Willie Kearse and Tyler Morse worked with the Parole Preparation Project to develop a remote, interdisciplinary workshop rooted in engagement with archives and archival practice as a means to connect with artists and writers in prison facilities upstate. Archive-Based Creative Arts (ABCA) is a remote creative arts and writing workshop for people currently incarcerated in New York State and those coming home from prison. For the workshop, the artists developed six book-length readers full of archival ephemera, contextualizing materials, and arts-based prompts for engaging with archives, created to support and engage participants’ existing creative practice. Over two years, ABCA has published six member chapbooks, two anthologies of member work and a catalog featuring the work and bios of all ABCA members. Several incarcerated archivists are developing their own archives, held and preserved by ABCA; these archives document the vital histories of programs developed by incarcerated people, pandemic experiences, and advocacy work around different prison issues.

The Parole Preparation Project advocates for the release of incarcerated people serving life sentences in New York State prisons and provides support and community for those returning home after decades in prison.