Bridging the arts accessibility gap in Oregon prisons

Bringing the arts to prisons is the mission of Bridgeworks Oregonians, a nonprofit that offers writing and music events across the state, now supported by an Oregon Cultural Trust grant.

Musician Dan Wilson founded Bridgeworks in 2015 and was later joined by artist/writer Tracy Schlapp to build programming in prisons. Today, they engage groups in seven prisons, offering writing workshops as well as concerts inspired by Johnny Cash's famous Folsom Prison appearance.

The team collaborates with an adult-in-custody-led editorial board to publish the online literary journal the ponyXpress.org, featuring writing by people incarcerated in the state. In a recent workshop, the group used the first line of Mary Oliver's poem, "With the Blackest of Inks" as a starting point. Each inmate contributed his own line to the poem.

"We went around the room and read those lines to one another - making a collective poem," Wilson says. "There was an audible gasp at the end as we heard our lines together."

The Cultural Trust grant will support paid staff positions at Bridgeworks, increasing the organization's capacity to bring creative experiences to incarcerated Oregonians.

"Bringing in art and music," is essential, says Wilson. "It helps create an environment where folks inside can see beyond their current situation."

Story by Max Tapogna