KUNM volunteer David Lescht can’t free prisoners from their physical walls, but he can free them from their mental constructs.
Lescht, a freeform radio host, founded two programs in the ’90s which were inspired by his days in the ’70s, living in a commune.
His experience with the commune band left him hungry for more public service through music, something his radio show only partially satisfied, he said. Lescht said he called the nonprofit organization “Outside In” because it brings live music to people in confinement, from seniors in nursing homes to prisoners. The music is selected according to the audience, he said.
“At first, I said, ‘No, no way I could do this,’ but then it started to percolate,” he said. “So in 1995, I just went into it without knowing anything about nonprofit organizations (or) computers. I didn’t even have a computer. Before I knew it, there were all these green lights, everybody said great idea, and it just took off.”
Similarly, Lescht said the commune band chose to be non-commercial and played in prisons and hospitals.
They eventually began touring around California after they connected with a similar group. Lescht acted as band manager until he separated from them in the early ’90s to move to Santa Fe, when he started working for KUNM.
His first program inspired a second one, which he called “Youth with Promise.” It provides incarcerated youth with guitar, dance and visual arts workshops that continue when they are released.
“I think that these kids are yearning for something,” he said.
“Everybody’s got creative, artistic potential, and very often they don’t have the opportunity, especially in the schools they go through. It’s not a cool thing in the gangs or whatever it is. … Art is one thing they have this incredible, almost intrinsic, talent in.”
In 1996, “Outside In” had 96 events, concerts and workshops that he said seemed like a lot at the time. Lescht said he spends most of his time writing grants for the now 700 programs they have on average, over the course of a year.
Lescht said studies have shown that kids in crisis are most responsive to art therapy.
“We’re still in touch with some of the kids that were almost too dangerous to hold in the facility,” he said. “In a year or two, they were transformed by just learning how to play the guitar.
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That’s kind of an indication of what the arts can do.”
Chris Abeyta, a guitar instructor for the program, said that in order to break through the kids’ self-protective defensive barriers, he teaches them in a relatable way.
“I’m not telling them ‘This is a triad,’ or ‘This is a pentatonic scale.’ I tell them, ‘This is a pattern you need to learn.’”
