https://youtu.be/IqPmdRdgRk4 The gentle hum of conversation in a cozy cafe provided the perfect backdrop as I settled down across from Henry, a beacon of hope and transformation whose story exemplifies the incredible healing power of art and its capacity to redefine lives. His tale is not just about one man’s journey to self-discovery but also […]

https://youtu.be/zmBD-dgA384HLVYDl41zU4FUh0m56JioO Henry is a living testament to the therapeutic power of art… more specifically he attributes his healing to the community building elements of the WJA prison Arts Program that helped strengthen the community. Get the full scoop. watch the interview video here

A thriving, sustaining art group has rooted itself in the Valley! This brief documentary features inmate artists and their teaching artists: Augustin Lira, Patricia Solarzano Wells, Marsha Jones, Marqus Jones, Michael McCarty, in collaboration with Fresno Arts Council, Alliance for Cultural and Traditional Arts and William James Association’s Prison Arts Project. Arts in Corrections is […]

Calls from prison are always poignant. You do what you can to dispel the distance and connect with the thin, tinny voice coming at you over institutional wires. You share lives and days and hopes and fears–even laughter–all within the temporal confines of a 15 minute telephone call. Hopefully, you are able to say what […]

I was a participant in WJA’s Prison Arts Project (aka Arts in Corrections) for six years (2003-2009) in San Quentin Prison. That was eleven years, 2 prisons, a four-and-a-half-hour board of paroles hearing, and three years on parole ago. I am about to hit my five year mark being off of parole and I have […]