Art for Incarcerated Youth

Capstone Project

Art gives us a voice. What voices in our society have we not been hearing? After watching 13th on Netflix in the wake of a nation-wide call for social justice in the U.S. this summer, I realized that the voice of the incarcerated is being neither heard nor, and more importantly, listened to. This project will provide the means for a local incarcerated population, in particular imprisoned youth, to express themselves through various facets of art. My ideal project would consist of workshops working directly with the incarcerated population to promote artistic expression, but if logistics prove this direct method not possible, I will work to provide and transport art materials and instructions to the facilities for the inmates to create art on their own. The main goal of this project is to give the youth an outlet within art, given the therapeutic effects art generally produces, but if I am given consent by the youth I will present their art at the ArtsFest in May so that our community can begin to listen to the voices we have not been hearing.