ProFound Arts
Our Mission
ProFound Arts provides an innovative approach to addressing the need for additional resources based on the current missing and unidentified persons crisis, involving nearly 24,000 unresolved missing persons cases and over 14,000 unidentified persons cases in the US alone. ProFound collaborates with art spaces, loved ones of long-term missing persons, artists, and police departments to produce local, community-based art exhibits within the jurisdiction where loved ones have disappeared. ProFound’s vision is to increase public awareness of missing persons cases local to them, expand the accessibility of supportive services for impacted loved ones, and enhance participation in resolving longstanding cases. ProFound aims to provide a fundraising opportunity for local organizations supporting the missing and their loved ones, to forge new research focused on the missing persons phenomenon, to connect local artists and art spaces with these cases to serve the public good, and to build hope in the possibility for cases to be resolved collaboratively.
Purpose
ProFound Arts implements 6 pillars of service toward improving the current missing persons crisis:
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Forge and strengthen local triadic bridges between police departments, loved ones, and the public related to long-term missing persons cases in their respective jurisdictions.
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Produce targeted local arts exhibits through direct collaboration with arts spaces, including galleries, libraries, and museums, in order to support missing persons case awareness and enhance community support of loved ones of missing persons at any stage of the grief and ambiguous loss experience.
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Fundraise through exhibit attendance and sales of associated artwork to benefit local and regional missing persons organizations.
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Develop potential partnerships and new leads through FIGG opportunities (i.e., swab collection) and data collection software implemented at each exhibit, seeking voluntary case-related feedback from attendees of law enforcement status or the public (i.e., integrating current theories about each case).
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Provide opportunities for artists to showcase original work for sale while serving the community. This could include the art of loved ones of the missing person(s) as well, if they are professional artists.
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Conduct ongoing action research initiatives through voluntary, interactive participation opportunities for ProFound exhibit attendees.