The ReEntry Lab was a 2024-25 Liberal Arts Engagement Hub Resident in partnership with the University of Minnesota Department of English. We have been awarded a 2025-2026 Hub residency renewal.
We’re excited to continue our engagement with the academic community as we grow our work of finding and making pathways and bridges for writers and other artists leaving incarceration.
You can also check out the Hub’s News page and Events page.
Justice-impacted artists face an array of obstacles to participation in a range of social spheres and activities even after they are released from prison. The ReEntry Lab – an organization designed to explore opportunities for connection between justice-impacted artists and the thriving network of literary organizations and institutions in Minnesota – will use their Hub residency to create an intentional, supportive space for justice-impacted artists to convene with one another and with members of the University of Minnesota community in order to help them navigate the difficult experience of post-incarceration.
This project, in partnership with the Department of English, includes three components. The ReEntry Lab is facilitating writing workshops accessible to justice-impacted writers. Second, The ReEntry Lab is also available to facilitate exchanges between justice-impacted artists and other faculty, departments, and programs within the College of Liberal Arts, many of which are focusing explicitly on criminal justice, the carceral system, and the social practices that marginalize and exclude the justice-impacted community. Third, The ReEntry Lab is planning a public reading and exhibition at the end of the project period, in which justice-impacted writers will have the opportunity to share their work with a broad audience.