PRISON JUSTICE

Inside/Outside: Bringing together artists & activists on the outside to collaborate with people on the inside, and those who were formerly incarcerated, to advocate for prison justice. These collaborations attempt to reckon with the ineffectiveness and further harm of mass incarceration. I am committed to an abolitionist framework, with the vision of moving beyond punishment toward a more equitable future where human rights & needs are met, including health care, education, and housing.

I ran the Denver chapter of Dances for Solidarity September 2015-2018. DFS is a national initiative, created by multimedia artist Sarah Dahnke, sharing dance with people in solitary confinement.

Solidarity Dance was an evening of arts & activism in Denver in collaboration with letter writers, pen-pals in solitary confinement, formerly incarcerated artists, and community partners.

DFS-denver continues on. Reach out at: dancesforsolidaritydenver@gmail.com. More about the project at large: DFS website.

Facilitation Inside

Working with imprisoned students to facilitate workshops merging creative writing, public speaking, and somatic approaches. Past work includes 3+ years co-teaching as a volunteer with the democratic communication project in Colorado, a program which produces the journal Captured Words, Free Thoughts.

Co-authored the 2017 Prison Communication, Activism, Research and Education collective (PCARE) epilogue in collaboration with my co-facilitator, Sarah Sunderlin, and imprisoned workshop participants in the Democratic Communication Workshop

Select Conference Presentations & Guest Lectures:

 “Embodied Literacy and Community Informed Action.” Invited Presentation/Workshop for Community Literacy Training, SpeakOut!, Colorado State University, 2018

“Dance in Correctional Facilities.” Invited presentation for TAPS 197, Dance in Prisons, Stanford University, Stanford, 2017

“Bridging the Gaps: Performative Collaborations between Academics, College Students, and Incarcerated People in Prisons and Juvenile Detention Facilities." Critical and Cultural Studies Division. National Communication Association Conference. Dallas, TX, 2017

“Nothing is Apolitical: Writing, Art, and Resistance in Collaboration with Prisoners.” Conference on Community Writing, Boulder, CO, October 19, 2017

“Strategies for Negotiating Needs with Rigid Institutions.” Invited Workshop Presentation for Inter-Collegiate Puksta Leadership Retreat, University of Colorado-Boulder, 2016

“Dances for Solidarity: Policing, Prisons, and New Public Voices.” Division of Activism & Social Justice. National Communication Association Conference. Philadelphia, PA, 2016

re: prison justice collaborations in service of transcending the punishment paradigm: