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Finding Aid for the California. Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Arts-in-Corrections Records, 1977-2010
721
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Title: California. Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Arts-in-Corrections Records
Date (inclusive): 1977-2010
Record Series: 721
Creators:
Arts-in-Corrections
William James Association
Artsreach
Bowers, Jack
Carlson, James R.
Hesemeyer, Jeffery J.
Newborg, Carol
Petersen, William
Extent:
160 document boxes (80 linear feet)
4 half document boxes (1 linear ft.)
2 shoe boxes
4 oversize boxes
Abstract: Arts-in-Corrections was a unit within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that contracted with independent
community service organizations and professional artists to provide arts programs within correctional institutions. The program
began as the pilot Prison Arts Program at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, CA in 1977, and grew into the largest
institutionally-based arts program in the United States before the program was terminated in 2010. The collection consists
of the administrative, financial, and instructional records of Arts-in-Corrections and its contractual partners, Artsreach
and the William James Association; records of individual artist facilitators; documentation of works of art; publications;
and research and resources on national and international institutional arts programs.
Language: Finding aid is written in
English.
Language of the Material:
Materials are in English.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. University Archives.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library Special Collections
for paging information.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: With the exception of box 73, collection is open for research. Advance notice required
for access. Contact the UCLA University Archives for paging information.
Box 73 containing personnel files and identifying information of volunteers, mentors, and artist facilitator has been restricted.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UC Regents. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the
creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright
owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of
- Susan Hill, Artsreach, 2006, 2010
- William James Association, 2009
- Jack Bowers, 2009
- James R. Carlson, 2009
- William Cleveland, 2009
- William Petersen, 2009
- Carol Newborg, 2010
Processed by Kyoko Aoki in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Kelley Wolfe Bachli
and Megan Hahn Fraser, 2011.
[Identification of item], California. Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Arts-in-Corrections Records (Collection Number
721). UCLA Library Special Collections, University Archives, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Arts-in-Corrections was a unit within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that contracted with independent
community service organizations and professional artists to provide arts programs within correctional institutions. The program
began as the pilot Prison Arts Project at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, CA in 1977 with funding provided by
the California Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the San Francisco Foundation, and the Law Enforcement Assistance
Administration. The success of this initial program led to the Legislature appropriating $400,000 to augment the 1981 Department
of Corrections budget, establishing the Arts in Corrections unit within the department's Office of Community Resources Development.
The Arts in Corrections budget initially funded a program manager, six full-time civil service artist facilitators, and contracts
with professional artists as well as community arts organizations, and monies for supplies, equipment, and facilities. Over
the next three decades following the program inception, the William James Association and Artsreach (UCLA Extension) partnered
with Arts in Corrections to manage the hiring, artist residency design and training, as well as the implementation and evaluation
of the arts programs. Professional artists provided instruction in painting, drawing, sculpture, murals, photography, poetry,
creative writing, theater, and music. The William James Association and Artsreach also sponsored state-wide competitions and
exhibitions outside of the walls of the institutions.
By the 1990s, Arts in Corrections had fully operational studios and placed on-site arts professionals as staff in every state
correctional and rehabilitation institution in California, becoming the largest institutionally-based arts program in the
United States. Due to the state's budget crisis, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation terminated artist facilitator
positions at each of the institutions, concurrently eliminating the Arts in Corrections program in January 2010.
The Arts in Corrections Records consists of administrative, financial, and instructional records; documentation of works of
art; publications; news clippings; research materials; and institutional arts-related resources collected by Arts in Corrections,
its contractual partners, Artsreach and the William James Association, and individual artist facilitators. The collection
also contains the general administrative records of Artsreach and records of its collaborations with other constituents such
as the California Youth Authority, the Exceptional Children's Foundation, and 4-H Youth Development Organization, among others.
Files have been divided into series according to the originating entity and into subseries according to primary genres as
interpreted by the collection processor. Folder titles have been maintained from their original titles if provided by the
originating entity and noted as such in the corresponding descriptions. Titles on audiovisual materials such as videocassettes
and cassette tapes were transferred from the original labels, but contents have not been verified.
The following acronyms and initialisms are frequently used in this collection:
-
- AIC-Arts in Corrections
- BCP-Budget change proposal
- CAC-California Arts Council
- CDC-California Department of Corrections
- CDCR-California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
- CRD-Community Resources Development division of the California Department of Corrections
- CYA-California Youth Authority
- Artsreach ECF-Artsreach Exceptional Children's Foundation
- EIPU-Education and Inmate Program Unit
- IAF-Institutional artist facilitator
- NEA-National Endowment for the Arts
- PAP-Prison Arts Project
- PAN-Prison Arts Network
- Project CULTURE-Project Creative Use of Leisure Time Under Restrictive Environments
- QAP-Qualifying Artists Panel
- UCLA Extension-University of California, Los Angeles, Adult Continuing Education
- WJA-William James Association
-
California's Correctional and Rehabilitation Institutions
- Name of Institution (Acronym) - Location
- Avenal State Prison (ASP) - Avenal
- California Correctional Center (CCC) - Susanville
- California Correctional Institution (CCI) - Tehachapi
- California Institution for Men (CIM) - Chino
- California Institution for Women (CIW) - Corona
- California Medical Facility (CMF) - Vacaville
- California Men's Colony (CMC) - San Luis Obispo
- California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) - Norco
- California State Prison, Corcoran (COR) - Corcoran
- California State Prison, Los Angeles County (LAC) - Lancaster
- California State Prison, Sacramento (SAC) - Represa
- California State Prison, Solano (SOL) - Vacaville
- California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility (SATF) - Corcoran
- Calipatria State Prison (CAL) - Calipatria
- Centinela State Prison (CEN) - Imperial
- Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) - Chowchilla
- Chuckawalla Valley State Prison (CVSP) - Blythe
- Correctional Training Facility (CFT) - Soledad
- Deuel Vocational Institution (DVI) - Tracy
- Folsom State Prison (FOL) - Represa
- High Desert State Prison (HDSP) - Susanville
- Ironwood State Prison (ISP) - Blythe
- Kern Valley State Prison (KVSP) - Delano
- Mule Creek State Prison (MCSP) - Ione
- North Kern State Prison (NKSP) - Delano
- Northern California Women's Facility, re-entry facility (NCWF) - Stockton
- Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) - Crescent City
- Pleasant Valley State Prison (PVSP) - Coalinga
- R. J. Donovan Correctional Facility at Rock Mountain (RJD) - San Diego
- Salinas Valley State Prison (HDSP) - Soledad
- San Quentin State Prison (SQ) - San Quentin
- Sierra Conservation Center (SCC) - Jamestown
- Valley State Prison for Women (VSPW) - Chowchilla
- Wasco State Prison (WSP) - Wasco
Arranged in the following series:
- William James Association
- Administrative records
- Works of art and creative writing
- Competitions and exhibitions
- Newsletters, clippings, ephemera
- William James Association Library
- Administration of program
- Administrative records
- Financial records
- Works of art, publications, exhibitions
- Newsletters, clippings, research
- William Cleveland records
- Artsreach
- Administrative records
- Arts in Corrections
- Programs for youth
- Research and resources
- Artist Facilitators
- Jack Bowers
- James R. Carlson
- Jeffrey J. Hesemeyer
- Carol Newborg
- William Petersen
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
California. Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Arts-in-Corrections --Archives.
Prisoners as artists --California --Archival resources.
Other Index Terms Related to this Collection
Arts-in-Corrections records
Prison Arts Project (William James Association)
University of California, Los Angeles. Artsreach Program.
Items Removed from the Collection
Confidential records from inmates' California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Central File were removed from
this collection. Identifying information such as Social Security numbers were redacted or removed, and duplicate materials
were weeded out of the collection.
California. Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Arts-in-Corrections. [California Arts-In-Corrections Program, 1983-2009]
UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive, Record ID 13178. Audiovisual and sound recordings of music created by inmates at Folsom Prison,
Soledad Correctional Training Facility, California Institution for Men in Chino, and the William James Association Prison
Arts Project. For access, contact
UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive
.