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Causes: Human Services
Mission: We use creative process & performance to expand perspective and inspire life change in prison and beyond.
Target demographics: Ethnic/Racial Minorities -- General Ethnic/Racial Minorities -- Other Specified Group Offenders/Ex-offenders Poor/Economically Disadvantaged, Indigent, General Youth/Adolescents only (14 - 19 years)
Geographic areas served: Dauphin County Lebanon County Perry County Rhode Island Connecticut Maryland Ohio New Jersey Tennessee Pennsylvania Massachusetts Delaware Maine Virginia Illinois New York Cumberland County
Programs: In the impact workshop, professional artists collaborate with 30 incarcerated individuals inside a prison or jail for 60-70 hours during a two-week period to develop a 45-minute performance of dance, music, drama, and spoken word. This performance presents an uplifting message of hope to other incarcerated people in the facility. Preparation includes rehearsals, community building activities, reflection, and small group discussions on faith and self-awareness. All choreography, theater sketches, and spoken word pieces are original work, crafted by the participants from their own life experiences in a way that will powerfully touch their peers in the audience. The presentation is then offered to other facility residents. Outcomes are measured using surveys of the participants. Areas measured include personal, relational, and spiritual growth. In 2017 a study was also begun with betagov/nyu and the pa doc to assess outcomes. In 2017, six workshops were completed, involving 124 incarcerated people who offered their presentation to 2,390 other people in the prisons. Workshops were done in 3 pennsylvania state prisons, 2 jails in the philadelphia prison system and in rikers island (new york city).