Arts and Juvenile Justice Reform

Seeding systemic, sustainable change

Wednesday, October 16, 8:00am – 9:00am

Organized and presented by Susan Feder, program officer for the Performing Arts, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Kaile Shilling, executive director, Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network; and Shira Greenberg, founder and artistic director, Keshet Dance & Center for the Arts.

Last year, the Mellon Foundation funded a pilot replication of the Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network’s (AIYN) collaborative model with the Keshet Center for the Arts in Albuquerque, NM. For over 20 years, Keshet has provided incarcerated youth with academic instruction and conflict resolution through dance and choreography, alongside reintegration mentorship. Yet still, Keshet sought to extend its impact. In Los Angeles, AIYN has enabled systems-level integration not previously possible, through partnership with the Departments of Public Health and Mental Health, which now see arts as integral to healing and wellbeing. The pilot’s resultant formation of the Arts Network for Youth and Justice – New Mexico has begun to work with public and private partners, including arts and advocacy organizations, as well as state-level public investment strategies, to integrate arts as necessary for youth wellbeing, advocacy, and employment pathways. Together, the Los Angeles and New Mexico collaboratives are now codifying their replication processes, and building capacity to expand elsewhere. This session will be a case study on how arts organizations can collaborate with non-arts organizations, how local efforts can achieve national potential, and how funders can seed effective strategies for long-term sustainability and systemic change. Brief arts practices will make the session interactive.