The DU Prison Arts Initiative (PAI) is a program that teams up with correctional facilities across the state to use art as a means for incarcerated people to express themselves.
Dr. Ashley Hamilton, the director of DU’s PAI, works to provide opportunities to those who are incarcerated. Hamilton, along with those involved in the programs, have come together as a group to develop arts initiatives at prison facilities across Colorado and beyond, while also working closely with a team of student scholars who contribute to research and programming.
“Art involvement lets incarcerated students be part of something larger than themselves again. From that space comes the opportunity to create healing for self and community, which opens up the possibility for transformation in people, spaces, and systems,” said Hamilton.
The organization was founded in 2017 by three women, Dr. Apryl Alexander, Dr. Hamilton and Dr. Rachael Zafer. With the program, they aimed to generate invaluable and collaborative experiences and creatively enrich the lives of people who are incarcerated. This initiative is all about shifting the conversation about prison, trying to create and sustain an open dialogue between incarcerated people and their communities.
“The process of art-making heals, begets self-confidence, and creates community. Once a community is established, it tends to humanize itself as well as those people on the outside looking in. It’s our goal to exist beyond reform where greater community transformation is possible. This means bringing empathy into the voting body—people who have the power to change the system,” said Dan Manzanares, DU PAI’s Development and Communications manager.
Even though arts programs have been a part of prison spaces for years, there is limited research around the actual impact they have. Rather than research focused on singular workshops and small sample sizes, the DU PAI evaluates their success through interviews and surveys. The quantitative data they collect is used to assess changes in participants’ views of themselves and their communities. Most recently, they have been able to conduct pre-and post-evaluation with 123 participants.
Today, the organization holds various public events and live productions. In collaboration with the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC), DU PAI is able to connect incarcerated cast, crew, and production teams. One of the most recent productions, A/LIVEINSIDE, featured a live virtual event weaving together performance, music, song, dance, visual art and panoramic real-life stories of incarcerated artists across multiple facilities in Colorado. They also have a podcast called the With(in) Podcast, that is meant to shift the conversation on the people within prison systems, presenting meaningful and enlightening conversations.
You can listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or SoundCloud. To stay up to date on the latest performances, events and programming from DU’s PAI, email DU PAI at prisonarts@du.edu.
