Judy Levine details the twenty-year history of the Theater for the Forgotten, originally formed to present drama to prison inmates in New York City, Since then, public and foundation funders for arts programs have become more focused on professional organizations for whom the arts are the only priority, whereas funders for social service programs regard the arts as frills. Those who see art as social service are caught between the two definitions and must exercise considerable ingenuity to survive with their mission intact. (p. 4)

Many arts organizations committed to services for the unfortunate were created during the heyday of the Great Society - President Lyndon Johnson's program promising equitable access to the essential components of social life (education, voting, employment, and so on). But most of these organizations have folded under the dual pressures of an expanding professional arts field (resulting in increased competition for funds) and an escalating nationwide economic downturn (resulting in decreasingly available philanthropic dollars). Theatre for the Forgotten (TFTF), a New York City-based organization working in prisons, with juvenile offenders and with others of society's outcasts, is one group that has perservered.

CONTENTS
Prisons as a place to perform.
Arts services for the marginal.
A call for clarity.
The purpose of art.
Funder priorities and program identity.
The future: support from individuals.
The future: Working the bureaucracy.