THE CONFINED ARTS
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prison art + aethetics project (PAAP)

Organizers
  • Michael Kelly, Philosophy, UNC Charlotte; & President, Transdisciplinary Aesthetics Foundation
  • Annabel Manning, Social-Practice Artist & Educator
  • Lisa Schubert, VP, Programming and External Affairs, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine
  • Isaac Scott, Pastor, Artist & Human Rights Activist; Founder and Artistic Director, The Confined Arts

Lead Organizations
  • Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine; The Confined Arts; Transdisciplinary Aesthetics Foundation Collaborators
  • Broadway Advocacy Coalition; Center for Justice, Columbia University
 
The Prison Art + Aesthetics Project (PAAP) is an 18-month series of symposia, art exhibitions, poetry readings, plays, concerts, and other art events focused on the transdisciplinary aesthetics of prison art in the U.S. and elsewhere. Prison art encompasses four overlapping areas:
 
Art before prison (e.g., education, social support, employment)
Art during prison (e.g., art programs, independent art activities, educational programs)
Art after prison (e.g., reentry/reintegration, parole, voting)
Art beyond prison (e.g., alternatives to incarceration, restorative models of justice, abolition).
To appreciate the importance of prison art, we need only remember Frederick Douglass’s philosophy of art, where he speaks about the role of art in the slave abolition movement: “All wishes, all aspirations, all hopes, all doubts, all determinations grow stronger and stronger precisely in proportion as they get themselves expressed in words, forms, colours, and actions.” “Poets, prophets, and reformers...see what ought to be by the reflection of what is, and endeavor to remove the contradiction.” From the start, prison art is activism.

PAAP’s concrete goals are (1) to identify, showcase, and sustain the artistic capabilities of people presently or formerly in the criminal justice system or at risk of being ensnared by it; (2) to cultivate, through the arts, “engaged responsibility” among all of us for transforming the criminal justice system, primarily in the U.S.; and (3) to develop new forms of community-university collaborative research for individuals committed to these two goals. Throughout, our purpose is to impact public perception and policy about the criminal justice system, insisting that “dignity for all” be a guiding spiritual principle as we critique and transform the system.
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© 2020 THE CONFINED ARTS

The images, pictures, videos, and text on this website are copyrighted and may not be downloaded or reproduced. These materials may be used only for Educational Purposes. They include extracts of copyright works copied under copyright licences. You may not copy or distribute any part of this material to any other person. Where the material is provided to you in electronic format you may download or print from it for your own use, but not for redistribution. You may not download or make a further copy for any other purpose. Failure to comply with the terms of this warning may expose you to legal action for copyright infringement and/or disciplinary action.
The Confined Arts Program located at Columbia University is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non‐profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of THE CONFINED ARTS must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” and are tax‐deductible to the extent permitted by law
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From the Inside Out

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  • Who We Are
    • OUR MISSION
    • OUR TEAM
    • OUR PARTNERS
    • Contact US
  • HOW WE WORK
    • ART AS ADVOCACY
    • COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH
    • Capacity Building
  • WHAT WE DO
    • EVENTS >
      • LANGUAGE CONFERENCE
      • Post Traumatic Prison Disorder Town Hall
    • Exhibitions >
      • Open Call for Clemency
      • Reclaiming the Narrative
      • Women in Prison
      • Film & Media
    • RESEARCH >
      • Social Dynamics of Prison
      • Language of Dehumanization Project
    • Storytelling Projects >
      • The Viral Monologues
      • 132 Calls
  • News & Events
    • EVENTS CALENDAR
    • Criminal Justice News
    • TCA Opinions
    • Resources
  • DONATE AND SUPPORT
  • Get Involved