Our header this month is a still image from Heartbeat Opera's production of Fidelio, an opera by Beethoven that centers on the wife of an imprisoned man. The opera's "Prisoner's Chorus" featured voices from six prison choirs in the midwest, including three choirs in Ohio prisons. In the Prisoner's Chorus, members sing beautifully about the wonder and pleasure of being outside in the open air. You can read about the production here, and here you can read more about Heartbeat Opera's current project Breathing Free, inspired by the Fidelio project. The Fidelio production is being featured in a major exhibition in Brussels on the occasion of Beethoven's 250th birthday - learn more about it here. We interviewed the directors of Fidelio for Radio OPAC - you can watch our conversation here.

 

The quotation in the subject line is from our Radio OPAC interview with Kari Gunter-Seymour, Ohio's new Poet Laureate. Kari is spending her time as Poet Laureate supporting poetry education as a way of reckoning with one's life and experiences. Kari is teaching classes to the general public and is also offering poetry classes to Ohioans incarcerated at the Ohio Reformatory for Women and at Noble Correctional Insititution.

This Friday - a don't miss artist conversation!

Wexner Center for the Arts (online - register here)

November 13, 3pm

 

The Wexner Center for the Arts hosts two creators of the acclaimed Ear Hustle podcast, Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor, in conversation with Ohio State's Tiyi M. Morris and Mary Thomas. They'll talk about the process of building the first podcast created and produced in a prison, and discuss the importance of asking questions and compassionate listening.

 

We are happy to be a promotional partner for this event. And a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to the Wex for making a recording available of the conversation for us to send to every prison in the state.

Opportunities for you, in Ohio and beyond

 

  • Please support our OPAC creative care package project by donating, and by contributing creative prompts for future volumes. We estimate that we've impacted 4000 incarcerated people so far with the creative prompts and DVDs included in the care packages. Every dollar you donate allows us to produce one creative care package to be used by an incarcerated person. Learn more about the Creative Care Package initiative here.
  • If you don't follow Justice Arts Coalition, check it out! Today's Radio OPAC interview was with Wendy Jason, JAC's director. In addition to sharing the writing and artwork of justice-involved artists, JAC connects artists outside with artists in prison through the pARTner Project, do coalition-building with people across many states in the US, and hosts Create + Connect workshops that are designed to educate and inspire anyone who is invested in the intersection between the arts and the justice system. 
  • Beth Bienvenu of The National Endowment for the Arts has published a blog post about approaches in federal and California prisons to support arts learning for incarcerated people during the pandemic. Check it out here!
  • Save the date for December 9 at 6pm! Rehabilitation through the Arts - New York friends of OPAC - have put together a performance piece based on poetry and stories received from men and women incarcerated in New York State's prisons. The performers include alums of RTA's programs and teaching artists who worked with incarcerated people before the COVID pandemic. More information in the image below.

Have an idea? Want to get involved in anything we've mentioned above?

 

Please get in touch. 

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