WHO we ARE

We’re a collaborative non-profit organization based out of Missoula. We’re an eclectic group of working artists, teachers, social workers, and writers. The Free Verse Project was the 2014 brainchild of a small group of Master’s of Fine Arts candidates out of the University of Montana, growing over the years to include both trauma-informed care best practices and non-hierarchical pedagogical models, along with a focus on juvenile justice advocacy.

What we do

We bring arts and humanities-based educational programming to youth incarcerated in juvenile detention facilities across Montana. In 2022, we expanded our programming to serve youth incarcerated in psychiatric inpatient treatment centers, and in 2023 expanded to serve non-incarcerated, justice-involved youth. We provide daily workshops and lessons, bringing these workshops into the detention facilities themselves. Perhaps more importantly, we publish and exhibit our youth participants’ creative work on a regular basis, keeping their voices and stories in the communities they were removed from.

who we serve

We serve youth incarcerated in both juvenile detention centers and inpatient treatment centers across Montana. There is no minimum age of incarceration in the State of Montana.