PBS NEWSHOUR ART BEAT-July 23, 2017 by Corinne Segal

“Sheri Crider wants to know why Americans want new and shiny things — and what they do with the rest.

It’s a question she has asked for years, going back to when she was using drugs and alcohol, experiencing homelessness and serving time, a period where she felt cut off from the rest of society.

Today, as an artist and entrepreneur, she is an inaugural recipient of a Right of Return fellowship for formerly incarcerated artists and finds herself asking the same thing from a much different standpoint.

“I’ve had the privilege of being on both sides of the table,” she said. “I’ve been the person shackled to other people in a van and realizing that you can’t participate in culture, and you can’t just go to the store. All those privileges have been stripped from you.”

She received $20,000 for the fellowship, funded by the Soze Agency, a business based in New York that works on creative campaigns for nonprofits.

Crider started drinking at 11 years old and by high school, she was using other drugs. From 1985 to 1993, she served about a dozen short sentences on drug-related charges and for violating probation, and did several stints in court-ordered drug treatment programs….Read More”