Arts Workshops
RTA arts workshops are year-round, peer-led, and deeply collaborative. Members commit to a community that uses the arts as a tool for skill-building, healing, and personal transformation.
Our Creative Arts Rehabilitation Programs
Our dynamic range of Arts Workshops create a supportive environment where participants build new skills, boost empathy, accountability, and self-esteem, and prepare for life after release.
These workshops range from single-session master classes to year-long projects. Regardless of length, each fosters a strong commitment to a peer community, are guided by a steering committee of incarcerated members at each facility, and are facilitated by skilled and trained RTA teaching artists.
Theater
Full-scale productions, improvisation, Shakespeare studies, play reading, script analysis, character study, and more, offering members the opportunity to inhabit diverse characters and perspectives, supporting the development of empathy and providing a safe space to explore different choices and emotions.
Dance
Teaching physical control, focus, and non-verbal communication, dance classes provide another medium for participants to express their own longing, hope, fear, and joy.
Music & Voice
Vocal and instrumental workshops, concerts, revues, and a popular songwriting workshop offer ongoing opportunities for participants to develop concrete skills and expand their capacity for self-expression.
Visual Arts
Participants learn art theory and history from Bosch to Banksy, and complete studio projects ranging from landscapes and self-portraits to personal logos, storyboarding, and fashion design.
Writing
Workshops in poetry, creative writing, playwriting, memoir, monologues, and speeches – helping participants improve their writing skills as they shape the narrative of their lives.
innovative reentry
RTA's reentry program prepares members for the social and emotional challenges of returning home.
Alumni engagement
The work doesn't end at release. RTA alumni continue to build community and give back after reentry.