Juvenile Justice Mural

Many of the students we work within the Juvenile Justice Program are on house arrest wearing ankle monitors and every step they take recorded.  Many of them were tried as adults as young as 15 years old for things that would have been minor offenses at one time.  Many of them face up to 5 years in adult prison when our programs are finished.  This is not only an important activity that the museum is involved in but we also advocate for these students.  Our work is striving to make an impact on the school to prison pipeline that has destroyed the lives of many young adults.  We firmly believe that most of these students could be effectively rehabilitated.

This is the second year the museum has implemented a program within the Juvenile Justice program in Plainview Texas.  Last year the students created over 50 skateboards which were then exhibited at the museum and some of the students choose to auction them off.

This year the museum is doing a mural inside the facility and the teaching artists have spent the last five weeks with the students working on their ideas.  The actual painting on the wall began last week and we are running out of money.  We have two teaching artists who are volunteering their time and knowledge free of charge but we needed to hire two assistants to make sure everyone could get the most of our time there.  Supplies are running a bit higher than we expected as well.  We really need $1500 more to finish the project.

The museum hopes to continue its work this summer with juveniles that are already court involved by working in the community itself, doing murals in the struggling east of downtown warehouse area in Plainview.  We are currently seeking funds for that through some grant writing efforts and any extra funds we raise will go toward that project.  Our entire team is extremely motivated to continue this work.  It is terrifically gratifying and fun as well.