What Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) does

Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1996 at Sing Sing Correctional Facility by Katherine Vockins. The organization delivers arts-based programming—encompassing dance, theater, music, creative writing, and visual arts—to incarcerated individuals in medium- and maximum-security facilities, with the explicit objective of building life skills and reducing recidivism. It operates in 13 correctional facilities across three states (New York, Delaware, and California), serving both men and women, and reports a participant base of more than 1,000 individuals with a three-year recidivism rate below 3% against a national rate above 60%.

RTA's core product portfolio consists of three interconnected programs. Arts Workshops deliver the in-facility curriculum across 8 correctional sites. Reimagining Myself® is a registered-trademark, 10-week, twice-weekly reentry curriculum grounded in cognitive behavioral practice, offered to individuals preparing for release and now extended to women and to Delaware through Howard R. Young Correctional Institution. Alumni Engagement sustains a post-release community for hundreds of former participants. Programs are designed and adapted by incarcerated steering committees at each site rather than delivered as a drop-in activity, and they are voluntary at every facility.

RTA's revenue model is entirely donation-based. Funding comes from individual contributions (one-time, monthly, planned giving, stock, and donor-advised funds), private foundation grants, and government arts funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and ArtsWestchester, with additional support from some state Departments of Corrections. No fees are charged to participants. The organization has 12 full-time staff operating out of Purchase, New York, and is led by Executive Director Jermaine Archer following Katherine Vockins's 2023 transition to Founder and Executive Director Emeritus. Recent strategic emphasis has been on productizing Reimagining Myself®, expanding it to new states and demographics, and leveraging visibility from the Oscar-nominated SING SING film to scale fundraising.

Name

Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA)

Legal name

Rehabilitation Through the Arts

Website

https://rta-arts.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Rehabilitation Through the Arts is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that delivers arts-based education and reentry programs in 13 U.S. correctional facilities across New York, Delaware, and California, serving incarcerated individuals through theater, writing, music, dance, and visual arts curricula funded entirely by donations and grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Arts-in-Corrections Rehabilitation Services

NAICS

Vocational Rehabilitation Services (62431)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Reentry, Rehabilitation & Reintegration Programs (Education, Vocational, Case Management) (BPAKANAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Corrections & Reentry Adult Literacy (Justice-Involved Learners) (EDAAAAAL)

Keywords

• Arts in corrections
• Prison rehabilitation programs
• Reentry support services
• Arts-based life skills
• Incarcerated individual education

Headquarters

HQ city

Purchase

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: Tax-deductible donations from individuals supporting the mission. Donors can give one-time, monthly, or recurring gifts via the website. RTA offers a Donor Self-Service Portal for managing contributions.
2. Foundation Grants: Support from private foundations and institutional funders who support arts-in-corrections programming.
3. Government Funding: Supported by National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and ArtsWestchester with Westchester County government support. Some states provide direct support through Departments of Corrections.
4. Planned Giving: Long-term sustainability through planned giving arrangements, allowing donors to include RTA in estate planning.
5. Donor Advised Funds: RTA qualifies to receive gifts from Donor Advised Funds. Tax ID: 13-4112770.
6. Stock Donations: Donors can contribute stock directly to RTA.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Rehabilitation Through the Arts delivers arts-based programming inside correctional facilities, using theater, dance, music, creative writing, and visual arts to teach critical life skills to incarcerated individuals. The portfolio includes Arts Workshops delivered at correctional facilities, the trademarked Reimagining Myself® reentry program, and an Alumni Engagement program that supports participants after release.

Product overview

Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) offers a portfolio of three interconnected programs focused on using arts to transform lives and break the cycle of incarceration. The core offering consists of Arts Workshops—a comprehensive in-prison program teaching dance, theater, music, writing, and visual arts across 8 correctional facilities. The Reimagining Myself® program provides arts-based reentry support, preparing individuals for the social and emotional challenges of returning home. Alumni Engagement extends support beyond release, helping former participants thrive in their communities. Together, these programs work toward reducing recidivism and building life skills in family, community, and employment.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Reimagining Myself®: An innovative arts-based reentry program designed to support incarcerated individuals as they prepare for life beyond incarceration, grounded in cognitive behavioral practices and shaped by lived experience.

Products and services

• Arts Workshops In-prison arts workshops teaching critical life skills through dance, theater, music, writing, visual arts, and creative expression, delivered at correctional facilities for incarcerated participants.
• Reimagining Myself® An innovative arts-based reentry program designed to support incarcerated individuals preparing for life beyond incarceration, grounded in cognitive behavioral practices and shaped by lived experience.
• Alumni Engagement Program engaging RTA members after their release as they rejoin and thrive in society and communities, providing continued support and community connection beyond incarceration.

Quantifiable outcome

• Less than 3% recidivism rate within three years (vs. 60%+ national average)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered major.

• National Endowment for the ArtsmajorOthersRTA is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency that funds arts programs across the United States.
• New York State Council on the ArtsmajorOthersRTA is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
• ArtsWestchestermajorOthersRTA is a grantee of ArtsWestchester with funding made possible by Westchester County government with support of County Executive Kenneth W. Jenkins and the Board of Legislators.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• JustLeadershipUSA: National nonprofit led by directly impacted individuals working to cut the footprint of the U.S. criminal justice system, comparable to RTA's justice-reform mission and reentry/reintegration orientation but focused on advocacy and leadership rather than direct arts programming.
• Prison Arts Coalition: Network and resource hub connecting arts-in-correction programs nationally, partially overlapping RTA's arts-workshop model and serving a similar audience of correctional arts practitioners and program leaders.

Direct peers

• Osborne Association: New York-based nonprofit offering a broad portfolio of services for people affected by incarceration (in-prison, reentry, advocacy, family services), overlapping RTA's NY footprint and reentry focus while operating as a larger generalist counterpart.
• Shakespeare in Prison (Detroit Public Theatre): Theater-based prison programming running inside Michigan correctional facilities, the closest peer to RTA's arts-workshop model in terms of methodology (theater-as-life-skills) and target population (incarcerated adults).
• Defy Ventures: National nonprofit running entrepreneurship training and mentorship programs for incarcerated people and returning citizens, comparable to RTA in combining in-prison programming with reentry support and outcome-driven life-skills development.
• Petey Greene Program: Nonprofit recruiting and training volunteer tutors to deliver educational programming inside prisons and jails, comparable to RTA in operating in correctional facilities and relying on facilitator-driven education for justice-involved learners.
• The Fortune Society: NYC-based nonprofit providing reentry support, education, and advocacy for formerly incarcerated people, with comparable focus on alternatives to incarceration and post-release reintegration, sharing RTA's New York footprint and justice-reform mission.
• Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison: New York-based nonprofit delivering higher education programs inside New York state prisons, closely aligned with RTA in mission, prison-education focus, NY geographic overlap, and reliance on foundation and state funding.
• Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO): National reentry nonprofit providing transitional employment and post-release support to formerly incarcerated individuals, operating in NY, CA, and multiple other states — a direct comparability anchor on the reentry side of RTA's work.

Others

• National Endowment for the Arts: Federal agency that funds arts-in-corrections work including RTA itself, representing the funding/ecosystem counterpart to RTA's direct service model and the primary federal lever for arts-corrections funding nationwide.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/rehabilitationthroughthearts
• Facebookfacebook.com/RTAARTS
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/rehabilitation-through-the-arts-rta
• Instagraminstagram.com/rta_arts

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA)