The crucial role the performing arts can play helping incarcerated youth think differently about their futures was the focus of an event LUMBERYARD hosted on Sept. 29.

On the cusp of implementation of landmark state policy, Raise the Age, we were pleased to host artists, policy makers and community leaders at our Catskill, N.Y. facility to discuss important changes affecting teens who are in prison or juvenile detention centers.

New York’s Raise the Age policy came into effect on Oct. 1, raising the age of criminal responsibility to 18 years of age.

New York was previously one of only two states that automatically prosecuted 16- and 17-year-olds as adults. This unfairly punished youth and prevented them from receiving the services they need to rehabilitate themselves and re-integrate into their communities.

At the event, excerpts from a performance, a documentary screening and the discussion they inspired allowed LUMBERYARD to share, with a broader audience, what we know well: the arts can change people’s lives. They can be an especially effective tool for incarcerated youth who may have been through trauma, made questionable decisions, and who – in most cases – will soon return to society.

 

 

About LUMBERYARD’s Fresh Start program

The event was also an opportunity for LUMBERYARD to showcase Fresh Start, our new program which brings experienced professionals to New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) and Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) facilities to lead performing arts workshops and stage performances.

They then host follow-up sessions to reflect on the work together, discussing using the arts after incarceration. Inmates are encouraged to work through creative and challenging exercises that help them tell their own stories and discover more about themselves.

Fresh Start officially kicked off in May with a pilot phase. After close to 10 sessions, a committed group of eight Hudson Correctional Facility inmates staged a performance that was well-received by fellow inmates and staff.

In August, Tony Award-winning artist Savion Glover – who has tapped in front of presidents, royals, stars, moguls and others – and drummer Marcus Gilmore performed as well.

Speaking to CBS News about the performance, LUMBERYARD Artistic and Executive Director Adrienne Willis described Fresh Start as a way of ensuring incarcerated youth “have everything they need to reintegrate into society when they get out.

“Anything we can teach them that’s going to help them when they get out is something we can do though the arts, particularly theater for self-expression.

“Given the success of the pilot, we’ll be continuing it here but since there are youth offenders in other areas of the state we hope to take this and replicate it in other prisons.”

Speaking to the Times Union, Donna Lewin, Superintendent of Hudson Correctional Facility, reflected: Fresh Start “helps the incarcerated youth to express themselves in a positive and creative way.

“It is also a means of introducing a variety of art forms which they may never experience in their normal environment.”

Such programs also aid the staff “by having a population who is calmer and more focused on their rehabilitation,” she said.

In September, when Schaal and Alston presented their work – and supporting workshops – to teenagers in the Hudson Correctional Facility and at the Goshen Secure Center, they encouraged the young men to “reclaim your dreams. Come up with a recipe for how to achieve them.”

About LUMBERYARD’s Fresh Start event

The Sept. 29 evening event began with excerpts from a new work, Jack &, by director Kaneza Schaal, who was in residence at LUMBERYARD through our partnership with the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

Schaal (along with Christopher Myers) also recently received a grant from the Ford Foundation’s Art For Justice Fund to engage incarcerated populations with the arts.

Guests were drawn in by a monologue performed by Cornell “Nate” Alston, an actor who served 33 years in New York prisons, including at Sing Sing.

Following a screening of Raised in the System, the extended premiere episode of the sixth season of HBO’s Emmy-winning weekly news magazine series, VICE, LUMBERYARD’s Melanie George moderated a panel discussion with:

• Richard  M. Aborn,  President, Citizens  Crime Commission of New York City
• The Honorable  Didi Barrett,  New York State  Assembly, District  106
• Dominic  Dupont, Criminal  Justice Reform Activist
• Kaneza  Schaal, director and LUMBERYARD artist-in-residence

Creating a Recipe for Success

As discussed again during at the event, art can change lives.

Dominic Dupont ­underlined how beneficial programming can be to inmates: “Re-entry is a process and it should start the minute the handcuffs go on you,” he said.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t.

Often young people leave the system and commit crimes again.

Programs like Fresh Start, which are designed to support successful re-entry, have been shown to reduce recidivism. LUMBERYARD stands ready to provide more support to help young people currently in the system make better choices.

Join us

LUMBERYARD is engaging leaders throughout the New York State government – both the executive branch and the legislative – along with philanthropies, corporations, generous individuals and the general public to generate funds to sustain and scale Fresh Start.

Show your support by donating here.