BRIDGEWORKS OREGON
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Mission Statement
CONNECTING COMMUNITIES THROUGH ART & MUSIC Bridgeworks Oregon partners with individuals and groups that focus on environment, health and well-being, education, and arts and music in order to bridge societal divisions in Oregon. Bridgeworks strives to create greater equity of access to marginalized populations. We, at Bridgeworks Oregon, are committed to a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace where our participants, colleagues, and volunteers feel valued. We are committed to a nondiscriminatory approach to our work to provide equal opportunities. We respect and value diverse life experiences and heritages. We take time to listen as all voices are valued and heard. And we strive to broadcast other’s stories respectfully and with integrity, as we connect communities.
About This Cause
A Portland-based nonprofit, Bridgeworks Oregon produces meaningful art & musical experiences in Oregon prisons. The anniversary of Johnny Cash's “At Folsom Prison” album provided the spark for a first project that reprised his show 50 years later in Oregon prisons. One concert at Columbia River Correctional Facility in Portland led to a state-wide prison tour over two seasons. Animated exchanges with prisoners led to a suite of projects developed to reflect their interests, and marry the art of storytelling with the skills of writing and articulating ideas through conversation. Bridgeworks projects engage adults in custody through positive interactions, opportunities to practice appropriate social boundaries, and participate in empathy-building exchanges. In turn, the Bridgeworks team brings those stories of redemption and the need for second chances across the iron gates to the community at large. CREATIVE PARTNERSHIP Executive Director Dan Wilson is a musician/songwriter who leads Luther’s Boots, the band formed to play concerts in prison. In 2019, he was awarded a Regional Arts and Culture project grant to produce “Darkened Road Ahead,” an album of his original music which he recorded with Luther’s Boots. Two songs on the album include backup vocals sung by the Warner Creek Correctional Facility chapel band. Wilson lives and works in Portland, Oregon where he leads the band Mr. Wilson — playing his original music and the occasional Cash cover in local venues. Creative Director Tracy Schlapp is a visual artist, writer, and founder of Cumbersome Multiples, a press and design collective. She collaborates with other artists to produce prints, artists books, and performances. She received a master’s degree from the Breadloaf School of English, Middlebury College. In 2020, she received an Arts Matter artist fellowship and in 2022, she was awarded the Joan Shipley Individual Artist Fellowship by the Oregon Arts Commission. This fellowship is in support of a new body of visual work influenced by the incarcerated writers. She lives and works in Portland, Oregon. PROGRAMMING The Ground Beneath Us writing group (2019-ongoing) A writing workshop at Oregon State Penitentiary engages men in writing about the lives they live. An anthology of their poetry, essays, and memoir called "Prisons Have A Long Memory" published September 2022 and is available for sale to support additional programming. It is used as teaching tool in schools and in prison writing workshops to advance conversations about incarceration and redemption. Key writers serve on the PonyXpress editorial board to advance writing workshops statewide in 2023. www.theponyXpress.org Hecate’s Lantern writing group (beginning 2023) A sister project to mentor woman in storytelling and songwriting at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility started in January 2023 and now is transitioning to be part of the statewide PonyXpress writing program. Pony Xpress Writer Workshops & Online Journal (2023-ongoing) Prisons in rural Oregon have fewer carded volunteers and therefore more limited programing. Outside programs provide important incentives to adults in custody, in addition to preparing them for life outside prison cells. With this in mind, Bridgeworks expanded the writing workshop that they run at OSP to reach far-flung Oregon prisons. During Covid, Bridgeworks mentors devised strategies to keep the writing workshop in motion via remote contact. They will employ what they learned during that period to set into motion the PonyXpress writing workshop. The adult in custody-led editorial board at Oregon State Penitentiary act as a hub for submissions and with the help of the Bridgeworks team, they select and edit work to publish as an online journal. www.theponyXpress.org “Prisons Have A Long Memory” conversations (2022-ongoing) Anthology editors Tracy Schlapp and Dan Wilson travel to prisons in order to read from the book and lead discussions about incarceration. Recently released writers join the team to read in colleges and communities to further the dialogue around the plight of the incarcerated. Bridgeworks Presents Film Series (2021-ongoing) A response to Covid-19 closing the prisons to volunteer-led activities, the film series explores themes such as feminist icons, the hero’s journey. A companion workbook provides discussion questions, and writing prompts. Bridgeworks mentors join prisoners at the end of the six-film series to lead a discussion. Folsom50 Oregon Concert Tour (2017-ongoing) Johnny Cash's "At Folsom Prison" record sparked the first Bridgeworks prison project. The creators brought together a band and played the music on the 50th anniversary of the performance. Concerts will resume in Oregon prisons when restrictions are lifted for larger gatherings. CASH: Music, Legacy, & Redemption musical lecture (2019-2020) Musical lecture broadcasts stories of the incarcerated citizens met during the first Folsom50 Oregon Prison Tour, alongside the songs sung by Johnny Cash during his “At Folsom Prison” concert in 1968. The piece has been performed in schools, colleges, prisons — and the at the Johnny Cash Heritage Festival in Dyess, Arkansas.