COLUMBIA, S.C. — Music written by inmates is being performed across the country, including a free concert at the University of South Carolina's School Music.
Claire Bryant, a music professor at USC who is part of a Carnegie Hall-affiliated collective known as Decoda, said the music she creates and performs is more than notes on paper; it's a way to express herself and those she works with, specifically incarcerated people.
"Incarcerated people are people too, and they are talented people, and they have many things to say," she said. "They need music there. They need the arts. They need good things, good programming."
A little more than a year after News19 last reported on the music being written and performed by inmates at Lee Correctional, it's being performed for an audience at a free concert on USC's campus as part of a series titled "Belonging" that Bryant is conducting in collaboration with fellow musicians.
"One of the songs in tonight's program is Lee Correctional Institution," Bryant said. "It's called 'Welcome to my world.' It was written in one of our song-writing projects by a gentleman in collaboration with some of his peers and us."
In a statement, the South Carolina Department of Corrections said, in part:
"Programs like this give inmates the opportunity to grow their skills and experience creativity with world-class musicians. Plus, research has shown that programs like this help reduce violence and give incarcerated people skills that help them both inside and after they are released."
Bryant said she wants to spread the good news of music to her audience and remind them of the skills of those behind bars.
"It's us saying to them, 'You are important, and your music is great.' We have played music by incarcerated composers in Carnegie Hall, and tonight we're just really, really excited to share that with this audience here in Columbia," she said.
For more information on Decoda, visit the collective's website.