The Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project

The Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project
is a program at Auburn University dedicated to bringing educational opportunities to prisoners in Alabama. The program is helping the
adult prison population to gain a quality education, and also to build a relationship with learning that will continue to grow for the rest of
their lives. APAEP provides access to sustained and quality educational experiences in the arts, humanities, hard sciences, and human
sciences. APAEP believes that education provides a fertile field for transformation and growth and that these learning experiences contribute
to the positive development of the person.
Consider the Sentence:
An Art Exhibition + Auction to Benefit the
Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project
April
15th
April 15, 2015 4:00 pm- 8:00 pm
at The Sanctuary, an Arts and Entertainment Venue
432 S. Goldthwaite St.
Montgomery, Alabama
Free and Open to the Public
www.auburn.edu/apaep
APAEP: 334.844.8946
apaepau@auburn.edu
An Event Sponsored by the ACLU of Alabama and the
Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project in the College
of Human Sciences at Auburn University
Dear APAEP Friends and Supporters,
APAEP is funded by
Last semester former ADOC Commissioner Kim Thomas came to my
non-fiction writing class to observe. The class was having its second day
of discussion on Peter Heller’s The Dog Stars, a post-apocalyptic piece
that riveted the classroom. Readers are given two primary fictional
characters: one a poet/pilot/builder and the other a former military
survivalist. The class moved into an intense conversation on manifestations
of hope and what it means to survive. Questions and ponderings that
are completely appropriate for the place where they currently reside.
We ended the discussion with the role of beautiful writing to transfix
and transform the reader, but also an abiding respect for recognizing
that people are on their own paths in this world.
Why am I telling you this? Without our program coming into Alabama
prisons, there is no space for this kind of class to happen. That means
that close to 30,000 people would not even have the opportunity to find
a community through learning, and to push themselves and each other
to greater understandings through reading literature, or any other of
the classes we offer.
If our classes did not matter, the Commissioner of the ADOC would
not have taken his time to visit the class. We would not have teachers
clamoring to work with us if something important and meaningful was not
happening. If our classes were not making an impression upon the
students we serve, then they would not continue to attend the classes.
One student says frequently about the prison, “You are what you talk
about in here. And APAEP students talk about poetry and books and
math and science.”
Education is fundamental to our human existence. It provides us the
means to direct our own lives and our own curiosities. It allows us a way
into the world that we choose for ourselves. People, all people, need
the opportunity to interact with education in a meaningful and challenging
way. Our students desperately need APAEP’s educational programming.
APAEP students need your continued support to have the opportunity
to learn in college-level classes. We cannot do this without you.
- Kyes Stevens, Director Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project
“It’s so inspiring to be around people who really want to
learn and are interested in everything. …I’ve taught high
school and college and you just don’t get that kind of
commitment to learning in a traditional classroom.”
- Kenny Kruse, APAEP Instructor
“
The classes of the Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project (APAEP)
at Auburn University are an asset to the state of Alabama where
there are currently not enough educational programs to meet the
needs of those incarcerated. Working in many facilities across the
state, APAEP helps offenders develop a positive relationship with
learning and creates opportunities to be successful in education.
These experiences will benefit offenders while incarcerated and
prove essential for success when they return to their communities.
- Kim Thomas,
Former Commissioner of the Department
of Corrections State of Alabama
APAEP classes are offered for Continuing Education Units
through Auburn University, with classes meeting once a
week for 14 weeks. Most APAEP classes are open enrollment and have diverse learners participating in each
class. Because of the indigent nature of APAEP students,
books are checked out for use for the duration of the
class, and other class supplies are provided. Students are
challenged to ponder learning as process, to think about
education as an experience that does not stop at the end
of each course, but a lifelong investment in themselves,
their families and communities.
Program Coordinator: Meredith Randall knight
Meredith Randall Knight joined APAEP in January 2015 as program coordinator. Before coming
to APAEP, Meredith taught ceramics and sculpture at Auburn University Montgomery and at the
Montgomery Museum of Fine Art. Previously, she was also the Co-director of Black Belt 100 Lenses
at the University of Alabama and the Visual Arts Summer Program Manager at the MacDonald
Hughes Foundation in Tuscaloosa. Meredith will be working to schedule classes, develop the
traveling art exhibit, and build arts opportunities for prison students, among many other program
projects. Her experiences as artist and activist will contribute greatly to APAEP’s goal to bring
quality and sustained programming to Alabama prisons. We are thrilled to have her on board.
Growing up in Alabama, Meredith graduated summa cum laude with a BFA and an MFA in Sculpture from the University of Alabama.
Her work is currently on display at the von Braun Center in Hunstville, The Carver Museum and Community Center in Gadsden, and
The Bamboo Park in Northport, Alabama. Her work has been displayed throughout the southeast including The Rymer Gallery in
Nashville, Spring Hill College in Mobile, the University of Mobile, the Sella-Granata and Sarah Moody Galleries at the University of
Alabama, the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center in Tuscaloosa, the Kentuck Gallery in Northport, the Harrison Gallery in
Tuscaloosa, The Kelly Fitzpatrick Memorial Gallery in Wetumpka, and the von Liebig Art Center in Naples, FL.
In February 2015
APAEP received a
$20,000 grant from the
Kalliopeia Foundation
“
Every class offered by APAEP
builds knowledge. Each class
opens a door, a window.
Education makes a path for
people to take hold of their life
and build it. We are a program
working where few work, trying
to foster change as grown
through learning and creating
and finding our shared humanity.
Your donations will help open
those doors.”
Kyes Stevens, Director
Alabama Prison Arts +
Education Project
Coming this Summer
APAEP will work with artist Steven Jones, through generous support from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, to offer our first
mural art class. The class, which will take place at the Tutwiler Prison for Women, will create a mural for the visitation space.
Students will learn the historical presence and significance of murals, and then work together to design and paint the mural.
Facts & Figures:
Facilities APAEP currently serve: Statistics:
Bibb County Correctional Facility
Bullock County Correctional
Donaldson Correctional Facility
Easterling Correctional Facility
Elmore Correctional Center
Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women
Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women Annex
Montgomery Women’s Facility
St. Clair Correctional Facility
Staton Correctional Facility
MAKE A DONATION
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mailing your donation.
Number of students – 2155
Books Behind Bars – 21 facilities
10 facilities for library development
Classroom Instruction Contact Hours – 4611
Julia Llanes, Development
Coordinator for the College of
Human Sciences donates regularly to the Alabama Prison Arts
+ Education Project. She says, “I
believe that all members of our
society deserve thought, consideration and a voice. Prison
system inmates should not be an exception. Access to the
arts and literacy provide an outlet for self-expression, positive
socialization, introspection and spiritual growth. I support this
exemplary program through monthly recurring gifts so that I
may participate in letting this population know that they are
not forgotten; and for those who may make it back into society
there is a productive way to have a voice.” Thanks, Julia, for
your generous support.
Your financial support for the Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project will provide
additional classes which impact the lives of the people like those seen throughout this
brochure.
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Address
Semester-length classes – 173
Donor Spotlight
$50, APAEP can buy paper and pens for a writing class
$500, a set of textbooks
$1100 pays for half the salary of an artist, writer for scholar for one semester
$2200 pays the salary of an artist, writer or scholar for one semester
contact info
203 Spidle Hall
Auburn, AL 36849
338.844.8946
apaepau@auburn.edu
www.humsci.auburn.edu/apaep
APAEP needs your support. Any donation amount will be greatly appreciated.
To make an online contribution by credit card (AMEX, MasterCard, Visa,Discover),
visit www.auburn.edu/humsci/apaep
alabamaprisonartsandeducationproject
Should you require additional support please contact Julia Llanes at
julia.chs@auburn.edu or 334-844-3814.
To make a contribution by check, please make check payable to Auburn University
Foundation, enter APAEP in the memo area, and mail to:
Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project, 203 Spidle Hall, Auburn University, AL 36849.
An official tax receipt will come under separate cover from the Auburn University Foundation. Contributions to the Alabama Prison
Arts + Education Project are fully tax deductible, exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
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Auburn University is an equal opportunity employer/educational institution.