Songs From the Inside is a musical performance featuring songs created with Unlocking Harmony: a nonprofit organization that brings the documentary songwriting method into prisons and jails to transform the personal stories and lived experiences of incarcerated people into songs.
With songwriting workshops led by four teaching artists in jails and prisons in Maine, Virginia, and Ohio, the songs are a testament to the power of music and story to inspire strength, empathy, and connection. The performance will be interspersed with excerpts from an in-progress documentary created by Luke Fatora and Sophie Davis. These excerpts will transport audiences to songwriting sessions at the Chesterfield County Jail in Virginia, amplifying the healing power of the songwriting process and letting audiences hear directly from several of the incarcerated people who turned their stories into song.
The program will feature vocalists and musicians Mimi Bornstein, Hazel Delehey and Khalid Taylor, alongside instrumentalists from the Midcoast. A Q&A with the teaching artists and musicians from Unlocking Harmony will follow the performance.
Approximate runtime: 60 -75 minutes
Age advisory: Since these are documentary songs and reflect the spoken words and actual experiences of people in prison, parental discretion is advised.
About UNLOCKING HARMONY
Mimi Bornstein, Malcolm Brooks, Hazel Delehey and Khalid Taylor are professional documentary songwriters who lead the Unlocking Harmony program to transform the stories of incarcerated people into songs to share with the wider world. Their works can be heard in live concerts inside and outside of prisons, and also on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube under the name Choir Without Borders.
