Amie Dowling

Amie Dowling serves as Professor in the Performing Arts Department at the University of San Francisco, where her work bridges artistic practice and social justice advocacy. Her scholarship focuses on transformative art initiatives within correctional facilities and their societal implications.

Dr. Dowling's research centers on prison arts as catalysts for change, exemplified by documentary projects like Waterline and Ways to Disappear created through sustained collaboration at San Quentin Prison. These works demonstrate how creative expression alters participants' self-perception and challenges public narratives about incarceration. Her 2016 commentary Well Contested Sites and Separate Sentences further connects these efforts to the American Environmental Art Movement, revealing parallel frameworks for understanding marginalized spaces.

Her projects involve collaborative teams working directly within prison settings, producing film documentation that serves both as artistic output and scholarly evidence. While specific grant details aren't provided, her sustained engagement with San Quentin indicates long-term institutional partnerships that support community-engaged scholarship bridging university resources and correctional facility programming.