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20th Annual Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners Opens March 25

Pcap rutgersexhibit 07
Image: Rafael DeJesus, The Way It Is!” 

The Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) at the University of Michigan presents the Twentieth Annual Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners. Running from March 25 – April 8, 2015, the show will be held at the Duderstadt Center Gallery on the University of Michigan North Campus at 2281 Bonisteel Boulevard. Over the past 20 years, this nationally recognized show has grown to be one of the largest exhibitions of prisoner art in the country, attracting over 3,500 visitors last year. This year’s exhibition will include more than 450 works of art by over 200 artists,illuminating their ideas and visions and encouraging the public to engage with their work.

For the twentieth anniversary, there are several special ways to celebrate. PCAP is offering gallery tours on opening night from 5 – 7pm. PCAP is also inviting families of incarcerated artists and writers to spend a day at the gallery together, holding a reunion weekend for PCAP’s U‑M alumni, and bringing award winners and selected work to a traveling version of the exhibition (May 29 — June 26, UM Detroit Center Gallery).

20th Annual Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners

March 25 – April 8

Duderstadt Center Gallery, Duderstadt Center, 2281 Bonisteel Boulevard, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Exhibition hours: 10 am — 7 pm Tuesday — Saturday; 12 — 6 pm Sunday and Monday

Wednesday, March 25: Opening Events
10 am: Gallery Opens
5 — 7 pm: Guided Tours (Advance registration required. Call 7346477673 or visit the PCAP site to sign up for a tour)
7 pm: Opening Reception

Friday, March 27: Presentation
5 — 7 pm: Bring our Loved Ones Home: Lessons from California’s Fight to get People out of Prison”
Emily Harris, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Duderstadt Gallery
From prisoner hunger strikes to deadly crowding, California prisons have been in the notorious spotlight for more than a decade. Emily Harris, PCAP Advisory Board Member and alumna, will discuss the challenges and opportunities of organizing at this time in the prison bellwether state. Can a broken system” be fixed? If not, what are our alternatives?

Saturday, March 28: PCAP Associates Panel Discussion
10 am — 11:30 am: Panel Discussion
Duderstadt Gallery
The PCAP Associates is a diverse group of PCAP alumni, whose experiences with PCAP as U‑M students framed their careers in social justice.

Sunday, March 29: Family Day at the Exhibition
PCAP celebrates the family and friends of incarcerated artists and writers at our first annual Family Day at the exhibition. Events listed below are open to the public.

11 am — 12:30 pm: Artist Panel Discussion
Duderstadt Gallery
Artists from previous Prison Creative Arts Project exhibitions share their stories and answer questions about life as a prison artist in this informal panel discussion.

3 — 5 pm: Reading — Michigan Review of Prisoner Creative Writing, Vol. 7 
Art & Architecture Auditorium, 2000 Bonisteel Blvd., Room 2104
Hear selections from this year’s journal.

Tuesday, March 31: Presentation
6 — 8 pm: Restorative Justice and the Arts: The Atonement Project” 
Ashley Lucas and Shaka Senghor, Prison Creative Arts Project
Space 2435 North Quad, 105 South State St.
The Atonement Project, a collaboration between Prison Creative Arts Project and MIT Digital Media Lab, creates spaces where the arts can help bridge the divides created by crime and incarceration.

Tuesday, April 7: Presentation
7 — 8 pm: Jail Guitar Doors: Changing Lives through the Power of Music” 
Duderstadt Gallery
Wayne and Margaret Kramer, Jail Guitar Doors
Jail Guitar Doors USA believes prisoners provided with the musical tools to create songs of their own can achieve a positive change of attitude that can initiate the work necessary to successfully return to life outside prison walls.