Arts Learning
Arts Learning
Instructors will teach creative writing to incarcerated Minnesotans in (16) ten-week courses in rural state prisons. Inmates will give readings and compile journals. Instructors will host a taped public reading of inmate work at Hamline & Micawber’s. Audiences may respond to inmates’ work via prepaid postcards.
Ardell Brede: Mayor of Rochester, elected 2002.; Peggy Burnet: Businesswoman, art collector, and community volunteer. Chair of the Nominating Committee, Smithsonian National Board. Trustee, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Vice Chair, Minnesota State Arts Board.; Michael Charron: Dean of the School of the Arts, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. Vice Chair, Minnesota State Arts Board.; Wendy Dayton: Arts and community leader and philanthopist.; Sean Dowse: Executive director, Sheldon Theatre. Board member for Minnesota Music Coalition, Minnesota Citizens for the Arts, and Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies.; David Glenn, Executive director of the Minnesota Project, ceramic artist; Benjamin Klipfel: Board member, Minnesota State Arts Board. Executive Director, Alexandria Area Arts Association, Inc. Director and arts educator.; Ellen McInnis: Director of Twin Cities government relations, Wells Fargo. Member of Bottineau Boulevard Partnership. Chair, Minnesota State Arts Board.; Thomas Moss: Consultant to nonprofits and government agencies; Janice Sivertson: Gallery owner and visual artist; Anton Treuer: Professor of Ojibwe, Bemidji State University.
Jeffrey Bleam: Chair; department of theatre and film studies, Saint Cloud State University; Phyllis Doyle: Retired arts administrator; award-winning poet and fiction writer; Donald Hill: Visiting assistant professor, creative writing program, University of Alaska-Fairbanks; author and poet; Dorothy Kantor: Assistant director, National Catholic Youth Choir; Ruthe Thompson: Professor of English, Southwest Minnesota State University; Elizabeth Ward: Arts program coordinator, Backus Community Center
ACHF Arts Education
Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop will provide learners at five greater Minnesota prison facilities access to in-depth arts experience that deepens a habit of art and fosters a writing community inside underserved prisons. We will track the number of inmates who have in-depth, quality arts access for the first time. We will track the number of inmates who attend multi-genre readings given by peers and instructors. We will administer evaluations to learners and those who engage with inmates' art through public readings and postcard feedback. 2: Previously underserved Minnesotans and their incarcerated peers will have greater access to art within and about incarcerations. Public will also engage in the work of incarcerated writers. The success of this project will be evaluated at each Department of Corrections facility through course discussions, workshops, written work and evaluations that assess workshops' impact on both the students and students' audience. We will also measure community impact by tracking postcard responses to students' taped outside readings.
Instructors taught creative writing to incarcerated Minnesotans in (16) 10-week courses in under serviced state prisons. Inmates gave readings of their work, submitted for journal publication. Instructors read student work at a public reading at Hamline U 2: We were able to teach approximately 120 incarcerated Minnesotans who've never had a creative writing class in prison. Most of the prisons we went into had never offered a creative writing course, so it was new to education instructors and administrators.