When baritone Ryan Alexander (MM ’24, Vocal Performance) began his graduate degree at Peabody, he brought a decade of experience in special education and advocating for individuals with disabilities. Last year, he took the knowledge gained from his studies at Peabody to create an inspiring new platform for arts and community engagement—at the District of Columbia Jail.
Built upon Alexander’s previous teaching and administrative work there, Project Poetic Justice paired 20 incarcerated adults aged 18 to 22 with volunteer writers and composers who helped them express their thoughts and emotions in poetry, then transformed that text into music that resulted in public performances.
Now Alexander is working on a second program in the jail for 2026 and also looking at ways to offer it at facilities such as St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, a public psychiatric facility in southeastern Washington, D.C. He says it’s an opportunity for participants to explore their creativity and build their self-confidence.
When baritone Ryan Alexander (MM ’24, Vocal Performance) began his graduate degree at Peabody, he brought a decade of experience in special education and advocating for individuals with disabilities. Last year, he took the knowledge gained from his studies at Peabody to create an inspiring new platform for arts and community engagement—at the District of Columbia Jail.
Built upon Alexander’s previous teaching and administrative work there, Project Poetic Justice paired 20 incarcerated adults aged 18 to 22 with volunteer writers and composers who helped them express their thoughts and emotions in poetry, then transformed that text into music that resulted in public performances.
Now Alexander is working on a second program in the jail for 2026 and also looking at ways to offer it at facilities such as St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, a public psychiatric facility in southeastern Washington, D.C. He says it’s an opportunity for participants to explore their creativity and build their self-confidence.
“The program allows [residents] to detach from their direct environment, convey their emotions in ways that maybe they haven’t before, and work with poets and composers who can assist them in finding the words that they’re looking for,” he says.
The inaugural 10-week program, which ran from February to May of 2025, worked this way: Incarcerated adult students with documented special education needs wrote poetry with support from visiting poets and authors, including some from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars. Then composers from Peabody helped to create musical settings.
Some incarcerated participants co-composed—helping with rhythm, melodic ideas, and musical structure—while others provided artistic direction such as mood, feel, and energy so that the composer could tailor the music to their writing.
Finally, Alexander directed visiting singers and pianists who performed the participants’ works on stage in a community concert at the Church of the Epiphany in Washington, D.C., as well as one at the D.C. Jail. It was a role he was surprised to embrace.
“I always thought that I’d rather be on the stage, not behind it,” he says. “There was no way I saw myself launching a program, let alone hiring composers and poets and collaborating with so many.”
The program was run with support from the Maya Angelou Public Charter School on the D.C. Jail’s campus and Free Minds Book Club, with funding from a Peabody Launch Grant, the Petey Greene Program, in-kind contributions, and crowdfunding.
Alexander credits a wide network of support from Johns Hopkins University including Peabody voice teacher Randall Scarlata, with whom he studied privately before entering graduate school, and Dora Malech, chair of the Writing Seminars. Peabody faculty member Lara Pellegrinelli, his teacher for Pitching Your Creative Idea at Peabody, helped him bring the vision to life.
Although he began studying at the Eastman School of Music after high school, Alexander decided to pursue a degree in anthropology at George Mason University, then worked with Teach for America as a special education teacher in Chicago while also getting a master’s in the specialty. He eventually moved to Washington, D.C., to continue teaching, and there he sang part time with the 18th Street Singers.
During the pandemic, he spent two years teaching full time at the Inspiring Youth Program inside the D.C. Jail. When he began his graduate studies at Peabody, he says, his classroom experience helped him imagine how to introduce the power of poetry and art song to incarcerated adult learners with help from artists close to their age.
“I feel like our sense of community in this country is in a very fragile state,” he says. “Project Poetic Justice has really brought community into my life—and the lives of the students I worked with.
“It’s also shown that I’m capable of doing more than I thought. I’ve not always been the most optimistic human being on the planet, and it’s been exciting to surprise myself with what’s possible.”