Guitar Education in the Texas Juvenile Justice System

The Texas Bar Foundation awarded a $10,000 grant to Austin Classical Guitar to support its Guitar Education in the Texas Juvenile Justice System project. This grant helps sustain ACG’s daily group guitar classes at five juvenile detention centers in Dallas, Travis, and Williamson Counties—currently the only fully accredited arts programs for incarcerated youth in Texas.

On the left corner is Francisco de la Rosa, ACG Teaching Artist, and on the right corner is Hector Aguilar, ACG Director of Juvenile Justice Services

ACG’s group guitar classes at the five facilities are designed to foster a sense of personal success and accomplishment for the youth who participate while providing an outlet for personal expression. The daily classes, which are taught using ACG’s TEKS-aligned (Texas Education Benchmark System) curriculum, also provide students with the opportunity to earn fine arts and community service credits while incarcerated and perform in public concerts. Through rigorous, for-credit music education, ACG’s work encourages discipline, teamwork, and a sense of accomplishment. By engaging youth in structured, positive activities during their incarceration and offering continued mentorship and lessons post-release, ACG aids students in developing life skills that support successful reintegration into society.

This is the fourth grant the Austin-based nonprofit has received from the Texas Bar Foundation for its work with youth in the juvenile justice system, which began in 2010 with ACG’s first
classes at the Gardner Betts Juvenile Justice Center in Travis County.

Matthew Hinsley, Executive Director accompanied by TXBF Trustee Judge Elisabeth Earle

“We at Austin Classical Guitar are deeply grateful for the ongoing support of our evolving work in the Texas Juvenile Justice System. We are very proud to have developed Texas’ first and only daily, for-credit performing arts courses for incarcerated youth in state history, and thankful for the fifteen years and thousands of hours we have been able to work in this space. Our work is designed to bring caring and compassion through music to young people struggling through profound difficulty. Over time this has turned into friendship, dedication, artistry, and courageous triumph. It’s all possible thanks to supporters like the Texas Bar Foundation.”

– Dr. Matthew Hinsley, Executive Director, Austin Classical Guitar