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New prison arts program hopes to foster restorative justice

By Kayan Tara

Posted February 6, 2023

The Initiative began at the Putnamville Correctional Facility in fall 2022.

Inmates took classes in visual arts techniques, creative writing, and bookmaking, all taught by former and current IU graduate instructors. (Devan Ridgway, WTIU/WFIU News)

The City of Bloomington is hosting an exhibit, "Free to Wonder: The Indiana University Prison Arts Initiative Student Exhibition," in City Hall’s Atrium Gallery.  It features artwork by 10 incarcerated people at Putnamville Correctional Facility.

Oliver Nell was an Auburn University undergrad when he became inspired by the Alabama Prison Arts and Education Project. Now the program coordinator for the IU Prison Arts Initiative, Nell brought the idea to the Hoosier state.

Read more: Here’s who's running for Bloomington City Council in 2023

“There were resources through where I work, the IU Arts and Humanities Council, to put this on,” Nell said. “And we had a model through the program back in Alabama. We felt like this was an environment that was ripe for this sort of work.”

The Initiative began at the Putnamville Correctional Facility in fall 2022. Inmates took classes in visual arts techniques, creative writing, and bookmaking, all taught by former and current IU graduate instructors.

The goal of the project is to add to the ongoing conversations about restorative justice projects in Indiana prisons and jails, according to Holly Warren, assistant director for the arts for the City of Bloomington.

“I think [the Initiative is] incredibly important. It's moving us in the right direction of really valuing human rights overall,” Warren said. “We do hope that by demonstrating this kind of work and how this just really brings out a thriving element of these students, we're helping perpetuate and move that conversation forward.”

Read more: The 21st-Century Conservatory Needs to Challenge Itself

Nell and Warren hope the Initiative expands and continues to bring the arts as an option to those incarcerated in Indiana's prisons and jails.

The exhibit will be in City Hall’s Atrium Gallery Jan. 26-Feb. 17. More information can be found at IU’s Arts and Humanities Council website.

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