I recently had the privilege of speaking with Julie Rada, Director of Programming & Partnerships at the University of Denver Prison Arts Initiative (DU PAI).

After connecting through Dan Manzanares (DU PAI Development and Communications Manager), who wrote a piece with us back in December, we spoke about how DU PAI’s Arts in Society project Sojourn: The Search has, despite COVID-19 challenges, incited new programming.

*Performers from “Universe Within,” a devised theatre-based project inspired by* Sojourn: The Search. *These artists currently reside at La Vista Correctional Facility.*

Rada also explored the initiative’s new prison radio station, Inside Wire Radio. Fresh from a successful crowdfunding campaign, Inside Wire Radio is looking to make history later this year by becoming the first statewide prison radio station in America.

Needless to say, my excitement to speak with Rada was priceless. Thank you to both Julie and Dan for the amazing opportunity, and check out the link to learn more about DU PAI.

Interview with Julie Rada

Ava (Arts in Society):

DU PAI is a 2020 Accelerated Cycle Arts in Society grantee for the project Sojourn: The Search. Can you talk a little about Sojourn and the road it’s taken over the past year?

Julie (University of Denver Prison Arts Initiative):

Sojourn started as a way to stay connected to folks inside and provide them with a COVID-safe opportunity to express themselves—to write or to draw or do both. We printed a thousand journals. In the middle of winter, we mailed these to folks within the Colorado Department of Corrections, saving a few dozen for our outside community.

Around 900 journals were mailed into the facilities for both CDOC residents and staff. We sent them to every single person who participated in our programming, including the incarcerated artists who participated in our virtual art gallery Chained Voices.

Ava:
Anything unexpected happen during this process when residents and your participants started receiving copies of Sojourn?

Julie:

Yes! When we mailed the journals we also sent a note to all the facilities, including facilities where we don't have regular programming, offering Sojourn to anyone who was interested.

A phenomenal thing happened at the Rifle Correctional Center. Rifle is a small facility due north from the town of Rifle. It has, give or take, about one hundred people. It's a minimal security facility for folks who’ll be returning home soon. It's nestled into this valley, and it's tiny compared to the Sterling and Limon facilities. DU PAI has had very little contact there. One reason being there's a lot of turnover.

We sent them five or ten journals to start, to see if any residents or staff had any interest or excitement about it. We wanted to get Sojourn in their hands, we just didn’t have any ideas about the numbers.

They emailed us back a few weeks after receiving them and said, “Can we have twenty-five more?” We were like, “Sure!” To think about Rifle that only has about one-hundred residents and has 25-35 people who want to work on their creative writing and visual art, this journal felt really meaningful.

It’s also good to mention that Rifle isn’t the only CDOC facility who requested more copies of Sojourn. Both Sterling and Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility each wanted fifteen additional journals than were originally sent.

*Julie Rada (background); Sarah Beaudoin (foreground), currently incarcerated at La Vista Correctional Facility.*

Ava:

That’s so good to hear. Are there any other Sojourn happenings you want to catch us up on?

Julie:

There’s one I’d like to talk about. Sojourn has become the impetus for a devised theater-based project I’m directing at La Vista Correctional Facility. It features twelve incarcerated writers. We started working on it in early January (virtually).

We’re using Sojourn as the basis for creating a script, which is now almost complete. DU PAI will give this project a full production probably in the spring of 2022. The title is “Universe Within.” Sojourn birthed this theatrical production and soon-to-be original performance and has become an awesome multidisciplinary arts response.

*Recently, the “Universe Within” team performed in front of a live audience at La Vista Correctional Facility.*

Ava:

How fun! That’s so exciting to see how one project can organically flow into another. Speaking of other DU PAI projects, your new radio station recently popped up on my radar. Is it true it’s going to be the first statewide prison radio station designed by incarcerated artists to be broadcast between facilities?

Julie:

Yes, that’s right. The station is called Inside Wire Radio. The work will be designed and recorded and edited at Limon Correctional Facility, with plans to very quickly expand to four satellite stations within four other CDOC facilities.

We have a core team of five folks at Limon who are administering and governing the radio station’s content, with the help and guidance from DU PAI staff members Ryan Conarro, Creative Producer, and Emmitt Compito, our Program Assistant.

From there, we hope to build out a 24/7 offering for our inside audience. We have folks at different facilities who’ll be able to design different shows. So, there can be radio plays and interview shows as well as special segments on how to prepare for reentry, or recovery and substance misuse.

We envision programs mentioning the different types of job opportunities available for residents, and of course, music and storytelling programs. We're going to start with producing smaller increments, while building up content over the months and years.

*The “Universe Within” team, DU PAI and Colorado Department of Corrections’ staff celebrating post-performance.*

Ava:

Thank you so much, Julie, we appreciate you taking the time to speak with us.

Julie:

Thank you, Ava. And a huge thanks also to Arts in Society. DU PAI wouldn’t have been able to create Sojourn without their support.

Ava:

We appreciate it and wish you good luck with Sojourn and Inside Wire Radio. We love hearing these types of stories from all the Arts in Society grantees.

Thank you, Julie, and DU PAI for their amazing contributes!

About Arts in Society

Since 2016, Arts in Society has been funding individuals, grants, schools and government entities, with two-year grant awards of up to $50,000 per project. In addition to funding, grantees receive training, professional development, and marketing/social media support.

Funding is offered to projects in Colorado that are working collaboratively and utilizing the arts as an integral element for promoting social justice and community welfare.

Arts in Society is funded through a cohort of Colorado funders. 2019 funding partners include Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, Hemera Foundation, and Colorado Creative Industries . Funds and support are administered via RedLine Contemporary Art Center in Denver. For more information, visit our the Arts in Society website.