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Seeking input on building a national prison arts association

Dear friends of The Prison Arts Coalition:

Building upon a new level of cultural awareness regarding the benefits of arts in corrections programs, we would like to know if an expanded national organization would be a valuable asset to you and the work you do.

In these early stages, we feel the association could offer the following to its members:

Raise awareness of programmatic efficacy
Host national or regional conferences
Share best practices
Foster community
Support, collect and disseminate relevant research
Offer professional development opportunities
What else can you imagine?

The following 5-minute survey is designed to help better understand the need for a national prison arts association and how it can best serve potential members like you. Your input is incredibly valuable during this early stage.

National Prison Arts Survey

We are hoping to collect all responses by January 29^th.

Thank you for your time!

This survey has been developed with input by an ad hoc steering committee of prison arts advocates and practitioners, including:

Cynthia Gutierrez - Barrios Unidos Prison Project

Ella Turenne - Artist, Activist, Educator; Occidental College

Freddy Gutierrez - Community Worker, Performing Artist

Illya Kowalchuk - Pop Culture Classroom

Jonathan Blanco - Oregon State Penitentiary Hobby Shop

Laurie Brooks - William James Association

Lesley Currier - Marin Shakespeare Company

Nate Henry-Silva - Imagine Bus Project

Nathalie Costa Thill - Adirondack Center for Writing

Treacy Ziegler - An Open Window

Victoria Sammartino - Voices UnBroken

Wendy Jason - Prison Arts Coalition

Alma Robinson - California Lawyers for the Arts

Weston Dombroski - California Lawyers for the Arts

Tags: Art in Prison, arts in corrections, criminal justice blog, incarcerated artists, justice, national prison arts, Prison Art, prison arts, prison arts advocacy, prison arts coallition, Prison Arts Project, prison arts survey, prison arts US, prison writing, restorative justice, San Quentin, US arts in corrections, US prison arts association

Categories Art in Prison, art programs for ex-offenders, arts in corrections, community arts, dance in prison, immigrant detention, Prison Art, prison arts advocacy, prison arts survey, prisoner writing, Social justice, Teaching artists, theater in prison, Treacy Ziegler, Uncategorized
Author theprisonartscoalition

Call for submissions: writing by artists who facilitate workshops inside

3 Apr

Project: An anthology of writing by artists who lead/teach (or previously led/taught) arts workshops inside correctional facilities. I seek submissions to construct a book proposal for publication.

Submission Guidelines + Instructions: Writing must be inspired by your prison work. It does not need to be directly connected to a specific event, experience, or person. Please indicate where names/identifying information has been changed.

Writing may be fiction, non-fiction, prose, poetry, experimental, non-traditional, un-categorizable.
You may submit as many pieces as you like (though not all are guaranteed inclusion in the anthology)
No length restrictions
Previously published material is acceptable, though un-published is preferred
.doc or .docx format, 12 pt. font
Email submissions + submission form to [email protected]

Submissions accepted now through September 15, 2015

About: My name is Leigh Sugar. I previously edited the Annual Anthology of Michigan Prisoner Creative Writing and facilitated creative writing workshops inside Michigan state prisons (both through the Prison Creative Arts Project). I have seen anthologies of writing by inmates, but never a collection of writing by the artists who facilitate or teach writing behind bars. My motivation to embark on this project stems from reflecting on how heavily my own writing has been influenced by my experience going inside prison, and not feeling like I have an outlet or a means by which to share that writing. I know I have this writing based on my time inside, so I know others must as well. It is critical that we strengthen our connections to each other and find ways to share our experiences and writing so we can expand the reach of the creative work that is generated in connection to the criminal justice system. I feel a real artistic resonance with other writers who bring their craft to prison and am committed to creating an entire collection of our writing. No contract yet exists for this volume; accepted abstracts will be organized into a book proposal, which I will then submit to publishers.

More information at http://www.correctionswriting.wordpress.com. Please circulate this call to any individuals or organizations you know involved in prison writing.

Tags: Anthology, Art in Prison, arts in corrections, prison arts, prison writing, teaching artists

Categories Anthology, Art in Prison, book, Call for submissions, Prison Art, Social justice, teaching, Teaching artists, theater in prison, writing
Author theprisonartscoalition

Domestic Violence Awareness Day

20 Mar

by Emily Harris

On Saturday March 12th, I had the honor of attending the 5th Annual Domestic Violence Awareness Day at Valley State Prison for Women. The day was incredibly moving, full of lots of emotion, tears, laughter and many familiar faces. It was such an honor to be present to witness the powerful skits, music, dance, poetry, and testimony about domestic violence. One of the creative acts of resistance was the purple paper chain that the event organizers created that wrapped around the entire gymnasium. Each piece of paper had a quote such as “you are not alone”, “it is not your fault”, “break the silence” and as each speaker came to the stage they would breaking a chain off and read it out loud.

The event was organized by the Domestic Violence Peer Educators and attended by 400 women and transgender people at VSPW. The event planners invited outside guests to participate and speak at the event, in attendance this year were members of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Justice Now, TGI Justice Project and CURB!!

Click here for more photos from TGIJP!

Below is an article from the Merced Sun-Star about the event:

Inmates at Chowchilla women’s prison address vicious cycle

By YESENIA AMARO
[email protected]

Camilla Russell was abused as a child. “I never talked about it,” she recalled. Not talking about it for years caused the tension inside of her to build up as anger.

BEA AHBECK

Merced Sun-Star - PHOTO BY BEA AHBECK

Tiffany Sanders and Jovanna Washington act out a scene in the skit “Love the Way You Lie” during the fifth annual Domestic Violence Awareness Day at Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla on Saturday.

BEA AHBECK

Merced Sun-Star - PHOTO BY BEA AHBECK

Brandi Vogl reacts to a skit. Several of the inmates are incarcerated because of domestic violence-related offenses.

BEA AHBECK

Merced Sun-Star - PHOTO BY BEA AHBECK

Lynn Noles plays the victim of domestic abuse in the skit ‘Concrete Angel’ during the fifth annual Domestic Violence Awareness Day at Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla.

Russell later released that anger on her 6-year-old stepdaughter, abusing her for 2½ months. “In her I saw that little girl that I hated within myself,” Russell remembered. Ultimately, her stepdaughter’s school helped put a stop to the abuse. “I was in denial. I’m so grateful there was intervention,” Russell said, glad someone stepped in before the abuse got to the point that she could have killed the child.

Russell was among 400 inmates who participated in the fifth annual Domestic Violence Awareness Day at the Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla on Saturday. Throughout the daylong event, inmates performed skits, read poems and shared their stories.

The event celebrated survivors and those who have lost their lives to domestic violence.

Michelle Sabin, self-help sponsor at the prison, helped organize the event. She said one goal was “to bring awareness of domestic violence that goes on even after someone gets arrested.”

The event also was meant to create awareness in people outside the prison walls, and to help women realize they’re not alone and that they can get help.

Common factor
According to Sabin, about one-third of the women who participated in the event committed a crime in response to the domestic violence they suffered. Since 1997, 33 women statewide have had their cases overturned and were released from prison because the crimes they had committed were to protect themselves from their abuser.

Russell, who’s been at the prison for 5½ years, said those who have been abused as children tend to become abusers. She said it’s important for people to know that domestic violence doesn’t only happen between two partners.

She recommended that those who are suffering from domestic violence find a person they trust and talk to that person about what’s going on. “It’s going to get heavier and heavier if you don’t speak,” she said.

“One thing about being a domestic violence victim is that you live a chaotic life,” said Velda Dobson-Davis, chief deputy warden, who spoke during the event.

She said domestic violence is about controlling someone and preventing that person from doing what she wants to do.

“I just want to encourage you to be all you want to be,” Dobson-Davis told the inmates. “You can be anything you want to be — anything.”

Lynn Noyes, a former preschool teacher, has been an inmate at the prison for a decade and helped organize Saturday’s event. She said it’s about uniting everyone, regardless of culture, to bring awareness and education about the issue. “When I was arrested there wasn’t much information about it,” Noyes said.

Since 2002, she’s been working along with other inmates to bring more attention to the problem. “To honor my victim,” Noyes said, noting that awareness will help prevent another woman from ending up in prison.

Victim honored
During the event, Sandra Williamson was honored. Williamson, who was well known by women at the prison through her involvement with Kairos Prison Ministry International Inc., was killed by her estranged husband on Feb. 16 in Madera County. Her husband, James Williamson, also killed Sandra’s lawyer, Judith Leslie Soley, then turned the gun on himself. The Williamsons were going through a divorce.

“She was close to our hearts,” said inmate Windy Click. “We just really honor her today.”

Yesenia Amaro can be reached at (209)388-6507, or [email protected].
Read more: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2011/03/14/1810130/inmates-at-chowchilla-womens-prison.html#ixzz1HBLPQDyd

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Art in Prison, Creative Writing in Prison, theater in prison
Author theprisonartscoalition

Prison Theater: Performing New Lives

12 Jan

This review was originally posted on January 12th, 2011 by Lois Holzman, Director of the East Side Institute here.

“We have a play to perform. We are accountable to one another. In programs that culminate with performances for prison audiences, and (especially) public audiences, there is an opportunity for prisoners to display and celebrate the culmination of their weeks or months of hard work. They can show themselves to themselves in the mirror of the audience, as people of value, as people who can make a contribution.” Jonathan Shailor

At the end of last year, I got a phone call from Jonathan Shailor, associate professor of communication at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Jonathan had participated in an early Performing the World conference I organized and we’d been in touch very infrequently since then. He called to tell me about a new book he had edited: Performing New Lives: Prison Theatre, and to see whether the East Side Institute was interested in having an event to promote it. (We are. It will take place on March 18. Check the Institute’s website for details.)

I don’t think very often or very concretely about prison life. I imagine most people don’t. We know the horrific statistics, but not the people. Unless we ourselves or friends, colleagues or relatives work in or have served a prison sentence, our forays “inside” come through film and TV. Since I’ve read Jonathan’s book, its imprisoned men and women and the theatre artist-activists who work with them have become part of my life. I think about them, remember their stories, the roles they played on mostly make shift stages, and the ways they spoke of the impact. Jonathan’s book includes chapters on sixteen different prison theatre projects in the US, and each one is a good read. There’s honesty in this book and no polemic. I recommend it!

To learn more about prison theatre programs, check out the PrisonTheatre Consortium blog.

Categories book, theater in prison, Uncategorized
Author theprisonartscoalition

Is William Martinez Not Our Brother? Twenty Years of the Prison Creative Arts Project

2 May

Professor Buzz Alexander, founder of the Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) at the University of Michigan, has authored a new book celebrating twenty years of PCAP. The book is NOW AVAILABLE from the University of Michigan Press.

Buzz’s Book Tour Dates:

Battle Creek, MI
(after) Prison: Denied Opportunities or Safer Communities?
Friday, Oct. 1st @ 7:00pm
Book reading, signing & Prisoner Art Exhibit at Urban Art Museum
60 Calhoun St., Battle Creek, MI

Los Angeles
Friday, October 15th @ 6:30p.m.
Book reading & signing at Mama’s Hot Tamales
2122 West 7th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90057
More information: 213-487-4300

San Francisco
Tuesday, October 19th @ 7:00pm
Book reading & signing at the Green Arcade
1680 Market St. San Francisco, CA 94102
http://events.sfgate.com/san-francisco-ca/events/show/144238505-is-william-martinez-not-our-brother-20-years-of-the-prison-creative-arts-project

New York
Education and Incarceration: A Conversation with the Founder of the Prison Creative Arts Project
Thursday, October 28th @ 5:00-7:00pm
Book reading, practitioner panel & signing at Teachers College
Milbank Chapel (Zankel Hall) Teachers College, Columbia University
525 W. 120th Street, New York, NY 10027
More information: 314-651-4862

Panel Includes:
-Kathy Boudin, of the Weather Underground and Columbia University’s Incarceration Working Group
-Jondou Chen, Teachers College Student Press Initiative
-Chris Emdin, author of “Affiliation and Alienation: Hip Hop, Rap and Urban Science Education”
-Michael Rebell, Executive Director, Campaign for Educational Equity
-Carol Shapiro, seminar leader, “Rethinking Criminal Justice: Moving Beyond an Individual Approach”
-Julia Taylor, contributing author, “Performing New Lives: Prison Theatre”

Saturday, October 30th @ 2:00-4:30pm
Workshop at Teachers College (Room TBA)
Columbia University, NY
More information: 314-651-4862
RSVP to [email protected]

Ann Arbor, MI
Wednesday, November 3rd @ 7:00p.m.
Reading & signing at Hatcher Graduate Library Gallery in Room 100
University of Michigan, Central UM Campus
More information: http://www.press.umich.edu/map

Baltimore
Saturday, November 13th @ 2:30p.m.
Reading & signing at Enoch Pratt Free Library in the Poe Room
400 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
More information: 410-396-5494
http://www.prattlibrary.org/calendar/series.aspx?folder=610

Washington DC
Sunday, November 14th @ 3:00pm
Reading & Dialogue with Arts for Change Activists
Potter House Bookstore
1658 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC

Chicago
Friday, November 19th @ 7:00pm
A Dialogue on Prison Arts, Mass Incarceration and Community Engagement
Reading, panel & signing
Resident’s Dining Hall at the Jane Addams Hull House Museum
800 S. Halsted at UIC, Chicago IL
Seating is limited please RSVP: [email protected]

Panelists include:
-Mariame Kaba, Founder and Director, Project NIA
-Meade Palidofsky, Artistic Director, Storycatchers Theatre
-Jonathan Shailor, Founder and Director of the Shakespear Prison Project
-Amanda Klonsky, Girls Program Director, Free Write Jail Arts and Literacy Program

Austin
Monday, November 29th @ 6:30-8:30pm
Reading & platica featuring Author, Save Our Youth, Ex-Pinta Support Alliance, & the Hutto Visitation Program
Resistencia Bookstore
1801-A South First St.
Austin, TX 78704
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A1117905

Detroit
Thursday, December 9th @ 7:00pm
Reading & panel discussion
Leopold’s Books
15 East Kirby Street
Detroit, MI 48202

Helping Our Prisoners Elevate
Friday, December 17th @ 6:00pm
Reading and panel discussion
Urban Network Bookstore
5740 Grand River, Detroit

Panelist include:

Yusef Shakur Author and Activist

Kwasi Akwamu Author and Activist

Peter Martell from the American Friends Service Committee

Michelle Bazzetta from the Prison Creative Arts Project

Readings in Petoskey, Maine, and Philadelphia coming soon!!

About the book:
“Prisons are an invisible, but dominant, part of American society: the United States incarcerates more people than any other nation in the world, with 25 percent of the world’s prisoners currently held within its borders. In Michigan, the number of prisoners rose from 3,000 in 1970 to more than 50,000 by 2008, a shift that Buzz Alexander witnessed firsthand when he came to teach at the University of Michigan.

Is William Martinez Not Our Brother? describes the University of Michigan’s Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP), a pioneering program founded in 1990 that works with incarcerated youth and adults in Michigan juvenile facilities and prisons. Alexander recounts the genesis and evolution of this radically pragmatic and original system that begins with university courses for credit, then offers students a university-based nonprofit organization through which they may continue and deepen their practice, and finally gives them a national network as well as connections with the national movement resisting mass incarceration in this country, and with social careers in general.

By giving incarcerated individuals an opportunity to participate in the arts, PCAP enables them to withstand and often overcome the conditions and culture of prison, the policies of an incarcerating state, and the consequences of mass incarceration.

The book is also a deeply personal account of Alexander’s long commitment to confronting the continually rising numbers of prisoners in America, his dedication as an educator, and his attempts to provide a way to reach out on a practical and emotional level to inmates. The model he describes applies to both public scholarship and everyday politics and will inspire readers in all fields.”

Buzz spoke recently at Dartmouth college. Read about that presentation in The Dartmouth.

The Judy Dworin Performance Project

13 Apr

The Judy Dworin Performance Project is a company of performing artists who, on stage and in the community, seek to innovate, inspire, educate and collaborate as they engage in art making rooted in the belief that the arts can be a powerful agent for change.

They premiered their lastest piece, Dreamings on April 2, 2009. It was created during an arts-based residency at York Correctional Institution for women in Niantic, CT. Dreamings played to a sold out crowd, thunderous applause, standing ovation and a talk back which lasted almost as long as the performance.

Carli Beatty is a former inmate, now living in a half-way house (due to be paroled in June) was granted permission to be part of the public performances. She performed in Dreamings while she was in prison. After she was transfered to a halfway house she was able to remain a part of the Judy Dworin Performance Project . This allowed her to perform with the company in the public performances This was a first for Connecticut. Last night Carli was terrific as were the other formerly incarcerated women, daughter and sister of inmates who joined the company. The uniquness of this piece is that it was created inside prison but added individuals previously incarcerated and their family members into the public performances.

Listen to the radio interview here.

DVDs of the public performances of Dreamings will be avaialble for purchased through the Judy Dworin Performance Project’s website.

Categories Art in Prison, Performance, Prison Art, theater in prison
Author theprisonartscoalition

Families and Prison Performances

1 Mar

Inspired by a trip I made in 2003 where I met Leslie Neal, Founder and Artistic Director of ArtSpring, and attended a performance at the Broward County Correctional Institution in Florida, I returned to York CI (Connecticut’s only state-level prison for women) determined to open up the prison performances to family members. I learned from the incarcerated women in Florida that the work they were doing was very important to them. However, they also hoped for the opportunity to share this work with their families as well. This made so much sense to me as many of their families had seen or heard about them doing very few positive things.

We have made great strides in the arts-based programs at York CI. Currently, we have two annual arts-based residencies with Avodah Dance Ensemble (since 2001) and the Judy Dworin Performance Project (since 2006). Each of these residencies culminates in performances and (since 2005) one of each of these performances has been set aside solely for families.

The families’ performances are growing in popularity. Initially, a few family members showed up albeit with some trepidation. Dance or dance theater at a maximum security prison was not something anyone was familiar with: not the inmates, not the staff and certainly not the families. They have been a definite hit, however. While watching, laughing and crying during the performances and drinking coffee and eating cookies afterward everyone has been happy to have been a part of it.

We had always hoped these performances would be beneficial to the women and their families but did not consider what might go beyond that. When we asked the women the usual probing questions about the anticipated benefits of the programs, the responses varied: they felt like they were not in prison when they were involved in the residencies; they liked the interaction with the artists and the other women; they had something positive to share with their families when they called home during the residencies. This was great. To change the conversation with their families was a success in and of itself. Imagine having something positive to say about being in prison! The women also reported that their families were asking questions. They wanted to know when another performance would be happening; they even inquired about women whom they had met at the earlier performances. We started to see that the benefits were spreading beyond our women and their immediate families. We were creating a network of similarly situated people: families with loved ones in prison involved in the arts. The families had seen their daughters, sisters, and mothers doing something positive and they liked it.

Initially, Avodah’s families’ performances were held in the visiting room. It was not ideal. The floors were carpeted, the ceilings were low and we had to move all of the tables and chairs out of the way to create a performance space. But it was not about the space. It was about the performance and the connections with the families. In 2008, in response to the increased recognition and the complexity of the Judy Dworin Performance Project’s, Dreamings the families’ performance was moved inside the prison to the recreation building. The space was larger but the acoustics were not good. Performance in prison does not come easily. The move inside the prison was an important accomplishment. Until this time families were not allowed past the visiting center. They never saw what the prison was like behind the walls that separated the visiting center from the rest of the prison. Having the opportunity to walk inside the prison was unique. Seeing trees, grass and the series of buildings that make up the compound seemed to have lessened visitors’ anxiety about the inside of the prison. It was no longer an unknown and they could even imagine their loved one walking from their housing unit to dinner, to school, and to visits. This was important as we know that it is not just the inmate who is ‘doing time’. Loved ones are ‘doing it’ along with them. Being able to lessen the anxiety of the families is a terrific benefit.

We plan to keep expanding the arts-based programs at York to include the families in as many ways as possible. We have been given limited permission to video tape aspects of the performances and a long term goal is to share those recordings, perhaps in a documentary.

I hope other programs in prisons around the country will expand to include family members as well. It makes such a difference. I would be grateful to hear about others’ experiences, successes and failures, as we have much to learn from both.

Joseph Lea has been employed at York CI for more than 14 years as an educator and currently as the library media specialist. He completed a year-long sabbatical in 2007 where he attained an MA in Applied Theatre from the University of Manchester in England.

Tags: Prison Art, York Correctional Institution

Comments 3 Comments
Categories Art in Prison, Performance, Prison Art, theater in prison, Uncategorized
Author theprisonartscoalition

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The Prison Arts Coalition

Domestic Violence Awareness Day

Inmates at Chowchilla women’s prison address vicious cycle

Prison Theater: Performing New Lives

Is William Martinez Not Our Brother? Twenty Years of the Prison Creative Arts Project

The Judy Dworin Performance Project

Families and Prison Performances

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