Juvenile offenders across three states are working together create a traveling artwork, ArtCarTraz, to raise awareness about the benefits of institutional arts programming. The art-car piece kicks off at the Alabama Department of Youth Services facility on May 2, 2005, and travels to correctional facilities in Mississippi and Louisiana, where it will be painted one section at a time by the juvenile offenders housed at these institutions. Once completed, ArtCarTraz will ride in the 17th Annual “Everyone's Art Car Parade,” produced by the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art in Houston, Tex., on May 14. "Arts-based programs for juvenile offenders are highly empowering and transforming for the participants,” said Grady Hillman, founder of the Southwest Correctional Arts Network, a project sponsor. [LINK]