InsideArt Cooperative

1. InsideArt Cooperative Cooperation and commerce within prison walls Stacey Corriveau www.insideart.ca

2. InsideArt Cooperative • Is owned by artist inmates at federal prisons in BC • Provides marketing support • Finds and develops sales opportunities • Provides mentoring and workshops from outside artists and professionals

3. Great expectations • Early 2004 • Community Futures (CF) approached Correctional Services Canada (CSC) • CSC had no policy at the time • CF contracted to write the document • Draft of IOB (Inmate Operated Business) standing order • “Business Basics” workshop presented to interested inmates at Mountain Institution • InsideArt funded by Cooperative Development Initiative (CDI) as innovation project, three years ended March 07

4. The purposes of InsideArt • To effectively market fine craft and artwork of its members, the majority whom are or were federal inmates in Canada; • To provide opportunities for members and other artisans to purchase supplies for the production of fine craft and artwork; • To provide other services that may be required for the production and sale of members’ fine craft and artwork; and • To encourage and support members in becoming more productive and self-reliant in the community.

5. Benefits to inmate members • Income ($69 per pay period versus unlimited $) • Learning business skills and marketing • Working as a team towards common goal • Desire to improve life (taking correctional programs) • Higher sales (and greater likelihood of being able to support family on the street) • Much greater access to new markets • Lower material costs • Inmate repayment of business overhead costs to the Treasury budget • Contributing to societal costs through paying taxes while incarcerated • Community reintegration – having a successful business to bring out onto the street upon release.

6. Measures of social success • Connections between incarcerated and community-based artists; • Greater understanding and acceptance by community members of inmates being released to the community; • Increased self-esteem and confidence of incarcerated members; • Lessened reliance on social safety net; and • Lower recidivism rates.

7. Measures of financial success • Complete financial self-sufficiency of cooperative (30% of sales are retained by co-op to pay staff and other marketing costs) or reliable long-term revenue diversification for ensured sustainability; • Greater financial self-sufficiency of members upon release from prison.

8. Progress of InsideArt • Incorporated as a non-profit cooperative in December 2004; • Membership of 6 artists (Class A) and 8 Class B or ‘friends’; • Enjoys a positive following in the CED, social enterprise, and cooperative sectors; • Founding group understands the unique governance and structure particular to cooperatives;

9. Progress of InsideArt • Incarcerated individuals have made deep and meaningful connections with community members; • The glass artists have been accepted into the prestigious Circle Craft show; • Design capacity, business knowledge, communication and decision-making skills, and confidence of members has improved dramatically; • The public has been educated at public showings; • Inmate-operated business practices have been instituted in one prison;

10. Progress of InsideArt • Three long-term inmate co-op members, who had previously shunned participation in CSC programs (having chosen instead to ‘serve their time’ without this support) have now actively engaged in processes to participate in long-term correctional programs, citing their involvement in InsideArt as the catalyst; and • Inmate interest in joining InsideArt once it is made available in other prisons is palpable.

11. Unforeseen roadblocks and obstacles • Dramatic time lag in moving IOB standing order through CSC bureaucracy to approval; • Withdrawal of CSC budget for dedicated IOB staff person; • Institutional lockdowns; and • ‘Time warp’: 1:4 ratio doing business in the community, versus within the prison system.

12. Transferable knowledge gained co-op implementation • similarities to co-ops with the developmentally disabled as members (e.g. immune to power of branding; mismatch in design aesthetics); • in order to build a successful business, member ‘ownership’ of decision-making must be tempered with the input and advice of community-based management and business volunteers as stewards; • co-op principle ‘autonomy and independence’ is not entirely applicable in this situation.

13. Transferable knowledge gained co-op implementation • extra care and time must be taken in member engagement, and debriefing with inmates; • ‘institutionalization’ = lack of capacity for active decision making and discernment; • inmate culture of dependence / entitlement; • reminder: in the ‘real world’, seldom are art co-ops funded as InsideArt has been… most art co-ops only survive on volunteerism, passion and elbow grease.

14. Transferable knowledge gained co-op implementation • long-term inmates need to be expressly exposed to the lesson that power and authority is built on relationships – effective leaders tend to work by consensus and choose not to be authoritarian; • we were proud of the members when they ‘took control’ and ‘owned’ the co-op, but many, who had never owned or controlled anything before, should have been taught how to effectively take control and authority; • sustainability is not easy! • co-op commission – increased from 15% to 30%;

15. Transferable knowledge gained co-op implementation • time spent in operating within prison system is time taken away from selling; • ***community approval does not necessarily translate into sales; • celebrate small achievements; • use inmate labour and facilities as much as possible, despite extra time that this takes; • male project leads in prisons housing male inmates?

16. Best practices • bring in people from the community, and build a community volunteer base to assist the inmates; • expose the inmates to current business practices; • leverage CDI support to find other funding; • act as a third-party lender; • advance awareness of inmates and their economic realities upon release; and • advocate for the implementation of inmate-operated business.

17. We know that… • CDI funding ran out in March 2007. • current co-op sales cannot sustain staff and marketing costs, and related expenses. • CSC support may never be forthcoming (working against the current, as in many instances of innovation). • there is inmate interest in joining the co-op. • we enjoy positive public support… but we also know that support does not necessarily translate into sales. • locating quality sales reps is not easy. Community Futures will continue to support the co-op, but staff time has been severely limited since CDI funding ended.

18. These are our assets: • A consistent brand and associated print materials. • A functional e-commerce website. • A positive following, particularly in the co-op, social enterprise, and community development sectors. • Community and artist members! • New ideas/connections at the table (community-based Board) • Inventory of artwork. • We are debt-free.

19. Here are our ‘liabilities’: • Lack of core funding (for people and marketing). • Lack of volunteer time to devote to operations, advocacy and sales.

20. What does the future hold? • Getting work into galleries • Establishing a corporate presence • Increasing awareness • Working with sales reps • Expanding membership • Sustainability!

21. People Lessons • Need to ‘sell’ the concept differently to different constituents • Sometimes making it ‘easy’ for people to adopt isn’t enough • Allow enough time to build, based on specific environment • Debrief debrief debrief! • Celebrate ‘small’ achievements

22. Business Lessons • Can all social enterprises be 100% financially sustainable, and if not, is that OK? • Cobbler’s children go barefoot! The business plan irony. • Move to multi-stakeholder co-op as business decision. • Interest and support doesn’t necessarily translate into sales!

23. Organization Cultural Lessons • ‘Bending’ of co-op principle of autonomy and independence. • Empowerment and self-esteem building: when are they ready to leave the nest? • Tensions between co-op members and stewards overseeing funding use. • The issue of power and control against the backdrop of institutionalization / learned dependence.

24. The final word… '...no matter what unfolds, I have no regrets. These past years, I have been a different man. I will always give you credit for bringing a new perspective into my life. We have had highs and lows. Bottom line, it all made me realize that there are still people out there that appreciate who I am, and that led me to want to be a better person. Life is a work in progress. Since the co-op, it feels like a new beginning. I will keep this whether the co-op lives or dies.'    Phil Clement, founding Chair InsideArt Cooperative