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SPACE
Space in Prison for the Arts and Creative Expression
(SPACE) was founded in 1992 by a group of women
from Brown University interested in working in
the Women's Division of the Rhode Island Adult
Correctional Institution. Since that time, the
program has offered theater, creative writing,
and visual arts workshops to inmates of the medium
and minimum security facilities.
SPACE works to provide a supportive environment
inside the prison where inmates can explore their
creative talents and personal voice. In teams
of two or three, Brown students design and lead
weekly workshops, emphasizing participation, performance,
play, collaboration, reflection, skill-building
and creative expression within a safe and constructive
space. Together workshop participants explore
poetry, essays, plays and other creative genres,
and experiment with dance, music, drawing, theater
games, and improvisation. space produces a semiannual
journal of work by the inmates; the journal is
available at the Sarah Doyle Women's Center and
the Swearer Center for Public Service.
In addition to their work within the prison,
SPACE volunteers meet once a week to discuss their
work and to participate in on-going trainings
regarding issues affecting incarcerated women.
SPACE recruits for volunteers each spring, and,
if need warrants, in the late fall.
SPACE
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