Reforming Arts

Mission:

Reforming Arts supports people who are under carceral control in Georgia through arts, education, and reentry services. Our theatre infused higher education in prison and reentry programs foster the development of creative critical thinking and encourage students to explore creative solution and build livable lives.

Higher Education in Prison:

Reforming Arts' Theatre Infused Higher Education Project offers college courses through a partnership with Georgia State University Prison Education Project. Our program uses applied theatre techniques and other liberal arts disciplines to foster creative critical thinking. Students take college level courses in composition, women’s studies, American studies, and other liberal arts courses as well as theatre courses over at least a two-year period. Creative thinking is displayed through a culminating original play that highlights the overarching theme of the combined classes, such as women's history or concepts of utopia and a student produced newsletter. The play production reflects student's learning and creative thinking skills, for example after a year of focusing on women's history our students wrote and produced a play about Welfare Rights Organizing in Atlanta in the 1970s.

Theatre Reentry Project:

Reforming Arts’ Reentry Program creates and presents original plays about the struggles and complexities of reentry and the systemic problems surrounding mass incarceration in the United States. Participants are individuals who were formerly incarcerated in women's prisons in Georgia and most participated in Reforming Arts' Higher Education in Prison program while incarcerated.