KIN is thrilled to announce it has organised for the donation of eight Fender acoustic guitars to the inmates of Risdon Prison. The donation was made possible by Jail Guitar Doors, an organisation based in the USA providing musical instruments and mentorship to help rehabilitate incarcerated individuals through the transformative power of music.
The guitars will be able to be used by men and women currently housed in Risdon Prison. This will include playing and recording with music workshops planned to take part in Risdon Prison in 2021.
Below is a message from Wayne Kramer, renowned guitarist co-founder of the organisation:
After over ten years working in America’s prisons and jails we know empirically that the transformative power of music and the rest of the performing arts is one of the best tools we have to help people find a new, non-confrontational way to communicate. The change we seek is fundamental, we want to change hearts and minds so that when our friends and family members are released, they have new tools to use to help them rejoin civic life and thrive in their community.
Please consider this donation of guitars not as a gift but a challenge. The people that donated the money to purchase these instruments are sending a message to our brothers and sisters behind bars. That message is: We believe in you. We know that given the tools and programming necessary, most of you will step up and do the hard work of positive change.
So, If you accept our guitars, you have accepted our challenge to use them to learn a new way to express painful and uncomfortable memories and emotions. To add to the beauty of the world by creating songs of struggle and strife is a powerful argument against the soul crushing dehumanization that institution life brings with it. Our humanity is our greatest gift and to connect and encourage that humanity is the only viable purpose of incarceration. We want to work on the correcting part of “corrections.”
Thanks for the opportunity to be of service to our friends in Australia and let us know if there is anything else we can do. Wishing you all well and especially send a big thanks to prison staff and officials who have approved of our efforts.
Sincerely,
Wayne Kramer, co-founder
Jail Guitar Doors-USA
Image credit Jesse Hunniford