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The Justice Arts Coalition

A national network and resource for those creating art in and around the criminal legal system.

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Billy Willoughby

On August 5, 2019August 13, 2019 By theprisonartscoalition

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PO Box 8261
Silver Spring, MD 20907

info@thejusticeartscoalition.org

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Community, opportunities, and resources for artists working in and around the US criminal legal system. Contact wendy@thejusticeartscoalition.org

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We’re so grateful to all who’ve shown their support on our first #GivingTuesday. You’re enabling us to create more connections between #incarceratedartists and allies on the outside. Thank you! 💜✊🏽🎨
To contribute, visit the link in our bio.
#endmassincarceration #artconnectsus

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It’s Justice Arts Coalition’s first Giving Tuesday! As this first year of JAC’s development as a 501c3 comes to a close, please support our efforts to make JAC sustainable. If you have benefitted from or found value in our work, consider making a one-time donation or show your ongoing commitment by becoming a sustaining member, helping to ensure that the resources and services JAC provides remain available to all who might benefit.

Since 2008, JAC (previously known as the Prison Arts Coalition) has been uniting teaching artists, arts advocates, incarcerated artists, their loved ones, and allies, harnessing the transformative power of the arts as we work together to reimagine justice through a creative lens. Having very few resources at our disposal hasn’t stopped us from making a significant impact.

Recently, JAC served as adviser to a team of journalists at the Washington Post, linking them with artists in prison whose work was featured in a groundbreaking special edition of the Post Magazine. JAC was interviewed for a New York Times piece in October.

But long before the New York Times or the Washington Post started paying attention, JAC championed the valuable role that the arts play in the lives of system-impacted individuals, shifting narratives about the incarcerated and rethinking the meaning of justice.
Everything JAC does is connected to and fueled by our vision: to spark the necessary curiosity, empathy, compassion, and ingenuity that is required to dismantle an unjust criminal legal system. JAC believes in the power of the arts to transform the system and the lives of those most impacted by it, and we want to continue our work to generate a critical mass of people who share in this belief. We look to you -- our friends, constituents, partners, collaborators, mentors -- to help make this possible.

Please donate today by following the link in our bio.
#givingtuesday #artforjustice #prisonart #artconnectsus #artistheanswer #endmassincarceration #transformativejustice #abolishprisons

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“I love to let my imagination discover a beautiful place. I can use a little paint and a canvas and go to the most peaceful and free place possible. Waterfalls and ocean scenes are my favorite thing to paint because it is alive. I feel like I can walk right into the picture and breathe in and smell all the flowers and trees, feel the moisture of the crisp water and even find a rabbit hiding in a log. it is a walk I can share with anyone who wants to discover this place.

Thank you for letting me do this. It lets me be somewhere beautiful for a while.” – artist Lori Lovely

#artchangeseverything #artforliberation #artforjustice #incarceratedartists #prisonart #endmassincarceration #justiceartscoalition

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Since 2008, JAC (previously known as the Prison Arts Coalition) has been uniting teaching artists, arts advocates, incarcerated artists, their loved ones, and allies, harnessing the transformative power of the arts as we work together to reimagine justice through a creative lens. Having very few resources at our disposal hasn’t stopped us from making a significant impact, but we’d like to be able to do so much more. We need your help to make JAC sustainable. Please follow the link in our bio to contribute. 🎨✍🏽🎼🔑✊🏽💜
#artforliberation #artforjustice #endmassincarceration #prisonart #incarceratedartists #artconnectsus #teachingartist

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Pastel landscape by Peggy’s student, Graciane. To help us do even more to support #teachingartists who bring opportunities for creative expression into carceral settings, follow the link in our bio! 🎨🎼✍🏽🔑💜
#artconnectsus #artforliberation #incarceratedartists #endmassincarceration

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“This is my first self-portrait, ‘Bohemia’. It’s of a sickly me working on a healthier version of myself.”
Visit our blog to read more from incarcerated artist R. Zumar in his new post, The Becomings of a Master, Part 2: Bohemia. We’re so grateful to artists like R. for trusting us with their work and their stories. We’re thinking of them and their loved ones on this Thanksgiving. We’re thinking about them every day. 💜 #artconnectsus #artforliberation #incarceratedartists #artforjustice #endmassincarceration #abolishprisons

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“Your letter was amazing! Reading it really lifted my spirits.... Receiving feedback from people on the outside is like gold to me.... Your letter came at a time when I was feeling down. You have helped inspire me and my creativity. Thank you for that. -- CB

This #GivingTuesday, please help us make sure every incarcerated artist who entrusts their work to JAC receives feedback and support from people on the outside. In order to do this, we need space for volunteers to gather regularly to write letters in response to the artwork and inquires sent to us from people in prison, as well as basic supplies like envelopes, stamps, and paper. 🎨✍🏽💌📬💜 Our fundraising goal is $2000. To contribute, please follow the link in our bio.

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#Repost @thecaseyfund ・・・
Formerly incarcerated artist James Hough is now the first artist-in-residence at the Philly DA’s office.
#artforjusticefund #endmassincarceration #prison #artforjustice #artforliberation

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We’re at @thehamiltondc making some fellow @risingappalachia and @rayezaragoza fans smile with concert posters created by @prisonart6. 💜🎼🎨✊🏽
#artconnectsus #concertposter #risingappalachia #socialjustice #artforliberation

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Check out our newest blog post, written by Matt Malyon. Matt writes about his experiences teaching creative writing in prisons. @_undergroundwriting
Our blog is a platform for people engaged in the arts in and around the US criminal legal system to share their experiences and stories. If you’re interested in contributing to the blog, please email us at justiceartscoalitionintern@gmail.com

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#Repost @werepjustice ・・・
Today, we’re incredibly excited to announce the largest prison mural in the world, a project we’ve been organizing with world renowned artist @JR. This image, which can be seen from an airplane at 30,000 feet inside the walls of @cacorrections, is part of a portrait series highlighting stories of 48 incredible humans – currently and formerly incarcerated citizens, families impacted by incarceration, and victims of crime. This installation features audio and video testimonies designed for you to hear their stories of mercy, rehabilitation, and their experiences in America’s legal system.

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Join #REPRESENTJUSTICE and change your perspective of who's seen as worthy of redemption and mercy: representjustice.org/JR-signup

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To hear each of their stories download the JR Murals app:

Android: bit.ly/JRmuralsPlay
IOS: bit.ly/JRmurals

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This could not have been possible without partnership from @onecommunity, @antirecidivismcoalition, @cacorrections, @JR and his entire team, and Warden Joe Sullivan of Tehachapi prison. Thank you.
__ "When the piece was pasted we decided to wait for a couple of weeks so we could put together a platform for everyone to hear the stories. Why? Because we know that it is a sensitive subject and we wanted anyone to be able to listen to stories of hope and redemption, to get testimonies that one doesn't normally hear. Because what happened there when these men, their guards, and some victims worked all together on an art piece has to be seen. We wanted to share the process and embrace the complexity of human actions and feelings that we have witnessed. These men have been judged guilty when they were young, some were dragged into gangs and did heavy mistakes, and they have paid or are paying the price. They say that they changed and they are ready to become active citizens, to give a meaning to their lives.” — @JR

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Amber Daniel is new to our network of incarcerated artists. Her dynamic abstracts speak to us of possibility, curiosity, and passion. What do they say to you?
#artinspires #artconnectsus #abstractpainting #artforliberation

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👀Peep this, #dmv friends! 👀 New documentary @16barsthefilm featuring @speech__ from @arresteddevelopment__ is showing at @afisilvertheatre on Monday night. “16 BARS offers a rare glimpse at the human stories and songs locked away in our nation’s jails and prisons. The documentary follows a unique rehabilitation effort in a Virginia jail that encourages inmates to write and record original music. In the jail’s makeshift recording studio, four men collaborate to produce an album with Grammy-winner Todd “Speech” Thomas of Arrested Development. As the creative process unfolds, these incarcerated artists must confront the traumas of their past, and music becomes the key to unlocking a new chapter in their lives.” The film starts at 7:15 and will be followed by a panel discussion with Tyrone Parker (CEO, @allianceofconcernedmen) and Frank Malone (CEO, @100fathers ), moderated by Lyn Twyman (CEO of LASERS: Leaving Abuse Supporting Everyone Restoring Survivors).
🎼🎧🎤🔥✊🏽
Tickets: https://tinyurl.com/16BarsAFI
🗣Please help spread the word!🗣
Hope to see you there!!! #artsinprison #artforliberation #incarceratedartists #artforjustice #transformativejustice #artmatters #dmvarts #dcnightlife @freemindsbookclub @voices_unbarred @heardnova @hatless67 @boozerreddirt @oneinfourpodcast @flikshop

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We had the pleasure of sharing a whole lot of incredible artwork at Red Dirt’s Open Studio on Sunday, including pieces by @dan.owens.35977, @carole.alden.94, @prisonart6, and @v.amaya.art.
Thanks to everyone who stopped by our space to learn more about JAC and the many talented artists in our network. We’re grateful to @boozerreddirt for providing us with a much-needed workspace, visibility for the works entrusted to our care, and a welcoming community of creatives! #reddirtstudio #artforliberation #artforjustice #visualart #incarceratedartists #artconnectsus

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#Repost @theoregonian ・・・
The inmates’ idea was far-fetched: install a Japanese garden in the shadow of a massive cellblock at the Oregon State Penitentiary.

For one, prison officials wondered, who would pay for it? Who would do the work? Would the elegant elements of a Japanese garden run afoul of the Byzantine rules intended to keep the maximum-security prison safe?

The men persisted.

They became adept at grant-writing, securing nearly $500,000 to fund their idea. They made presentations to corrections staff, potential donors and others, transforming themselves into polished public speakers in the process. They recruited laborers from their own ranks – nearly 180 inmates in all – who worked during the summer to plant trees, move boulders and install elaborate water features.

This week, five years after floating the idea, the men – and the prison officials who signed off on the project – unveiled something extraordinary deep within the grounds of Oregon’s oldest penitentiary: the largest prison garden of its kind in the country.

Click on the link in @theoregonian bio to read the full story. 📸 by @BethNakamura

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“Deep Thought” and “Water” — new works by our good friend Gary Harrell, which he created for last weekend’s Psychologists for Social Responsibility conference in Berkeley. Gary just wrote us to make sure that we didn’t miss the @earhustlesq episode that features his solo harmonica recording that was played at the @the_met_museum_of_art. His linocut, “Restore Justice” was in the recent special issue of @washingtonpostmag, which was completely written, illustrated, and photographed by folks who are or have been incarcerated. Like so many people in prison, Gary’s a man of many talents, and we’re so thrilled to see him in the spotlight.

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