incorporates both nonprofit and for-profit elements).

    Hybrid

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