--- description: Find out why Jamal Joseph is on TIME’s 2026 Closers list. title: Jamal Joseph Believes in the Life-Changing Power of the Arts image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt87f71a2837f07956/6998cd1525f3ee5da964554e/time-closers-2026-jamal-joseph-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Jan 27, 2026 # Jamal Joseph Believes in the Life-Changing Power of the Arts by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/) ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer  David Fenton “Love each other, take care of each other, watch each other’s backs, and, above all, keep a positive thought, because a positive thought cannot be denied.” According to [IMPACT Repertory Theatre](https://www.impactreptheatre.org "undefined") founder and executive artistic director [Jamal Joseph](https://entertainment.time.com/2012/02/09/from-gun-toting-black-panther-to-ivy-league-professor/2/ "undefined"), this is the mantra that closes out every meeting at the Harlem-based youth performing arts company. It’s a motto that encapsulates the nonprofit’s goal of empowering at-risk young people through arts-based education and leadership training—a mission the organization has been working toward since 1997\. For 73-year-old Joseph, a former Black Panther turned writer, director, producer, activist, and educator, it’s also the call to action that underlies his life’s work. “One of the things we said in the movement was, let the healers heal, let the builders build, let the bakers bake, let the teachers teach, let the dancers dance, but let everybody do it with a sense of love for the people. Let them do it with a revolutionary consciousness,” he says. “And the most revolutionary concept we can advance right now is one of love and equality.” Joseph’s work in performing arts began in earnest at Kansas’ Leavenworth penitentiary, while serving nearly half of a 12-year sentence for harboring individuals implicated in a 1981 armed robbery. A fellow inmate recruited him to put on a theater production for Black History Month. “I went to the prison library and there were only two plays: _Romeo and Juliet_ and _A Raisin in the Sun_,” he says. “And I came back and said, ‘There's one Black play, but there's a lot of women characters.’ And he said, ‘Well, just look out on the yard and pick three or four guys. We'll put a dress on them.’ That was his way of saying, ‘We're going to do this play.’” Producing _Raisin_ turned out to be a transformative experience for Joseph, who went on to establish a successful theater ensemble within the prison system while simultaneously earning degrees in psychology and sociology through a University of Kansas extension program. “For me, it was not only the experience of getting to be creative, but seeing how art could break down boundaries and bring men together,” he says. “I had an epiphany. I was like: Jamal, when you get out, you could go to school for another six or seven years, or you could do this.” In the nearly 40 years since his release from Leavenworth, Joseph has built a celebrated career spanning film, television, theater, and education. He has been nominated for and received numerous awards, including an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song (for "Raise It Up" from the movie _August Rush_), an Emmy nomination (for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series for _Dear Mama_), a Film Independent Spirit Award, a Paul Robeson Citation Award, an AARP Purpose Prize, and honors from the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, Actor’s Equity, and the NAACP. After taking a post teaching screenwriting at Columbia University in 1998, he went on to become the first Black chair of its film MFA program and was later appointed a professor of professional practice in the film department. _Panther Baby_, the memoir Joseph published in 2012 detailing his involvement in the party, is currently in development as an independent feature film. In his youth, Joseph says he was taught that, above all else, he should have an undying love for others and serve them “mind, body, and soul.” “If you understand that,” Joseph says, “then getting out and doing something for a neighbor, volunteering with young people, or marching for something you believe in will give you energy and strength that you thought you didn't have—and hope that you thought you had lost.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/closers-2026/7353444/jamal-joseph/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/closers-2026/7353444/jamal-joseph/"},"headline":"Jamal Joseph Believes in the Life-Changing Power of the Arts","datePublished":"2026-01-27T13:02:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T01:04:17.148Z","description":"Find out why Jamal Joseph is on TIME’s 2026 Closers list.","url":"https://time.com/collections/closers-2026/7353444/jamal-joseph/","keywords":["Closers 2026","list","franchise","Special Project","sponsorshipblock"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt87f71a2837f07956/6998cd1525f3ee5da964554e/time-closers-2026-jamal-joseph-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"creator":"Megan McCluskey","articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt87f71a2837f07956/6998cd1525f3ee5da964554e/time-closers-2026-jamal-joseph-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/closers-2026/","name":"Closers 2026"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/closers-2026/7353444/jamal-joseph/","name":"Jamal Joseph Believes in the Life-Changing Power of the Arts"}}]}] ```