this community movement tackles mass incarceration through music education and public art

While prison reform and abolition movements over the last decade or so have made positive progress when it comes to the way we as Americans look at the imprisonment for profit system known as mass incarceration, now more than ever its clear that we have a long way to go. And on that journey, radical actions will need to be taken by the community for itself. One such project is by public arts organization Creative Time and its called Bring Down The Walls. An album, school, nightclub, but most importantly, an anti-incarceration movement and communal space in lower Manhattan.

Creative Time

Bring Down The Walls is an event community and communal space which, by day, holds workshops “primarily led by people who have been directly impacted by the system and those working to radically change it, drawing powerful new connections on the issues and campaigns around decarceration, immigrant rights, ending cash bail, closing jails and prisons, and improving challenges which people coming home face in reentry.” By night the community is a space where dance and politics intersect. Inspired by dancehall and club life, the nighttime program encourages DIY political engagement on both a community and personal level. An oasis for positive change, personal liberation, and collective transcendence.

Photo by Ali Rigo x Creative Time

Each Saturday during the month of May, Bring Down The Walls will convert a decommissioned fire station in lower Manhattan, The Firehouse, where day school and the nightclub will be FREE to all. Tickets available here.

Bring Down The Walls by Various Artists