Healing Arts is a global campaign by the Jameel Arts & Health Lab in collaboration with the World Health Organization
Healing Arts is a global campaign by the Jameel Arts & Health Lab in collaboration with the World Health Organization
2-6 PM, September 25 2026 Pless 3rd Floor Lounge, 36 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003
The roundtable brings together currently and formerly incarcerated artists, correctional leaders, researchers and allied practitioners to explore how creative practice can transform experiences and systems of incarceration.
Through global case examples, the conversation will look beyond individual success stories to ask what makes this work meaningful, impactful and sustainable. Each contribution will explore three questions:
What does the work enable? What have we learned? How could it scale?
The discussion will inform a first-of-its-kind Arts & Health in Prisons Policy Insights Brief, bringing together shared learning and practical recommendations to support the development of arts and cultural practice in prisons globally.
The event builds on Rule 105 of the United Nations Nelson Mandela Rules, which recognises the importance of recreational and cultural activities to the health and wellbeing of people in prison.
At its heart, the roundtable asks:
If we cannot create what we cannot imagine, what becomes possible when we use the arts to imagine ourselves - and our systems - differently?
2:00 PM: Arrival
2:25 PM: Musical Performance
2:35 PM: Opening Remarks
2:45 PM: Evidence of Impact
3:00 PM: Roundtable: Global Case Studies
4:00 PM: Break
4:15 PM: Film Screening: Jail Time Records
6:00 PM: Close
Image credit: IF LIGHT CLOSED ITS EYES, Sterling Correctional Facility, Directed by Dr. Ashley Hamilton. Photo: Drummond West
