A special citywide series from UTSA Arts is exploring the role and impacts of the arts within prisons and jails.
The Arts & Incarceration series, running March 4 through April 13, cultivates empathy around the impacts of incarceration by using the arts to bridge the gap between the community and those who are affected. Through creative practice and local storytelling, UTSA Arts invites participants to reimagine the nation’s social systems through a lens of collective care and responsibility.
UTSA Arts is hosting the series in partnership with the Carver Community & Cultural Center, Contemporary at Blue Star, the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, Gemini Ink, the Majestic-Empire Foundation and the San Antonio Book Festival.
UTSA Arts will offer performances, workshops and panel discussions with artists and speakers. Some of those guests include MacArthur Fellow, lawyer, and poet Reginald Dwayne Betts; former San Antonio Poet Laureate Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson and Boston University Professor of Music André de Quadros.
Other events include an Open Letters workshop at Contemporary at Blue Star with UT San Antonio associate professor Mark Menjívar and an Arts and Health workshop in partnership with the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center and the UT San Antonio Department of Public Health.
Translation & Transformation: Processing and Paths Forward, a facilitated dialogue to reflect on event themes, will close the programming series.
“This series affirms that cultural democracy means recognizing the creative voices and lived experiences of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people as essential to our shared civic life,” explains UTSA Arts Executive Director Emilie Amrein. “By creating space for art, dialogue and collective imagination, we are expanding who gets to shape our cultural narratives and strengthening our communities in the process.”
UTSA Arts is UT San Antonio’s hub for connection, creativity and imagination. The center supports public arts programs, community collaborations and research initiatives that create pathways for San Antonians to participate fully in the cultural and artistic life of our city.
Arts and Incarceration Series Calendar (March & April 2026)
March 12
Open Letters by Mark Menjívar, Contemporary at Blue Star, 6:30 p.m. Registration required.
March 23
Inside/Outside: Considerations for Teaching Artists, The Josephine Theatre, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. RSVP Required.
April 10
Arts & Health Workshop, The Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
April 10
Felon: An American Washi Tale with Reginald Dwanye Betts, Jo Long Theatre at the Carver Community Cultural Center, 8 p.m., Tickets must be purchased.
April 13
Translation & Transformation: Processing and Paths Forward, UT San Antonio Southwest Campus, Dining Hall, 6:30 p.m.
All events are free to attend except where indicated.
