If you have seen the film, The Shawshank Redemption, it is impossible forget the powerful scene in which Duettino: Sull’Aria from The Marriage of Figaroblares over the PA system, dissolving the prison walls and offering a gift of unfathomable beauty to the awe-struck hearts of the prisoners. Red, the inmate played by Morgan Freeman, narrates following the sequence:
“I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singin’ about….I like to think they were singin’ about something so beautiful it can’t be expressed in words and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared. Higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away. And for the briefest of moments, every last man at Shawshank felt free.”
At the Adirondack Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison in Essex County, New York, Chaplin Eric Olson spends his days working to create religious services and special events for the inmates. He has collaborated with the programming office to initiate movie screenings, arts and crafts classes, and even an in-house talent show. He regrettably has not had the experience of working with singers who want to volunteer their gifts and perform for the inmates, but he passionately expresses the need with a biblical reference: “It’s important work. These are voices crying in the wilderness.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.” Research abounds on the positive effects that volunteerism has on a person’s mood, life outlook, and even her immune system and physical health. Now more than ever, as we stand together as a nation of individuals, the talents that make each of us unique can be put to positive use.
Surely, the gift of music could help the crying voices in America’s prisons realize that they are not alone. But while classical singers and musicians often perform in hospitals, nursing homes, and inner-city neighborhoods and schools, outreach to correctional facilities is often overlooked.
Clearly, the main obstacle that keeps singers and musicians from performing in correctional facilities is the intimidation factor, which is expressed on several levels. To start, most performers wouldn’t know what they would need to do to set up the gig! As one singer from the New York metro area said, “I think it’s a great idea, but I can’t even imagine all the red tape that must be involved.”
The procedure is surprisingly simple. First, locate a facility that is convenient to you. Residents of the tri-state area can find a list of local facilities at http://www.docs.state.ny.us/ faclist.html, broken down by county, gender served, and security level. Performers residing in other areas should contact their city or state government to obtain a similar list.
Out of 18 facilities interviewed in the Tri-state area, twelve reported that prospective volunteer performers should contact a facility’s volunteer coordinator to express interest in performing at the facility. In other facilities, requests are to go through the Superintendent’s office, the Deputy for Programs, or the Chaplin. Call a facility’s main number and ask to be connected with the volunteer coordinator, who will point you in the right direction.
In New York State, if you perform in a facility only once during the year, you need only fill out simple paperwork to receive a gate pass, and sign a form that states you currently are not on parole. You and the contact person will agree on a date and time for your performance, and you will be informed of the dress code requirements. Dress code varies from state to state. In New York, the dress code for prison visitors and volunteers is intuitively simple: no bathing suits, halter tops, or mini-skirts. In other parts of the country, the requirements are strict. For example, at an incarceration facility in Texas, women volunteers are required to wear hose, closed-toe shoes, skirts that reach below the knee, and long sleeves. The contact person with whom you are speaking will give you the necessary information to select your attire for your performance.
If you intend to make several visits over a short period of time, the time commitment involved in preparing for your visit is more extensive. In New York, you are required to complete a day of volunteer training at any New York State facility, upon which you will become a registered volunteer. As a registered volunteer, you may then perform in any facility in the state. For repeated performances, you also are required to take a TB test and provide your social security number for a background check.
Beyond the logistical qualms, others are fearful to perform in such an unfamiliar environment. Jane Rooks Ross of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra described how easy it was to overcome this fear when the Symphony’s String Quartet began to perform in minimum incarceration facilities for females in West Michigan: “I was very nervous the first time, but it was an amazing experience. The inmates were very engaged and responsive. They asked interesting and appropriate questions afterwards.”
Outreach to prisons originated by churches more than a century ago. Today, some 300 churches nationwide include a Prison Ministry program. In addition to the Kalamazoo Symphony, other music organizations have added performances in correctional facilities to their outreach endeavors, including the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Opera Training Studio at the University of Houston, and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City.
Kansas City resident and Bethel College alumna Elvera Voth took the Arts in Prison Outreach program of the Kansas City Lyric a step further when she founded the East Hill Singers in 1995, a men’s chorus comprised of inmates from the Lansing Correctional Facility and citizens from the Kansas City metropolitan area. Voth has involved more than 100 inmates from the Lansing facility since 1995, rehearsing with them twice a week in the prison chapel. Once a month they are joined by a group of Kansas City residents. The East Hill Singers perform within the prison and hold at least two concerts a year in the Kansas City area.
The Deputy Superintendent for Programs at a facility in Bronx County, New York, expressed uncertainty about whether classical singers would ever want to perform in a prison, given the lack of acoustics in the gymnasiums, common rooms, or cafeterias where such performances would likely be held. Clearly, a new understanding of acoustical sophistication is required: perhaps a truly “live” room is not the one that handsomely reverberates with sound, but the one in which the echo of your service returns to your heart and remains with you, long after the music stops.
Marney K. Makridakis is an arts education consultant and freelance writer living residing in Orange County, New York. As a lifelong musician and arts advocate, she is dedicated to developing programs that reach underserved communities through music and other arts.
