CFA ENGAGING OUR COMMUNITY
ART IN CORRECTIONS
A RT I N CO RR E CT I ON S
Youth Camp Art Education In collaboration with the organizations Arts for Incarcerated Youth and the Armory Center for the Arts, faculty in the Department of Art and Art History have visited juvenile detention facilities in the Greater Los Angeles Area to facilitate art education for the young residents. The goal of these collaborations is to create an on-site mural, which both engages the residents in an expressive art process and beautifies their surroundings. Following the completion of the murals, the young participants are invited to a culminating party where they are awarded certificates.
At Camp McNair, which is part of the Los Angeles County Challenger Memorial Youth Camps, the young residents collaborated with studio arts faculty to create the mural pictured to the left over 25 total visits. Faculty worked with two groups for two hours each at every visit. Projects included drawing lessons, printmaking, watercolor, mixed media and painting techniques, as well as brainstorming time. Another mural was created with the young residents at Camp Scott in Santa Clarita.
Art in Corrections Conference Research conducted in both state prisons and county jails have shown that visual and performing arts programs in correctional facilities not only improve inmates’ confidence, communication skills and emotional management, but result in better relations with other inmates and staff. CFA partnered with California Lawyers for the Arts to host the second annual Arts in Corrections Conference, which invited experts in the field of prison arts, along with former inmates who developed an interest in painting and guitar making while incarcerated, to share their experiences, skills, and insights about current research. The conference, which is geared toward arts educators, featured classes led by master artists with experience teaching different art disciplines in institutional settings; research about prison arts initiatives and their benefits; and information on best practices and the challenges facing these programs.
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