Classacts

Project Youth ArtReach

Project Youth ArtReach, an outreach initiative launched by Class Acts Arts in 1999, brings visual, literary and performing arts programs and residencies to youth in Washington, D.C. area juvenile correctional settings, alternative schools and a state-wide mentoring program for court-involved youth. Youth engage with a diverse group of professional artists, acquiring skills and exploring themes of respect from other cultures as they learn lessons in tolerance, problem solving and conflict resolution.

"Class Acts Arts' programs are educational and inspiring, and teach our youth to be more open-minded and respectful of those who might not look like them or come from the same background, instead of being threatened by them. The artists provide important reminders of what makes us all human."

Robert Green, Warden, Montgomery County Correctional Facility

Highlights January 2006 - January 2007

  • PYA programs reached close to 2,000 youth with more than 100 workshops or performances
  • Exhibit of juvenile inmate art work from PYA residencies at Pyramid Atlantic Gallery, Silver Spring (January 10-February 24, 2006)
  • Facilitated teacher training session for state-wide Dept of Juvenile Services educators, held at Cheltenham; workshop instructor was arts-in-corrections specialist and PYA consultant, Grady Hillman, who spoke on "Integrating the Arts into the Correctional Classroom."
  • Four mural arts residencies with detained or court-involved youth
  • Exhibit of Cheltenham mural art project at Kefa Cafe in Silver Spring, May 2006
  • Two poetry residencies with Bulgarian poet, Lyubomir Nikolov
  • Two drumming residencies with Anansegromma of Ghana
  • Outpouring of thanks via hundreds of letters from youth attending PYA programs
  • Received Montgomery County Council Community Grant to provide arts programs to Youthful Offenders at MCCF; Warden agreed to sponsor PYA programs for Women's Unit
  • Teamed up with the Maryland Multicultural Youth Center to create a 16' X 10' mural by court-involved youth; mural was donated to and installed in the Montgomery County Circuit Courthouse, Oct. 2006
  • Forged new partnership with D.C.'s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services
  • Renewed partnership with the Choice Program of The Shriver Center to bring arts programs to their mentored, court-involved youth in six Maryland counties

List of Priority 2005 - 2006 PYA sites

  • Montgomery County Correctional Facility, Youthful Offenders MRT Unit
  • Cheltenham Youth Center (Maryland DJS)
  • Young Women's Facility of Maryland at the Thomas J.S. Waxter Center (DJS)
  • Mark Twain School, Montgomery County Public Schools
  • Choice Program of The Shriver Center, UMBC (six Maryland counties)
  • District of Columbia Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services: DC Youth Services Center and Oak Hill
  • Good Shepherd Center, Baltimore (DJS and DSS)

List of Priority 2006 - 2007 PYA sites

  • Montgomery County Correctional Facility, Youthful Offenders MRT Unit
  • The Choice Program of The Shriver Center, UMBC (six Maryland counties)
  • Young Women's Facility of Maryland at the Thomas J.S. Waxter Center
  • Mark Twain School, MCPS
  • District of Columbia Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services: DC Youth Services Center and Oak Hill Cheltenham Youth Center (Maryland DJS)