PCAP News — July 2015 The PCAP Newsletter aims to keep incarcerated artists, writers, and performers informed of what the Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) is doing and how to be involved. If you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, please have them write to us. (Our address is on the last page.)

PCAP Around the World PCAP Director Ashley Lucas is traveling the world this summer to study prison theater and share information about PCAP. In July, Ashley will visit prison arts programs in Australia and New Zealand. In August, she will bring University of Michigan students to Brazil for PCAP’s third annual visit to UniRio, a university in Rio de Janeiro. UniRio has a program similar to PCAP’s, and our students will visit theater workshops in prisons, hospitals, and community centers. Ashley and her students always return with great ideas for PCAP.

Humanize the Numbers Humanize the Numbers is a new collaboration that will connect incarcerated men and women in Michigan state prisons with hundreds of students, artists, researchers, and activists in and around Southeast Michigan. The title comes from a project planning session with men at Thumb Correctional Facility. Two participants said that what they wanted most out of the project was for people on the outside to “humanize the numbers” of incarceration. PCAP faculty and staff are key organizers of Humanize the Numbers, and we are introducing a new course as part of the project. Photography instructor Isaac Wingfield and his students will work with a group of incarcerated men at Thumb this fall. Workshop participants will create a series of photographs inside the visiting room, coupled with photos taken by university students outside of the prison, using photography as a way to share prisoners’ ideas with the greater community. The images created throughout the fall will be exhibited across the University of Michigan campus during the winter 2016 semester, along with many other projects created by students, faculty, and community partners. Visiting artist Mark Strandquist, whose most recent work focuses on incarceration and reentry, will use these exhibits as a backdrop for a wide variety of community activities. If you would like to contribute to the Humanize the Numbers project, please write to Heather Wilson.

20th Annual Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners by Graham Hamilton, Arts Programming Coordinator This year’s exhibition was absolutely fabulous, no doubt about it. We sincerely thank you for sharing your artwork, something of yourself. Your commitment to maintaining your creative spirit is inspiring. Your art sparks conversations throughout the year.

Over 4,000 people visited the gallery.

This year’s exhibition ran March 25-April 8, 2015 in the University of Michigan Duderstadt Center Gallery. This year’s optional theme was “Self Representation.” More than 4,000 people visited the gallery and attended associated events. Nearly 600 people visited the gallery on opening day. For any exhibition, anywhere, this level of attendance and interest is truly remarkable.

The show was fresh and vibrant. The artwork displayed had a high level of quality and a remarkable diversity of ideas and beliefs. We saw more 3D artwork than ever this year. Subjects ranged from dream houses with LED lighting, to tissue paper super hero figurines, to stone lighthouses, to log cabins, to amazing motorcycles, and more. We extended the exhibit to include a second venue. Judges selected 40 pieces to display at the University of Michigan Detroit Center, May 29-June 26. A photo slideshow of the other 447 pieces from the 20th Annual Exhibition was also shown in the Detroit Center gallery. This year the MDOC censored artwork for the first time. After artwork was collected and photographed, an MDOC employee reviewed all 487 images. The MDOC asked that six pieces not be displayed on the gallery walls or included in the video. These pieces were included in the exhibition in display bins. Our curators and volunteers visited nearly every prison in the state and considered 1,500 pieces of art for the show. Only one third of that number can fit in our gallery space. For any artists who did not have their artwork chosen for this year's exhibition, we encourage you to continue to work diligently at your art and to submit your work next year.

Clockwise, from top left: standing room only at the opening reception, Artist Panel event, Senior Curator Janie Paul, PCAP Founder Buzz Alexander.

We are producing a video of the opening reception speakers and a slideshow of the artwork. We expect this to be mailed to all facilities in early fall. Please inquire at your facility to find out when and how this year's video can be viewed. It is a great way to see what kinds of art was chosen for this year's exhibition. I also encourage you to write to us at PCAP if you have any questions about the exhibition. The art show curators and I are always open to your ideas and insight. Almost all artwork has been mailed to buyers or artists’ designated contact people. The last shipment will be sent by July 10. Sales have been totaled and cashier checks will be sent to the MDOC business office by July 3 for deposit into artists’ accounts. We will mail an artist packet to all artists by July 3 that will give you

20th Annual Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners all the results of this year's exhibit including sales. Please accept our apologies for any delay in getting this vital information back to you. We understand that waiting is difficult and hope you can understand our need to take time to process everything accurately. We are preparing a request to the MDOC to hold the 21st Annual Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners in spring 2016. If approved, we will begin artwork selection in October at the Upper Peninsula facilities.

Looking through display bins.

Michigan Review of Prisoner Creative Writing by Philip Christman, Editor I am supposed to write here a celebratory piece about the March 29 Ann Arbor reading of work from the Michigan Review of Prisoner Creative Writing—and, in fact, we had, and have, plenty to celebrate. This was the seventh such reading we’ve done in as many years, and, always, its success can be described both in terms of numbers (the Art and Architecture Auditorium on U-M’s North Campus was nearly full, and the hour -plus event ran beautifully, thanks to the hard work of my assistant editor Denise Dooley) and in terms numbers can’t approach. For me, the event is a success when I see the family members of our writers talking to each other, crying with each other, applauding each other, when I see the connections they make, connections that transmute private pain into something discussable, something others have known and survived. My favorite moment in every reading is when we get to hear from those of our writers who, at some point between the journal’s submission period and publication, have gotten out. This year we had two such writers. One is a veteran of the Review whose poetry has gotten deeper and weirder every year, which is the best thing you can say of any poet. The other had just appeared for the first time this year. They were both good readers of their own work, something that’s not always or even often true of writers. In their intonations and rhythms, I caught things about both writers’ work that I hadn’t heard before. Last week, one of the writers emailed me with a heartfelt apology: she would not be able to attend our second reading in Detroit on June 6. The reason she gave warmed my heart: the drive was just a hair too expensive to justify at a time when she is saving every penny toward buying a house! I emailed her back to say that I’ve never been so happy that someone couldn’t come to a reading. [Update: PCAP was able to sponsor the writer’s travel and she read at the June 6 event.] The other writer, Tom Engel, and I had exchanged emails steadily since his arrival home early in the year. He was full of hopes and plans, and talent, and I was looking forward to many more years of friendship with him. He had taken to posting drafts of short stories to his Facebook page, one of which, “He’s the Professor. He Knows,” ended as follows: “But it was only his story, and he told it the way he loved to tell it.” Early in May—after he died, suddenly, unexpectedly, in a time that had seemed full of happiness and promise—his friends and family took to posting small tributes to Tom to the same page. One of them wrote: “You stopped mid-sentence. The cursor blinking. I'm waiting. The cursor blinking.” My friend Tim Hurley, also a former Review contributor who has come home and stayed home, had this to say about it: “I’ll never know why some make it and some don’t.” Indeed. Life refuses to make any sense, and constantly teases us with the possibility of sense. It isn’t even and methodical like an accountant. It’s extravagant in all directions: better than we could hope, worse than we’d even thought to fear. Which is why we write.

Copyright Questions? Are you confused by copyright for your creative work? PCAP knows a lawyer who wants to help answer your questions. Please mail your questions to Vanessa Mayesky by August 3. She will forward them to the lawyer, who is preparing a fact sheet to share in our next newsletter.

Image credit: BusinessSarah (flickr.com), licenced by Creative Commons

Linkage Project The Linkage Project is PCAP’s program for artists, writers, and performers who have returned home from incarceration. This program offers workshops, exhibition opportunities, and connections to PCAP’s campus community. Here’s what’s happening this summer and fall in the Linkage Project: 

Our Southeast Michigan regional meeting featured a creative arts workshop and brainstorming session for a new public art project in Detroit.

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Three Linkage Members are competing in ArtPrize 2015, an art competition in Grand Rapids.

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A West Michigan regional meeting is being planned for fall.

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Some Linkage Members have trained with PCAP to become workshop facilitators. One of them has begun a weekly creative arts workshop in Ypsilanti for women who have returned from prison called “The Sisters Free.”

If you would like to join the Linkage Project, write to Vanessa Mayesky when you return home.

Calendar

About PCAP

July  Artwork shipped, payments made  Literary review submissions open  Literary review reading in Ann Arbor (July 27, 7pm, Literati, 124 E. Washington, 48104)

Mission Statement The Prison Creative Arts Project's mission is to collaborate with incarcerated adults, incarcerated youth, urban youth and the formerly incarcerated to strengthen our community through creative expression.

August  PCAP Brazil exchange September  ArtPrize competition  Literary review submissions close (September 10)  Creative arts workshops begin October  U.P. art selection trip (pending MDOC approval)

Contact Us PCAP at University of Michigan 1801 East Quad 701 E. University Ave. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1245 [email protected], www.prisonarts.org PCAP Faculty Ashley Lucas, Director Buzz Alexander, Phil Christman, Charlie Michaels, Janie Paul, Isaac Wingfield PCAP Staff Graham Hamilton, Vanessa Mayesky, Shaka Senghor, Heather Wilson

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

The Michigan Review of Prisoner Creative Writing Submit your poems, short stories and essays for publication The Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) is accepting submissions of creative writing (fiction, poetry, or essays/memoir) of up to 4500 words (ten typed pages) for The Michigan Review of Prisoner Creative Writing, Volume 8. Submissions will be received at this address between July 1-September 10, 2015: Prison Creative Arts Project ATTN: Phil Christman 1801 East Quad 701 E. University Ave. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1245 Please submit the following information with your written work:  Your legal name (so we can communicate with you by mail);  Your name or pen name as you’d like it to appear in the journal, if different than your legal name;  Your DOC ID number;  Your current address;  The title of the story(ies), essay(s) or poem(s) you’re submitting;  A short paragraph about yourself/your writing that will be published alongside any accepted piece. Pieces lacking this information will not be eligible for publication.

Guidelines:  You may submit no more than 4500 total words.  Entries may be typed or handwritten. If you handwrite, make sure your writing is legible (readable by others).  Format your piece so that it looks on the page the way you want it to look in the book. Consider aspects such as line breaks, spacing, punctuation, etc.  Only submit work that you, personally, have written.  Please do not send in the only copy of your work. We cannot return submissions.  Only submissions that follow the above directions will be read.

The Marshall Project CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS The Marshall Project is a new nonprofit news organization committed to shedding light on criminal justice issues. One of the things we are hoping to do is publish first-person reporting from inside prisons, written by inmates themselves. We hope that the writing we publish will challenge the public’s assumptions about how prisons work and don’t work. What we are looking for: Narrative nonfiction writing about a specific aspect of life in jail or prison. Almost any topic could be of interest, from the boredom of daily routines to the experience of solitary confinement to friendship, education, ways of coping, food or work. Other topics could include relationships with other prisoners and prison staff, communication with family or friends on the outside, etc. What we are NOT looking for: Poetry, fiction, essays about life before prison, political or analytical essays, etc. LENGTH: 500-2000 words. MAIL TO: The Marshall Project 250 W. 57th St. Suite 2514 New York, NY 10107 Please include your full name + how to contact you. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUBMISSIONS!

Duende is an online literary journal (duendeliterary.org) edited by students in Goddard College’s BFA in Writing program. Duende is dedicated to showcasing quality writing from communities underrepresented in the U.S. literary landscape. The journal seeks to be a vehicle through which writers who are or have been incarcerated can share their writing and visual art with a wider audience. Duende seeks poetry, prose, hybrid work, and visual art coming from the minds and hearts of prisoners—current or former, in the U.S. or in other countries. You are not forgotten and you deserve to be heard. We gladly accept your submissions via postal mail until March 25, 2015. Please send to: Duende BFA in Writing Program Goddard College 123 Pitkin Road Plainfield, VT 05667

UPDATE: The Periphery was having trouble with mail delivery after this announcement was sent in our March newsletter. This issue has been resolved and their editors are eagerly awaiting your submissions! The Periphery, a Detroit-based monthly magazine, is seeking prose, poetry, essays, interviews, arts commentary, and visual arts submissions. We offer an alternative to discourses found in mainstream media by showcasing local, national, and international writers and artists whose work opens new conversations. In the past, we’ve published pieces from incarcerated persons alongside the work of professional writers and artists, and we realize that there are spaces of untapped talent that we’d like to support. Our published work is often recognized by esteemed publications and writers and has an international following from 65 countries around the world. No fee is required and we accept submissions year-round. You will receive a reply from us confirming whether or not we accept your work, and if you have not received a clear decision message from us, please assume your manuscript or art piece is still under consideration. Everything sent for submission cannot be returned to the sender — if you would like to keep the original, please make sure you send us a copy of your work. We also consider previously published written works, but we need to be informed of the reprint rights so that we give proper credit to the first publisher. If an unpublished written piece is published in The Periphery, the writer has the right to republish the work in any other form, but it must note that the piece was first published in The Periphery. If you’d like to submit, please send a short personal biography (less than 100 words) and physical copy of your work (no length limits — short works and long works are welcome) to: The Periphery P.O. Box 32363 Detroit, MI 48232