2/4/04

Jessica Lueders, 334/844-4946

AU WINS NEA GRANT FOR ALABAMA PRISON ARTS INITIATIVE

AUBURN -- The Auburn University Center for the Arts and Humanities has received a $20,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support arts programs in two Alabama prisons.

The grant will help finance The Alabama Prison Arts Initiative, a creative writing program for inmates in two Alabama correctional facilities, for 2003-2004.

AU's Center for the Arts and Humanities, in a partnership with Aid to Inmate Mothers and the Alabama Writersą Forum, established the writing program at the Julia Tutwiler Prison and Annex for Women in Wetumpka in 1999.

A similar program recently began at the Frank Lee Youth Center in Deatsville, a correctional center for men.

TAPAI also sponsors library development at the two prisons and has received more than 1,000 donated books.

The NEA grant will allow TAPAI to stabilize and expand their programs, which will create a statewide and national model for similar programs.

Grady Hillman, an internationally recognized arts and education consultant who has worked in more than 100 adult and juvenile facilities in four countries, praised the Alabama program.

"Programs like the one in Alabama create a safer world for all of us," said Hillman. "At the very least prison arts programs pay for themselves."

Previously, the AU Center for the Arts and Humanities and its partners have only been able to offer two classes per year. With the new NEA funding, however, a minimum of four classes will be offered each year. It is expected that as many as 150 inmates a year will participate in the creative writing classes.

Jay Lamar, associate director of the AU Center for the Arts and Humanities, said the classes help expand the students' understanding of the world and their place in it. The classes focus on the creative process, self-discovery, and writing improvement through a humanities-based discussion curriculum.

Kyes Stevens, director of communications for the AU College of Architecture, Design, and Construction, teaches many of the creative writing classes.

"The Alabama Prison Arts Initiative is about planting seeds of vision through intellectual and creative discovery," says Stevens. "It is about helping people find hope within themselves and offering a foundational educational background in writing."

"These writing courses give (women inmates) a means to express emotions and thoughts they might not have been able to in the past," said Gladys Deese, warden of the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women.

Michelle Bankston, a former participant in one of the classes, says the creative writing class "allows one to use their mind," adding, "I want to share with others what I hear and feel."

John Cummins, Warden of the Frank Lee Youth Center, said, "The program is a great opportunity for our inmates. We are glad to have The Alabama Prison Arts Initiative working in our facility."

Visits from guest writers and artists will also increase throughout each 12-week class period. Nine visiting artists, ranging from poets to performing artists, have committed to the program, and at least one artist will visit each class.

Participants' work will be shared at the end of each year. Their writings are compiled into an annual anthology that is distributed to participants, their families, prison administration and staff, prison arts teachers and advocates.

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CONTACT: Stevens, 334/844-4523; or Lamar, 334/844-4946.