Life
CAC artists-in-residence The Graduates, a performance group of formerly-incarcerated women, present a performance incorporating dance, music, and multimedia. This program is presented as part of the CAC's Inter[SECTOR] program focus on issues surrounding health, the environment, and mass incarceration.
The Life Quilt, 2018. Courtesy of the artists
"Life," Ford Foundation performance, 2018. Photo by Jane Jkratochvil
The Graduates. Photo by Mark Boucher
Life, a performance by The Graduates, was created to accompany The Life Quilt, a hand beaded quilt with the names of the 107 women serving life sentences in Louisiana in 2017. The performance features four Graduates who were a part of The Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women (LCIW) Drama Club: Taece Defillo, Carry Emerson, Fox Rich and Ivy Matthis—a juvenile lifer, whose name is on the quilt and who was released in 2019. The performance is a combination of monologues, songs, dance, and motivational speaking.
Decarceration and the Arts with Jo Kreiter and Guests
Decarceration and the Arts is a series of online conversations with artists and activists featuring San Francisco-based artist Jo Kreiter, Artist Director of Flyaway Productions and creator of the The Wait Room, a spectacular aerial work that depicts the trauma and challenges faced by families with incarcerated loved ones. These conversations anticipate the CAC's presentation of The Wait Room in Spring of 2022.
Watch Decarceration and the Arts on the CAC's YouTube channel
In year one, Inter[SECTOR] programs feature conversations, workshops, and performances created and led by women and non-binary artist/ensembles focusing on injustices in the prison system and the impact of mass incarceration on these communities. National artists, community activists, and prison-impacted communities in New Orleans and Louisiana are collaborating on a diverse program of dance, music, and theater.
Please consider supporting our community partners who are working to end mass incarceration:
This program is part of Inter[SECTOR], the CAC’s three-year multidisciplinary arts programming centering cross-sector engagements with the fields of carceral justice, healthcare, and the environment. During the 2021-2022 season, Inter[SECTOR] examines a diversity of experiences and expressions emerging from issues of health; from the coronavirus to AIDS pandemic, technological innovations and designs in the healthcare field, to concerns of mental health, grief, disease, and ableness. Each project draws upon the artists own experiences and seeks to connect with impacted communities as well as general audiences. Learn more
Sacred Journey
The CAC's Inter[SECTOR] program is made possible with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the RosaMary Foundation.
