“The Kansas City Symphony, known for playing at the Kauffman Center, held a special performance in an unlikely place … a prison,” writes Shannon Halligan on Wednesday (1/27) at broadcaster KSHB.com (Kansas City, Mo.). The stage at the Lansing Correctional Facility in Lansing, Kansas “was similar to a school auditorium. The musicians set up their instruments looking out at a sea of blue folding chairs. This performance is part of the ‘Arts in Prison’ Program. This initiative provides arts education for inmates in Kansas prisons and detention centers. Inmates can participate in a number of programs including writing, yoga, communication arts, textiles and visual art.” Said Program Director Leigh Lynch, “Obviously that’s part of what they need, a new perspective. A new way to look at their neighbors, at their neighborhood, at their lives and how they choose to live them.” Aaron Smallwood, a convicted murderer, said “When you have programs like the symphony or Shakespeare comes in here, we’re able to be a part of these things, it kind of reconnects us to the outside world and to something within us. It means everything, it really does.’ ” Included is video of the Kansas City Symphony’s visit to Lansing Correctional Facility.
Posted January 28, 2016
