AIC 2017 eBook

of Integral Studies) with a Master's in counseling psychology and is a Marriage and FamilyTherapist
Intern (MFT).
Gabe Becker​ is a classical guitarist from Sacramento, CA. Formerly an adjunct music faculty member
at Yuba Community College in Marysville, CA, he is currently an instructor of music for the Incarcerated
Student Program with Lake Tahoe Community College. In 2009, after performing a concert with the
Arts in Corrections Program at Folsom Prison, he started a classical guitar program at
CSP-Sacramento and has continued to teach there on a regular basis. He performs regularly in
ensembles and as a solo classical guitarist in Sacramento.
Beth Bienvenu​ is the Director of the Office of Accessibility at the National Endowment for the Arts,
where she manages technical assistance and advocacy programs devoted to making the arts
accessible for people with disabilities, older adults, veterans, and people in institutional settings. She
provides support to state arts agency staff and professionals working in the fields of arts access,
creativity and aging, arts and health, universal design, and arts in corrections. She oversees a
long-term partnership with the Federal Bureau of Prisons that funds artist-in-residence programs in six
federal prisons.
Michael Bierman​ is a co-founder of The Strindberg Laboratory. In addition to helping develop the
curriculum for Los Angeles prison and jail facilities, he has directed five plays in correctional facilities
and four original shows for the general Los Angeles area public through TSL’s Jails to Jobs program.
He also helped to establish a college-credited Theater 262 class through Los Angeles City College and
helped form the collaborative partnership of “Break it to Make it” with multiple non-profits and a public
entity that provide housing, art programming, job training, higher education and rehabilitation services.
Christopher Bisbano​, a guitarist since childhood, started the band “Rage” when he was in junior high
school. In his 20s, he started his family and went to college to pursue music. but a relapse with drugs at
29 ended with a physical confrontation and a prison sentence. After 12 years in a maximum security
prison, he transferred to Norco. Through his participation in The Actors’ Gang Prison Project, he
explored difficult emotions and developed coping skills that helped him as he transitioned to parolee.
Now a teaching artist for the Prison Project’s re-entry program, he has reunited with his family.
Jack Bowers​ is a jazz pianist, performing musician, songwriter/composer and arts administrator. For
25 years, he directed the Arts in Corrections program at Soledad State Prison, which involved hundreds
of inmates in weekly fine arts classes that included creative writing, music theory and luthiery. He is an
active advocate for arts programming for prisoners and at risk youth through the William James
Association. For the past four years he has mentored artists teaching in California prisons and is part
of a research team studying the effect of arts programming on participants' behavior.
Larry Brewster ​is Professor of Public Administration and a former dean at the University of San
Francisco. He consults in public policy and program evaluation. He is author of numerous journal
articles and books, including ​The Public Agenda: Issues in American Politics​, ​5th edition, (Wadsworth
& Company, 2004); ​A Primer of California Politics​,​ 2nd edition, (Wadsworth & Company, 2004); and,
Paths of Discovery: Art Practice and Its Impact in California Prisons, (​Createspace, 2012, 2015).
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