Written by Jane K. Dove
Thursday, 09 December 2010
“We get real results and change people’s lives,” said Katherine Vockins, the founder and executive director of Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA), a creative arts program for incarcerated men and women at five correctional facilities in southern New York state, including Bedford Hills and the infamous Sing Sing in Ossining.
The all-volunteer program, which Ms. Vockins started in 1996, uses theater, dance, poetry, visual arts, and other disciplines to help prisoners bolster their self-esteem, communicate, collaborate, set goals, and solve problems. RTA is a program of Prison Communities International, a non-profit organization.
A 2009 study conducted by Purchase College and the New York State Department of Correctional Services showed RTA effectively sets the stage for learning and encourages participants to pursue their education into college and even beyond.
Ms. Vockins sat down with The Ledger earlier this week to describe RTA and her role.
A native of Los Angeles who has lived in Katonah with her husband, Hans Hallundbaek, since 1972, Ms. Vockins had a highly successful career in business before switching directions and founding RTA.
“Both of us worked for Dansk Designs, Hans in overseas operations and me in marketing,” she said. “We traveled extensively and later started our own independent consulting firm, dealing in international business related to the home furnishings industry.”
But the dynamics of their husband and wife business partnership changed dramatically in 1994.
“My husband had what I call a mid-life correction,” Ms. Vockins said. “He decided to leave the business, work as a volunteer for non-profit causes, including the homeless, and obtain a doctorate from New York Theological Seminary. It was a complete shift.”
One of Mr. Hallundbaek’s volunteer pursuits was teaching at Sing Sing prison. Ms. Vockins said, “I was still running the business, but decided to sit in on a few of his classes to see why he was so enthusiastic.”
Ms. Vockins said she is not a “do-gooder” by nature and had always felt quite at home in the competitive world of business. “But sitting in the classroom at Sing Sing, I met and talked with some of the men,” she said. “I saw them speak and present information in my husband’s classes and realized there was a lot of potential for positive change.”
Changing lives
Ms. Vockins said RTA was “really born out of my conversations with these men and the realization they are people just like us, with many longing to make a positive change in their lives.
“I asked one man if there was any theater going on at Sing Sing and the answer was no. I had a limited background in the arts, mostly volunteering as a stage manager in community theater, and the idea for RTA was born in the summer of 1996. We started the program as a theater workshop at Sing Sing.”
Today, RTA operates at Sing Sing, Bedford Hills, Fishkill, Green Haven, and Woodbourne correctional facilities. At any given time, there are well over 100 RTA participants spread throughout the different facilities, with some 35 volunteer facilitators conducting classes and workshops in different disciplines.
Activities available through RTA include basics of theater; improvisations, and scene study; public speaking and monologue workshops; dance, physical theater, movement and yoga; playwriting and poetry; Shakespeare study; vocal training; and visual art.
Since RTA was founded, thousands of guests have seen theatrical productions that include Macbeth, Of Mice and Men, West Side Story, 12 Angry Men, A Few Good Men, and many others. Prisoners have also written and produced their own plays related to events shaping their lives.
“Our expansion and success has been driven by the participants,” Ms. Vockins said. “They are very enthusiastic and quickly develop the ability to express themselves and to imagine different scenarios for their lives. Even in a harsh environment like Sing Sing, we see their self-esteem grow along with their ability to trust others. Many express remorse for their crimes by working as prison volunteers in gang prevention, substance abuse prevention, and educational programs that help others make better choices in life.”
Ms. Vockins said RTA does not have a fixed curriculum, but operates with flexibility as volunteers in different areas of the arts become available.
Current volunteers from Katonah include Anne Lloyd, John Lloyd, and Patrick Collins. “We are always looking for new volunteers in any of our disciplines,” she said. “Bedford Hills is our newest facility and we are hoping to attract some volunteers from this area.”
“There is just so much potential behind the prison walls,” she said. “Our volunteers are key to helping these men and women their self-esteem, gain self-knowledge and self-confidence. We use the school buildings in the different prisons and it is a safe environment.”
Looking back over her role in Rehabilitation Through the Arts, Ms. Vockins said that all of the business skills she acquired over the years translated very well into her volunteer work.
“I had always been a woman working quite successfully in a man’s world,” she said. “Although this was a big step for me, it was not at all intimidating and the rewards are great.”
Read the article online at LewisboroLedger.com
