CASE STUDY
PRISONVISION PROGRAM
Young@Heart Chorus
Seven Years Creating Trust and Joy Through Song
Challenge
Most prison arts programs perform for incarcerated people, then leave. We created with them, then stayed.
When Newsweek's David Ansen called Young@Heart's jail performance his favorite cultural movie moment of 2008, writing it "cut so deep, it left me gasping for air," the question became: What would sustained collaboration look like?
How do you build trust across profound divides—elderly mostly-white performers and young mostly-urban inmates of color—when institutional programming typically treats participants as beneficiaries rather than artists?
How do you create something that lasts years, not weeks?
This required understanding what most prison programming misses: people don't need to be "helped"—they need to be seen as co-creators, treated as collaborators, and connected to community that doesn't disappear when the grant ends.
Solutions
Weekly rehearsals brought incarcerated individuals and elderly chorus members together to create music collaboratively, culminating in concerts where inmates performed as featured vocalists backed by Young@Heart and their stellar 7-piece band.
Most nonprofit arts programming imposes dominant culture on marginalized populations. We met participants where they were.
Working weekly alongside Executive Director Bob Cilman and longtime band member Ken Maiuri, I brought extensive knowledge of hip-hop, R&B, and Latin music gained through years performing, releasing albums, and making beats. When I rhymed with inmates, rocked duets with them onstage, and discussed their musical influences, it wasn't an act. It was authentic exchange between people who shared musical language.
Inmates chose most everything—R&B, hip-hop, rock, bachata, country—learned without sheet music. We showed the 2008 Fox Searchlight documentary about the group, entitled Young@Heart, before beginning, building credibility. Then we created space for honest emotional expression.
Trust across demographic divides requires cultural competency that can't be trained in a workshop. You either have a real relationship to the culture or you don't. Inmates knew the difference immediately.
Over seven years, we coordinated more than a dozen prison concerts with professional production values that demonstrated respect: multi-camera shoots, publicly released music videos, a full sound system run by the chorus’ longtime engineer Dan Richardson, and multi-track recordings (two featured on Young@Heart's 2020 live album Miss You).
Furloughed inmates performed as featured vocalists at Young@Heart concerts before paying audiences, earning multiple standing ovations. Alumni continued performing in virtual shows throughout the pandemic.
The message this sent: You're not charity cases—you're artists we take seriously enough to produce professionally and present publicly.
And that commitment didn’t end at the gate.
Through persistent relationship building—phone, email, social media, family members—I maintained connections with over 20 former inmates post-release. Coordinated transportation. Facilitated continued participation in Young@Heart rehearsals and concerts. Provided VIP comp tickets for friends and family. Put their photos and bios in the program book. Paid them for their time, talent, and treasure.
At least six alumni—Philip Ragland, Kyonda Eaton, Anthony Rodriguez, Shrese Singletary, Dakota Fogg, and Cynthia Coons—performed as featured vocalists before packed crowds at the Academy of Music Theatre in Northampton.
The deepest sustained impact: Cynthia Coons, who went from "scared and hopeless" in 2017 to attending rehearsals twice weekly for eight years running—becoming an honorary member of the chorus community, helping backstage at every concert, and regularly performing onstage.
That doesn't happen through transactional programming. It happens when you treat people as valuable community members, not former inmates.
Results
Seven years of weekly programming across two prisons serving 150+ participants. The program relaunched in 2025 because the relationships endured and the model works.
Over a dozen formerly incarcerated people have rehearsed or performed with Young@Heart post-release—some for single shows, others returning periodically over years.
In Fall 2014, I launched a Kickstarter to finance the project raising $30,000 from 500+ donors in one month. The campaign attracted The Janey Fund—Young@Heart's largest donor ever—which contributed $350K+ over 12 years and continues with $35,000 annually. I stewarded this relationship throughout.
Combined with grants from Beveridge Foundation, Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, Grace Jones Richardson Trust, and Davis Foundation, the program secured over $400,000 in sustained funding and attracted coverage from CNN Champions for Change and Huffington Post Japan, among others.
The transferable lessons: A $30K Kickstarter unlocked $350K+ from the organization's largest donor ever—proof that crowdfunding attracts transformational philanthropy when stewarded strategically. Cultural competency can't be faked. Production values communicate respect more powerfully than any mission statement. Sustained relationships require infrastructure—weekly presence for seven years wasn't luck, it was operational excellence and committed funding. True impact extends beyond programming—eight years of Cynthia attending rehearsals twice weekly since her 2017 release isn't a program outcome, it's family.
This is strategy that flows.
Impact
7 years
Weekly programming and sustained alumni engagement (2014-2021)
$400K+
Secured from Kickstarter and five foundation funders
150+
Incarcerated participants served over 7 years
20+
Former inmates maintaining connection post-release
8 years
Cynthia attending rehearsals twice weekly since release (ongoing)
2025
Program relaunched because relationships and model endured
"Young@Heart gave me something I never really had: acceptance—not only with the chorus but with the community. The proof was in the eyes of my 4-year-old daughter Ayla, who sat in the audience when her Daddy performed in front of 800+ people at the Academy of Music."
— Chris Barre, Singer, PrisonVision Alumni
"I was scared and hopeless at the Women's Correctional Center in 2017. PrisonVision brought joy every week—I felt like I had a purpose again. Since my release, I've attended Young@Heart rehearsals twice weekly for eight years and performed at sold-out concerts."
— Cynthia Coons, Singer, PrisonVision Alumni