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Carla Joan Simmons

On September 18, 2020October 17, 2020 By jelsawaf

Carla Joan Simmons

Carla Joan Simmons

Carla Joan Simmons

Carla Joan Simmons

Carla Joan Simmons

Carla Joan Simmons

Carla Joan Simmons

Carla Joan Simmons

Carla Joan Simmons

Carla Joan Simmons

Carla Joan Simmons

Carla Joan Simmons

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PO Box 8261
Silver Spring, MD 20907

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Community, opportunities, and resources for artists working in & around carceral settings. Amplifying their voices since 2008.
Silver Spring, MD

Directed by Sabrina Van Tassel, The State of Texas

Directed by Sabrina Van Tassel, The State of Texas v. Melissa follows the story of Melissa Lucio, the first woman sentenced to death in the state of Texas. The film explores Melissa’s 10-year-fight against her unfair trial, now culminating in her final appeal. You can watch The State of Texas v. Melissa starting the 20th of October both on demand and on digital platforms. Stay tuned!

#endmassincarceration #film #thestateoftexasvsmelissa #freethemall #abolishthedeathpenalty

Join JAC and Americans For The Arts in advocating

Join JAC and Americans For The Arts in advocating for greater inclusion of creative workers in post-pandemic recovery by signing the letter available at the link in our bio. Addressed to the current administration, the letter provides 15 ways the government can incorporate creative workers in COVID-19 recovery efforts, including directly employing creative workers, encouraging local employment and generally integrating creative interventions into recovery methods. Arts and culture play a key role in driving important conversations, encouraging innovation and building community. We hope you will join us in calling for the continued support of creative workers by signing the letter.

#art #creatives #endmassincarceration #prisonart #socialchange #socialjustice

Today, JAC is featuring the gprgeous artwork of Da

Today, JAC is featuring the gprgeous artwork of David Green! We invite you to visit our blog (link in bio!) and learn more about Green’s story and art. Green is a talented visual artist and poet who creates and inspires, despite limited access to art supplies. As he puts it, “I will continue to try and reach and hopefully help others in the world know that no matter what we go through in life, be it poverty, death, or losing someone or something, something beautiful is there in the end and we can overcome.” Visit our website to see more of Green’s work!

#endmassincarceration #socialchange #socialjustice #art #prisonart #drawing #sketch #freethemall #artistspotlight

Today, JAC is sharing an important call to action.

Today, JAC is sharing an important call to action. We are asking everyone to share the story of Billie Allen and to add their name to a letter calling for a new trial for Billie. You can find the link to sign the letter in our bio. As the letter describes, “Billie Allen’s story demonstrates a glaring example of the complete failure of the justice system to provide defendants with effective legal counsel. Evidence that could have exonerated Billie over 23 years ago was available, but was not sought out or presented [...] If this evidence had been appropriately presented at Billie’s trial, it is likely that Billie would never have been convicted, much less served 23 years
on federal death row, awaiting execution.” We hope you will join us and stand in support of Billie by signing the letter today and sharing this important story.

Follow @freebillieallen for more info and updates!

#endmassincarceration #freebillieallen #freethemall #abolishthedeathpenalty

For this Tuesday’s Artist Spotlight, we are high

For this Tuesday’s Artist Spotlight, we are highlighting the fantastic art of Kenny Collins.

Currently incarcerated in Maryland, Collins uses art, poetry, yoga and writing to share his story and to demonstrate what he calls an “Epiphany-Awakening.” As Collins wrote in a blog available now on the JAC website, “From the very beginning I’ve maintained my Victimized-Innocence, throughout the entire allotted (32 1/2) years, all the while “Never-Giving-In nor Ever-Giving-Up!” Instead of its historical-tyranny deceptions, making my ‘Soul-Leak’ in despair. It Transformed my “Spirit-Strength” into an Epiphany-Awakening, igniting 1’s Ultimate-Battle-Cry phenomenally.”

In particular, we are posting Collins’s story today as part of a call to action. This week, we are asking individuals to join the Virtual Week of Action to say Free Kenny Collins/Black Incarcerated Lives Matter by sharing Kenny’s story and signing his petition. For more information about this week of action and Kenny Collins’s story, please visit the link in our bio and/or our blog.

#endmassincarceration #freethemall #socialchange #socialjustice #art #prisonart #freekennycollins #blackincarceratedlivesmatter

JAC is excited to announce another upcoming Create

JAC is excited to announce another upcoming Create + Connect workshop with Kenneth Reams! Join us Tuesday, October 29th, at 7 PM ET for Episode 2 of In The Box with Kenneth Reams. An artist currently incarcerated on death row, Reams will be leading a conversation about the connections between law, activism and the transformative power of the arts. For this workshop, Reams will be speaking with Bianca Tylek, the Founder & Executive Director of Worth Rises, a national criminal justice organization working to dismantle and end the exploitation of the prison industry. We hope you will sign up for what will be an informative and engaging conversation.

This workshop is offered as “pay what you can,” with a $20 suggested donation, and a $1 minimum donation. All revenue from JAC workshops is split between JAC and teaching artist facilitators to support their incredibly important work. To register for this workshop, please visit the link in our bio.

#endmassincarceration #endsolitaryconfinement #freethemall #socialchange #socialjustice #prisonart

JAC is proud to continue our work of using the tra

JAC is proud to continue our work of using the transformative power of art to help reimagine justice. Creative expression is necessary for community-building, healing and for allowing frequently marginalized individuals to share their own stories. We hope you will join us in supporting this incredibly important mission by continuing to support JAC community members. Please visit the JAC website to learn more about specific ways you can be involved in continuing to support our mission. Swipe for action items 👉

#endmassincarceration #freethemall #prisonart #prisonarts #socialchange #socialjustice

Reminder! Register for our Create + Connect Worksh

Reminder! Register for our Create + Connect Workshop: “From Officer to Advocate.” Join us TODAY, October 8th, at 6:30 PM EDT to hear Lorenzo Steele Jr. share both his experiences as a Correctional Officer at Rikers Island from 1987 - 1999 and discuss how he currently uses his art platform to deter violence and incarceration. We hope you will join us for this important conversation!

Short biography: Lorenzo Steele Jr. is an accomplished visual artist, author and former New York City Corrections officer. After spending time working at Rikers Island, Steele now shares his experience and knowledge of the correctional system with youth, parents, and educators. Currently, Steele provides conflict resolution, bullying, literacy training, and prison and gang awareness workshops in schools and communities in the greater New York metropolitan area.

You can register for this workshop at the link in our bio!

#endmassincarceration #freethemall #nonviolence #socialchange #workshop

Reminder! Register for our Create + Connect Worksh

Reminder! Register for our Create + Connect Workshop: “Seeing Sounds Chakra Colors.” Join us this Sunday, 10/11 at 12 PM EST, to create sound-inspired art. Edwin will lead participants to explore the relationships that exist between color, energy, and sound by creating their own art. Edwin is a painter and community artist that uses painting and other media forms to conceptualize with shape and color. As he describes it, his paintings “depict living entities in an “unseen” realm, which he uses to evoke positive energy in himself and his world.”

We can’t wait for this workshop and hope you will join us! This workshop is being offered as “pay what you can,” with a $20 suggested donation, and a $1 minimum donation. All revenue will be split between JAC and the teaching artist facilitators, to honor their creativity, passion, and commitment to creating these spaces. You can register for this workshop at the link in our bio!

#endmassincarceration #freethemall #art #artworkshop

Today, we are highlighting Finding Joy and Soundin

Today, we are highlighting Finding Joy and Sounding Our Futures, an upcoming webinar hosted by eCornell and featuring JAC community member, Bruce Levitt. The webinar will take place tomorrow, October 7, at 7:30 PM EDT and will assemble various poets, theater directors and scholars of African American literature and culture to discuss the role art can play in supporting incarcerated and policed populations. As the event website puts it, “Art has long been used as a vehicle for both healing and hope, two things often in short supply in prison.” The webinar will help participants learn both about the specific transformative work occurring in correctional facilities across the country as well as “how prison activists work to liberate themselves and others via study, collectivity, creativity, and sonic affirmations of humanity.”

We hope you will sign up for what will be an informative and exciting webinar. For more information about the event and a registration form, please visit the link in our bio.

#endmassincarceration #freethemall #prisontheater #prisonart #cornell #ecornell #webinar

JAC is partnering with Mourning Our Losses @mourni

JAC is partnering with Mourning Our Losses @mourningourlosses for a virtual vigil this Thursday, October 8th at 1 PM EST to honor those who have died behind bars during the COVID-19 pandemic. The vigil will feature a selection of memorials, a moment of silence and will conclude with “say their names,” in which the name of every known individual who has died in confinement during the pandemic will be read aloud. More information can be found at bit.ly/mourningourlossesvigil or by visiting the Facebook event page. We hope you will join us for this incredibly important event as part of the COVID-19 Week of Mourning.

Fellow partners are @yaleundergraduateprisonproject @thesoutherncenter @texasafterviolence

Visit our website to read our latest Artist Spotli

Visit our website to read our latest Artist Spotlight for the incredible Gary Farlow. An accomplished visual #artist and #poet who is currently incarcerated, Farlow’s works have been displayed across the United States. Farlow believes in the #transformative power of #art, especially for those who are #incarcerated. In his own words, “you seldom hear of the positive effects of art on inmates and the trickle-down benefits for society.” JAC is grateful that we had the opportunity to speak with him and invite you to learn more about his story and artwork! Link in bio and written on this image! 🌟✨🌟

#endmassincarceration #freethemall #prisonart

JAC is here to announce another upcoming Create +

JAC is here to announce another upcoming Create + Connect Workshop! Join us next Thursday, October 8th at 6:30 PM EST for From Officer to Advocate with Lorenzo Steele. Steele will share both his experiences as a Correctional Officer at Rikers Island from 1987 - 1999 and discuss how he currently uses his art platform to deter violence and incarceration. We hope you will join us for this important conversation! Register for the workshop using the link in our bio, and for more information and other upcoming workshops, visit our website.

Short biography: Lorenzo Steele Jr. is an accomplished visual artist, author and former New York City Corrections officer. After spending time working at Rikers Island, Steele now shares his experience and knowledge of the correctional system with youth, parents, and educators. Currently, Steele provides conflict resolution, bullying, literacy training, and prison and gang awareness workshops in schools and communities in the greater New York metropolitan area. We are so lucky to have him conduct this workshop!

#art #artasliberation #testimony #endmassincarceration #endviolence #freethemall #carenotcages #artists #workshop #socialchange #artandactivism #activist

JAC is thrilled to announce #Create + #Connect Wor

JAC is thrilled to announce #Create + #Connect Workshop: Seeing Sounds Chakra Colors with Edwin Calderon! Join us Sunday, October 11th, at 12:00 PM EST to create sound-inspired art. Edwin will lead participants to explore the relationships that exist between #color, #energy, and #sound by creating their own #art. Edwin is a #painter and #community artist that uses painting and other media forms to conceptualize with shape and color. As he describes it, his paintings “depict living entities in an “unseen” realm, which he uses to evoke positive #energy in himself and his world.”

We can’t wait for this workshop and hope you will join us! This workshop is being offered as “pay what you can,” with a $20 suggested donation, and a $1 minimum donation. All revenue will be split between JAC and the teaching artist facilitators, to honor their creativity, passion, and commitment to creating these spaces. You can register for this workshop at the link in our bio!

#artasliberation #socialchange #socialjustice #freethemall #prisonabolition #prisonarts #endmassincarceration

JAC is excited to share three upcoming virtual per

JAC is excited to share three upcoming virtual performances of The BOX, a play produced by the Pulitzer Center about solitary confinement written by survivor, Sarah Shourd, in collaboration with other survivors. In Shourd’s words: “Is your empathy expanding or contracting during the pandemic? Would you like it to expand more? Art can help with that. There’s so much resonance between the content of The BOX and this period of global isolation: from how people find connection despite the barriers between us to the corrosive danger of a world where that has become so much more difficult.”

This Thursday, October 1st, and Saturday, October 3rd, you can join one of three virtual performances of The BOX. Make sure to register in advance using the link in our bio. Also check out JAC’s recent conversation with Shourd available now on our blog to learn more about her story and the upcoming production. Website link also in our bio!

#endmassincarceration #artasliberation
#art #theater #endsolitaryconfinement #prisonabolition #prisonarts #pulitzer #prisontheater #socialchange #freethemall #empathy

It’s not too late to register for our incredible

It’s not too late to register for our incredible Create + Connect Workshop tomorrow! Join us tomorrow at 5 PM EST for In The Box with Kenneth Reams in conversation with Judith Elane. The workshop will be a thought provoking discussion on the transformative role art can play especially in relation to the criminal legal system.

Swipe and mark your calendars for our other upcoming Create + Connect Workshops! JAC is excited to partner with a variety of different artists and advocates, including Lorenzo Steele, Edwin Calderon and Anderson Smith, to continue having these important conversations. More information about tomorrow’s workshop and any upcoming workshops can be found on our website. We hope to see you tomorrow! @freekennethreams @3dwincalderon

#endmassincarceration #art #artasliberation #artandactivism #socialjustice #equity #socialchange #workshop #transformation #prisonarts #prisonart #prisonabolition #abolishthedeathpenalty

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