ART SERIES ON HUMAN RESILIENCE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM
A Remote Arts Series on Human Resilience and Criminal Justice Reform is a three-part participatory public event to explore the potential for art to build bridges and create positive social change. This series was recorded and later featured on a podcast dedicated to the theme.
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How can art help build resilience and bring change, especially to those impacted by the criminal justice system ? This is what we are discussing in this series of 5 episodes, which was made in partnership with the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution, or IIP, at John Jay College. This episode features a conversation between Christopher Myers, a multimedia artist, writer and playwright, and Pastor Isaac Scott, a formerly incarcerated artist, poet and activist. It was recorded on May 8, 2020.
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How can art help build resilience and bring change, especially to those impacted by the criminal justice system? This is what we are discussing in this series of 5 episodes, which was made in partnership with the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution, or IIP, at John Jay College. This episode features the reading of poems by formerly or currently incarcerated men and women, and a conversation around them moderated by IIP's director Lucy Lang. It was recorded on April 23, 2020.
Episode 2 - Poetry Reading & Conversation
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How can art help build resilience and bring change, especially to those impacted by the criminal justice system? This is what we are discussing in this series of 5 episodes, which was made in partnership with the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution, or IIP, at John Jay College. This episode features a conversation with Reginald Dwayne Betts, an American poet, memoirist and scholar. It was recorded on May 1, 2020.
Episode 3 - Conversation with Reginald Dwayne Betts
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How can art help build resilience and bring change, especially to those impacted by the criminal justice system? This is what we are discussing in this series of 5 episodes, which was made in partnership with the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution, or IIP, at John Jay College. This episode features a conversation with Aimee Ng, curator at The Frick Collection in New York. It was recorded on May 21, 2020.
Episode 4 - Conversation with Aimee Ng
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How can art help build resilience and bring change, especially to those impacted by the criminal justice system? This is what we are discussing in this series of 5 episodes, which was made in partnership with the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution, or IIP, at John Jay College. This episode features a conversation with Lucy Lang, Director of the IIP, Shanakay Salmon, Creative Associate at the IIP, and Robert Pollock, PEN America’s Prison Writing Program Manager. It was recorded on June 2, 2020.
Part 1: Poetry Reading and Conversation
Poets with a wide range of experiences with the criminal justice system share poems related to the theme of human resilience, and invite audience questions and thoughts. Click through each poet to learn more about their work and organizations.
Performers:
Dario Peña, Poet & Educator
Shawanna Vaughn, Silent Cry
Featured Poems:
Part 2: Curator-led Painting Dialogue
Each semester, the prosecutors and incarcerated students who comprise the IIP's Inside Criminal Justice class travel together to a New York City cultural institution to expand their interdisciplinary policy work together. In this curator-facilitated conversation, participants were invited to do the same by collaboratively studying a single artwork in the context of their lived experiences, including with the criminal justice system.
Curator:
Featured Painting:
The Forge by Francisco Goya
Part 3: Community Art-Making Exercise
Bring a pen and paper and join arts experts for collaborative poetry writing and drawing exercises that will be combined to create an electronic community tapestry. No art experience required!
“I Am” template available here.
Materials Needed: Blank sheets of paper & writing utensil.
Featured I Am Poems and Drawings:
