Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop

Fourteen years ago, on the last day of one of MPWW’s very first classes, a student pulled his instructor aside to give her an assignment. “Keep coming back,” he told her.

That assignment has been a guiding principle of our work ever since. In prison, people are used to organizations drifting away. One of the commitments that we’ve always made to our students is that we’ll keep coming back. If they want to continue their artistic practice, our students know that they can count on us to be there supporting them, year after year.

Our steady presence in every adult prison in Minnesota is part of the reason that the demand for our classes and other programming has continued to grow since our founding. This year, we are offering more creative writing classes than ever before, along with a wide variety of other programming, including our one-to-one mentor program, annual student journal, music studio, thriving Writers Collectives, and more.

Even as our reach has continued to broaden and deepen, MPWW has experienced some instability in our institutional funding sources over the past year. This spring, like many other arts organizations around the country, we received notice that our current grant from the National Endowment for the Arts – a consistent supporter of our work since 2018 – was being “terminated.” While these cuts have not had an immediate impact on our work this year, the volatility in the funding environment makes it more difficult to plan effectively for the future.

Are you able to make a donation to help us reach our goal?

Amid this turbulence, we’re so fortunate to have such a strong network of individual supporters. We need to raise $50,000 by Nov. 20th to sustain and expand our vital work in Minnesota prisons next year. Can you help us reach that goal with a donation of any amount?

You're welcome to donate by check, if you prefer. Please make your check payable to Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop and mail it to us at P.O. Box 7262, Minneapolis, MN 55407. MPWW is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and all donations are fully tax-deductible. Our federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) is 47-1890824.

Thank you!!

Over 2 million people are incarcerated in the U.S. with little access to quality arts or educational programming. Your gifts allow us to bridge that gap.

MPWW is a lot of things: an arts organization, a group of educators, a bridge between writers inside and outside of prison. More than anything, it's a community. We're so grateful you're a part of it. Thank you.

If you prefer to donate offline, you can also send a check to: 

MPWW, P.O. Box 7262, Minneapolis, MN 55407.

Photos of MPWW students by Emily Baxter of We Are All Criminals. For more, check out SEEN, MPWW's partnership with We Are All Criminals, here: https://www.weareallcriminals.org/seen/.