In the Justice System
For more than a decade, Carnegie Hall’s programs in justice settings have played a central role in fulfilling the Hall’s mission of making great music accessible to the widest audience possible. We believe that everyone benefits from tapping into their own creativity and engaging with music and the arts. Music can catalyze personal growth and build agency, empathy, and connections with others.
The Hall’s Weill Music Institute (WMI) serves people of all ages who are justice-involved through programs in which participants write and perform their own music, collaborate with others, and develop their artistry. Workshops explore how the arts can be a powerful tool for self-expression, expand opportunities, and amplify program participants’ voices, which are often silenced by the justice system. Through creative experiences, participants, staff, teaching artists, and audiences grow and build community.
In our longstanding work to develop programs for and with people involved in the justice system—a system that creates barriers to the development of self-expression, and disproportionately impacts and harms people of color—Carnegie Hall leverages the arts as a tool for justice reform. This is achieved by serving those involved in the justice system through initiatives that encourage creative expression, and by using our platform to share their stories. Learn more about our programs that serve people who are system-involved.
Ages: Youth and Adults
Geography: NYC, National, International
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Programs in the Justice System
Watch & Listen
“I’ve learned more than just the technique of performance—I’ve learned about self-confidence and collaboration with others, which I so richly enjoy.”
“Musical Connections helped me realize that, regardless of my incarceration, I still have a voice and power to change the lives of others around me. I do this by continuing to assist my musical community at Sing Sing and to provide service as a case management prerelease coordinator for those who return home.”
“I want my music to show that it helped me change my life and gave me a new outlook on how I live my life now.”
Learn More
NeON Arts is a program of the NYC Department of Probation in partnership with Renaissance Youth Center and Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute.
Major support is provided by The Kresge Foundation.
Additional support is provided by The Joel Foundation; and Council Members Althea Stevens and Kamillah Hanks.
