Outside:Inside Radio

Founder/Director of TheatreWorkers Project, Susie Tanner and Actor, Writer, Director, and one of the Lead Teaching Artists at the TheatreWorkers Project, James MacDonald, talk about their work with the TheatreWorkers Project and reflect on moving experiences from working with their participants.

Photographer and Prison Arts Collective Board Member, Peter Merts, talks about his journey with how he got started with photography from an early age to how his photography transformed into capturing intimate moments inside institutions for arts and corrections.

Actor, writer, Patrick Keating, shares his story about his journey from Québec, Canada to Vancouver, Canada. He was transformed through theater, writing, and his solo performance called “Inside/Out: A Prison Memoir."

Artist, writer, PAC alumni, Dominique Tanks, talks about how his experience with creative writing and visual art has helped cultivate a relationship with the people inside.

Cheryl Bonacci, the Director of Storytelling for the Civil Rights Corps, talks about her experience working with the youth and how storytelling helps bring to light the people and communities affected by the justice system.

Host, Kathie Foley-Myer, and the Founder of Prison Arts Collective, Annie Buckley, come together to celebrate our beloved co-host, Ella Turenne, who unexpectedly passed away in December. Ella's close friends and colleagues, Lori Pompa, the Founder and Executive Director of Inside-Out Center; Charlot Lucien, a Hatian storyteller and artist; Dr. Bridget Cooks, a professor in the Department of African American Studies and the Department of Art History at the University of California, Irvine; and Jimmy Wu, the Executive Director at InsideOUT Writers, share their memorable stories about Ella and reflect on her impactful achievements.

Actor Joey Cramer talks about his personal and artistic journey from his role in the film Flight the Navigator to his present endeavors and how his experiences have inspired him to continue being creative. (Music by PureDesignGirl)

Two of the members from the Hausmann Quartet, violinist Isaac Allen and cellist Alex Greenbaum, talk about how their string quartet came to be, and how music inspires them as musicians and as a non-profit organization. (Music by PureDesignGirl)

Artist Preston Smith shares his experience with his creative process, podcast, and insights about how to mindfully navigate art as a sustainable career as culture, technology, and time move forward. (Music by PureDesignGirl)

Creative writers from Brothers in Pen, Zoe Mullery, Watani Stiner, and Troy Williams talk about their experience with writing stories and how their writing group has helped them gain meaningful insights as activists, creative individuals, and as a community. (Music by PureDesignGirl)

Elida Ledesma is the Executive Director of the Arts for Healing and Justice Network (AHJN). Elida talks about her experience as the Executive Director and AHJN's journey in providing art programs as a way of healing for young people affected by the juvenile justice system. Music by PureDesignGirl

Jimmy Wu is a writer and the Executive Director at InsideOUT Writers (IOW) in Los Angeles, California. Jimmy shares his experience with incarceration, how creative writing can help people, and about how IOW offers support for young people who are experiencing life during or after incarceration. Music by PureDesignGirl

Co-hosts Ella Turenne and Kathie Foley-Meyer reflect on the podcast's journey and introduce the new addition of having creative prompts that listeners can engage with this upcoming season. Music by PureDesignGirl

Jesse Bliss talks to us about the Roots and Wings project and the reasons behind creating the book "I Love Myself Golden," both of which are projects created to help individuals acknowledge and overcome effects of violence and the carceral system.

Musician Chris Lamoreaux talks with us about how reconnecting with his indigenous heritage and having access to a guitar while he did time helped him find his voice. Today, Chris uses music and storytelling to inspire others to seek remedies to injustice, as well as to advocate for people struggling with mental health conditions and substance misuse disorder.

Laurie Brooks of the William James Association shares a bit about the history of arts in corrections, a field she's been working in since the 1980s and has reflected the tumultuous changes in policies and perceptions around incarceration that have been happening in California since then.

Rapper Milagro Jones tells us about how growing up without stable housing influenced not only his artmaking, but also his choice to become involved in bringing visibility to his community through his voice and his talent.

Author Belle Phelan tells us about how her involvement in programming during her incarceration helped her find her love and talent for writing, and became a way for her to make a living helping others and doing what she loves now that she's on the outside.

Musician and sound designer Eric Abercrombie, AKA Maserati-E, talks to us about creativity as community building within carceral spaces, and shares some of his original music. While serving time in San Quentin, Eric helped produce films with First Watch, a project dedicated to exploring the truth about life on the inside. Eric is currently the sound designer for the podcast Uncuffed.

Co-hosts Ella Turenne and Kathie Foley-Meyer talk about how their artistic journeys led them to Outside:Inside Radio, and what it means to create in carceral spaces.

Visual storyteller Joanne DeCaro tells us about her work collecting and archiving stories from people impacted by COVID-19 while experiencing incarceration. Along with a coalition of fellow students and professors, she has spent the last year building the PrisonPandemic database at University of California Irvine, hoping to preserve history in the voices of those who have experienced it first-hand.

Writer, former pastor, and practicing Quaker Judith Favor tells us about her experience befriending Rosie, a woman on death row whose friendship became the inspiration for Favor's latest book.

We're joined by Rob Woods, a songwriter and musician whose original song Worthy (which you'll hear at the end of this episode) inspired his mission to bring free haircuts and meals to the residents of LA's Skid Row, and making sure that everyone he meets knows their own worth.

Musician, writer, and social justice advocate Douglas Jessop joins us to talk about how he uses his work for self-expression and self-knowledge, as well as a way to process, heal from, and ultimately affect change and growth in the world around him. He also performs an original work.

Missouri Artist Tara Dunbar shares her experience using art for contemplation, community, and healing.

Marisa DeLuca's highly personal work deals with themes of temporality and loss, boundaries and the body, and draws inspiration from art history and the changing world around us.

A conversation with two of PAC's long term contributors: Artist Heather Roessler and writer Mark Taylor talk about how they use their skills to bring the healing power of the arts to our participants on the inside.

A conversation between our new host, Ella Turenne, and the founder of Prison Arts Collective, Professor Annie Buckley. This is the story of how PAC grew from a single art class into an organization that brings the transformative power of the arts to hundreds of students in correctional facilities across California.

Rene Rodriguez is a pen and ink artist looking to help other people use art and creativity to break free from negative thinking.

A conversation with Ernst Fenelon Jr., author of "Three Things Everybody Wants to Know About You: Five Step Plan for Live Success" and co-creator of the theatrical movement documentary "Angee's Journey", the story of a mother's 800-mile journey to visit her son in prison.

Ezequiel Gonzalez is a photorealistic painter currently living in Mexico and curating shows in Southern California. He teaches art classes and collaborates with current and former students, maintaining a constant dialogue between artistic peers.

Wendy Staggs is a poet and activist who turned her early experimentation with visual mediums into a lifelong commitment, advocating for the power of the arts in the lives of people affected by incarceration.

Damien Aguilar is a painter who started as a graffiti artist in California's Inland Empire. Damien learned the art of tattooing and now owns his own tattoo shop. His works on canvas have been featured in a recent music video by Canadian R&B pop artist Massari.

"Carole Alden is a self-taught fiber artist that focuses on translating her life experiences into larger-than-life mixed media sculptures. She is currently living and working in Utah, and plans to travel the country teaching art to victims of domestic violence."