East Hill Singers – Inmates and Community Singing Together

The East Hill Singers is a unique, internationally know prison chorus located at Lansing Correctional Facility in Lansing, KS.  Founded in 1995, the chorus has grown in size and prominence to include up to 50 inmate singers.  The unique aspect of the chorus is the addition of volunteer singers from the surrounding community who are also chorus members.  Normally, the chorus is comprised of about 50% inmates and 50% volunteers. Typically, the chorus comes outside the prison walls to present four public performances per year.  Performances are held in various locations in the state of Kansas, most often churches.  The chorus members gain important skills in collaboration, respect of others’ abilities and efforts, accepting responsibility to the group and honoring commitments to the group’s goal.  The volunteer singers serve as informal role models and mentors.  The appreciation of the audience for a job well done is an experience most of the singers have never had.  It makes a life-long memory of successful effort – working toward a goal of creating excellence and beauty and of being honored for that. The experience of singing in the chorus has an impact for individual inmates far beyond gaining the ability to match pitches…