Discovering JDPP

This month’s post was written by JDPP’s Board President, Sheila Fisher

Sometimes the path toward a transformative experience is long and winding; sometimes, clear and direct; and sometimes, strangely enough, both. “Both” was the case with my path toward discovering JDPP.

Judy and I were colleagues at Trinity College for decades, though we didn’t really know each other well. An alum from the first co-ed graduating class, Judy had come back as faculty to found the Theater and Dance Department. I was the medievalist in the English Department, teaching Chaucer, medieval women writers, and early European literature. Our paths didn’t often cross.

Then, in fall 2010, the Dean of Faculty gave me, newly minted Associate Dean, an assignment.

That summer, the Dean had gone to the culminating performance of JDPP’s arts residency at York and been blown away by what she’d seen. Through the transformative power of artistic expression, that performance gave voice and hope to those who’d made the art and those who’d witnessed it. It was no longer “us” and “them” – those inside and outside. Instead, it was “all of us.”

“Talk to Judy,” the Dean said. “See if you can get more faculty involved in programs like this.”

Judy and I definitely talked (as we’ve been doing sustainedly for over 15 years!). And thus was born the Trinity Prison Seminar Series, bringing interdisciplinary, credit-bearing college-level courses to York. That program, since renamed the Trinity Prison Education Project (TPEP), now teaches at both York and Hartford Correctional.

Through these conversations, my path to discovering JDPP became clear and direct. I got to learn first-hand, during performances and talkbacks, about the range of JDPP’s programming, the communities it touches, the lives it transforms, and the social justice issues it addresses. It’s extraordinary that a relatively small non-profit has such reach — is so expansive and responsive in revealing the shared bonds that create our common humanity. For JDPP, it’s always, first and foremost, all of us.

The ways JDPP engages the arts in relation to social justice resonates deeply with me, personally and professionally. The arts have always been central to my life and the ways I interact with the world. I chose to teach literature (and even try to write it!) because the arts generate empathy and understanding as they bring us outside our own lives to meet selfhoods and experiences we wouldn’t otherwise imagine. I’ve been honored to serve on JDPP’s Board since 2019 and as President for the past two years, as my understanding only deepens of all JDPP is and does.

And so — I’ll end with an invitation:

On October 16, please join “All of Us” — the theme for the evening – at our annual “Purple Party” to experience the magic of JDPP first-hand. Come along with us on this path to discovery, whether you’re a seasoned supporter of JDPP or just starting to meet us.

Our fundraiser at the Artists Collective in Hartford will be fun and uplifting, a time to share all that makes JDPP unique: from saluting our 2026 Ambassadors for Arts and Justice to meeting our staff, teaching artists, Board members and members of our many communities, to celebrating why “moving matters” by getting your own moves on with our first-ever DJ-hosted Dance Party.

Please come and share with all of us what promises to be a really wonderful time — and a direct path toward an evening of unforgettable discovery!