Project Grant
Project Grant
Women incarcerated will work with professional teaching artists to learn creative writing skills and publish their works in anthologies which will be placed in Great River Regional and Elk River Library collections.
Linda Brobeck: Vice Chair Wright County Minnesota visual artist, owner of Crow River North LLC, has served on a number of non-profit boards; Doug Lien: Stearns County, Watercolorist, Member of the Central Minnesota Watercolorists, Community Education Art Class instructor; Mark Nelson: Wright County Public School Music Teacher, choral director, community theatre director, voice lessons instructor, American Choral Directors Association of Minnesota Board Member; Leslie Hanlon: Secretary Stearns County, Director of Fundraising and Marketing for the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University Fine Arts Series; Janice Courtney: Chair Stearns County Arts Adviser, Assistant Director of the St. Cloud State University Program Board, arts advocate, arts administrator; Ken Barry: Blues Musician, Victorian photographer proficient in Digital imaging, Platinum/Palladium printing,Wet Plate Collodion process, Bromoil printing, Cyanotype printing, University of Wisconsin, Certified Nuclear Engineer: George Minerich: Benton County, Professional film, digital and nature photographer, local arts center, photography club volunteer.
George Minerich: Benton County, Professional film, digital and nature photographer; local arts center and photography club volunteer; Joyce Lyons: actress, singer, educator, member of Buffalo Comm Orchestra Advisory Board; Elizabeth Valencia-Borgert: Has a BS in Business and an MBA from Winona State University, Elizabeth taught Ballet, been a Choreographer for the Folkloric Venezuela Dance, served as Vice-President for the Board of Directors at the former Casa Guadalupe Multicultural Communities, served as a committee member for the Event ôA Place at the Table, sponsored by the Paramount Center for the Arts; Emily Steinmetz: regional coordinator for the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits' Central Minnesota Chapter based in St. Cloud, Before becoming a regional coordinator, an active volunteer and board member for the March of Dimes, adjunct faculty member for the Master of Public Administration program at St. Cloud State University,volunteer coordinator for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central MN; Michael Calavicci: graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree painting and photography, assists local Minnesota based not-for-profit organizations; Peter Happel-Christian: Associate Professor in the Art Department at Saint Cloud State University, Phtorgrapher, received many grants and awards and fellowships from a numerous organizations, published a variety of photobooks.
ACHF Arts Access ACHF Arts Education ACHF Cultural Heritage
Women inmates will learn creative writing skills with published authors. Participants will each write original poems then select five to edit for publication. Two anthologies will be published, given a unique ISBN and placed on library shelves. To evaluate outcomes we will: 1) Track number of women who attend class, 2) Assess the change in participants' writing, 3) Count number of poems in the Anthologies, 4) Be able to check books out of the Elk River Public Library.
A total of 16 female inmates participated in the 2 creative writing programs, spending a total of 20 hours in creative writing classes with the 2 published artist/teachers. In addition to the 2 introductory meetings, they also participated in the open readings from the 2 published anthologies a week after each set of classes ended and in the free-flowing question and answer dialogues.
Other,local or private