Special Exhibits
"Alcatraz: Stories From the Rock"
Alcatraz: Stories From the Rock takes viewers on a journey through the Island’s many chapters: its early role as a military fortress, the famous federal penitentiary years, the Indian occupation that altered the course of history, and finally the popular National Park and wildlife refuge it is today.
Alcatraz stands as a powerful symbol of protection and change. The film explores Alcatraz as it began, as it evolved, and as it stands today and allows viewers to discover the many layers that make it an incredible time capsule of history and human drama.
Other Exhibits
"Images from Inside" Art Exhibit on Alcatraz
August 27-November 30, 2011
Opening Event: August 27, 2011, 1-4pm on Alcatraz
In 2009, the National Park Service invited We Players to engage in a monumental collaboration on Alcatraz Island. This groundbreaking partnership has utilized site-specific performing arts, and local outreach and education programming to provoke critical thought and stimulate conversation on the Alcatraz themes of incarceration, isolation, justice and redemption.
In culmination of this three-year residency, We Players has organized a series of art exhibits for a gallery in the Alcatraz Cell House. The final 2011 exhibit, "Images from Inside" will run August 27- November 30, 2011. This exhibit is the most comprehensive gathering of inmate-produced artwork in the Bay Area in 30 years.
The National Park Service and We Players are inviting the Prison Arts Project, which sponsors on-going art classes at San Quentin through the William James Association, to exhibit outstanding examples of its work in "Images from Inside." The exhibit will also include work from the former California Arts-in-Corrections program – now collected by UCLA Library's Prison Arts Archiving Project and WJA.
The successful collaboration of the public and the inmate population is one of the foundations of Arts-in-Corrections, which existed from 1980-2010 in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. That model was started in 1977 by the initial Prison Arts Project, which used professional artists, writers, and performers as teachers and role models of discipline, skill and commitment to growth and hard work.
Participation in Arts-in-Corrections correlates to a lower recidivism rate, thus significantly reducing costs for the state and helping people to stay out of prison upon their release. A university study found that participants in the AIC program had a 27% lower recidivism rate than the general prison population. Ninety percent of inmates will return to life outside the prison walls, and arts and educational programming helps address the challenges of re-entry through public collaboration and creative growth. Visit www.williamjamesassociation.org for links to study.
An exhibition-opening event on August 27th will include a panel discussion representing the largest gathering of minds in prison arts programming in the Bay Area in over a decade.
Panelists include:
- Larry Brewster, Professor, USF
- Laurie Brooks, Executive Director, William James Association
- Steve Emerick, former Arts-in-Corrections Artist/Facilitator; recipient of Dalai Lama's Compassion Award
- Patrick Maloney, San Quentin art teacher for 23 years
- Katya McCulloch, San Quentin art teacher for 6 years
- Carol Newborg, Exhibit Organizer for WJA, former AIC teacher
Panel moderated by: Patrick Gillespie, We Players Gallery Curator
August 27th "Images from the Inside" Opening Event
1-4pm on Alcatraz
Meet at Pier 33 by 12:50 to claim your place
There is no additional charge for this event.
Reservations are required. Suggested donation, $20-30.
For reservations and additional details, visit www.weplayers.org
Direct questions to info@weplayers.org or call 415-547-0189
Video Exhibit: “We Hold the Rock”
The occupation of Alcatraz Island from 1969 to 1971 by “Indians of All Tribes” changed the course of U.S. and American Indian history, and brought world-wide attention to the plight of American Indians. The award winning video/exhibit, “WE HOLD THE ROCK,” produced by the National Park Service and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, is shown continually in the China Alley exhibit behind the main theater area near the dock.
Display: “Alcatraz and the American Prison Experience”
"Alcatraz and the American Prison Experience," a major interpretive exhibit, explains the place of Alcatraz in the evolution of prisons in America from Colonial days to the present. Produced in partnership with the federal Bureau of Prisons, the exhibit also looks at family life on Alcatraz and trends in American penology. The exhibit is housed in two historic fortress storerooms in the China Alley display area near the dock.