Music In Prisons Program

Providing hope through music

Newport Festivals Foundation’s Music In Prisons program provides access to music for incarcerated women in the Rhode Island Prison system.

Each week, two music educators visit a women’s prison in Cranston to teach guitar, piano and songwriting. The goal is to provide a safe space for the incarcerated women to express themselves and process their emotions through music.

ARTIST VISITS

Newport Festivals Foundation invites Folk & Jazz Festival artists to visit the facility to perform for the incarcerated women and pass on their knowledge and expertise.

Sierra Ferrell

In May of 2024, Sierra Ferrell took a day off from her tour to visit the incarcerated women. She played songs, answered questions and listened to the lyrics they wrote as part of the class (see below).

Grace Potter

In October of 2024, Grace Potter visited the facility to conduct a songwriting workshop with the incarcerated women in the music program. Grace started the session with a lyric-writing exercise and then used the results to write a song with the women about “being seen before being labeled”. Grace is planning to bring the lyrics and ideas back to her studio to record a full-length song.

Nadine Lee

Nadine Lee, ARTS Professor of the Practice at Brown University, visited the incarcerated women to teach about poetry and lyrics. Each person wrote their own poem on the topic of “Freedom” to which Nadine composed and recorded an original song titled “4 Lines to Freedom”.