The Yellowstone Art Museum ion Billings Montana has received PFW support to help them continue their program offering intensive art-making workshops to incarcerated omen every other month in the Montana Woman’s Prison, following a model that has been developed over the past five years and demonstrated itself to be productive for the prison, rewarding to the inmates, and manageable for the Yellowstone Art Museum.
The program services up to 120 different women each year. The Museum this year is also offering prison staff classes. Art has a humanizing effect, allowing constructive alternatives to destructive behaviors. Creating Art can be a therapeutic means of self expression and can provide and outlet for difficult, angry, or aggressive feelings. For an inmate population, being part of a directed art class can yield a positive educational experience to those who may not have had many, a sense of community involvement, and some semblance of normalcy and productivity.
www.artmuseum.org
