The Violette de Mazia Foundation, in partnership with Villanova University, is pleased to cosponsor two aesthetic understanding classes offered as part of Villanova’s Undergraduate Program at SCI-Graterford: Art and Aesthetic Theory, An Objective Approach and Traditions in Art. These classes bring objective art analysis and an exploration of the traditions in art to prison inmates behind the walls of SCI-Graterford, southeast Pennsylvania’s maximum security facility for men. These classes expose inmates to the visual language of art, teach them a vocabulary by which to describe what they see and experience in works of art and beyond, and explore the connection between the expressive potential of art and daily life.

Since 2003 the Violette de Mazia Foundation’s Assistant Director of Education, William M. Perthes, has taught these classes to more than 150 Graterford students. Studies have shown that inmates who receive educational opportunities while in prison are 29% less likely to end up back in prison after being released than those that do not.* Many of the students are self-trained artists and several of them participate in the prison’s arm of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. Together the inmates and The Mural Arts Program have produced several murals now installed throughout the city.

Click here to learn more about the Violette de Mazia's 'One World' sponsorship.

Click here to view the Graterford Prison visitor room murals.

The Violette de Mazia Foundation is proud to participate in the Villanova Undergraduate Program at SCI-Graterford which has provided educational opportunities to Graterford inmates for more than thirty years. Began through the efforts of emeritus professor Dr. James J. McKenna, a former professor of Sociology and Director of the Graduate Program in Criminal Justice Administration, and now administrated by Dr. Stanley Jacobs, the Villanova program has a current enrollment of 100 active students. The de Mazia Foundation’s participation in the program allows Villanova to offer three course over three consecutive semesters, expanding the program’s course offering by a third. Students in the Graterford program follow the same academic calendar and must satisfy the same standards and requirements as on-campus students.

Studies have indicated that recidivism rates have declined where inmates have received an appropriate education. Furthermore, the right kind of educational program leads to less violence by inmates involved in the programs and a more positive prison environment. Effective Education Programs are those that help prisoners with their social skills, artistic development and techniques and strategies to help them deal with their emotions. The Art and Aesthetic Theory program taught by the Foundation at Graterford offers the inmates the basics of creative understanding. One of our inmate students said that after being incarcerated for twenty years behind locked doors, it was quite unexpected to have the door of visual understanding opened in his mind; that it was like a window lighting his mind. Our program had put a window in his cell by teaching him to see the art in life.

Please help support our inmate education program.  Click here to e-mail the Foundation about sponsorship opportunities.

*Statistics drawn from The Three-State Recidivism Study conducted by Correctional Education Association and is available from the National Criminal Justice Service which is administered by the Office of Justice Programs, United States Department of Justice on their website: http://www.ncjrs.gov/index.html.