# Event Details

- **Event Name**: Artful Evening: The Ways that Paper Leads to Freedom
- **Event Start and End Date**: Thu, 13 Nov, 2025 at 06:00 pm – Thu, 13 Nov, 2025 at 07:00 pm
- **Event Description**: During this talk, Reginald Dwayne Betts will explore Felon: An American Washi Tale, a solo show that confronts the weight and legitimacy of the word “felon” through poetry, visual art, and performance. Drawing from his own story—sent to prison at 16, discovering poetry behind bars—Betts will offer an immersive meditation on incarceration, identity, and the power of art to reshape the narrative of who we are and who we might become.

Reginald Dwayne Betts is a poet, lawyer, and the Founder and CEO of Freedom Reads, an initiative to radically transform access to literature in prisons. The author of a memoir and five collections of poetry, Betts is a MacArthur Fellow and has been awarded fellowships from Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study, the National Endowment for the Arts, Emerson Collective, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School. Betts founded Freedom Reads in 2020 with a grant from the Mellon Foundation. To date, the organization has opened more than 500 Freedom Libraries in 50 adult and youth prisons across 13 states. These libraries provide a locus where conversation and community can begin inside and outside of prison walls, supporting the efforts of incarcerated individuals to imagine new possibilities for their lives.

This program is made possible through the generous support of our community partners: Western Michigan University, the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College, the Department of English at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, the Kalamazoo Public Library, the Kalamazoo Defender, and the Kalamazoo Bar Association.
- **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/kalamazoo/artful-evening-the-ways-that-paper-leads-to-freedom/200029101248616
- **Event Categories**: art, literary-art, health-wellness, fine-arts, meditation
- **Interested Audience**: 
  - total_interested_count: 13

## Ticket Details

- **Ticket URL**: https://www.kiarts.org/event/artful-evening-the-ways-that-paper-leads-to-freedom/?utm_source=AllEvents.in&utm_medium=event-discovery-platform&utm_campaign=kalamazoo-events

## Event venue details

- **city**: Kalamazoo
- **state**: MI
- **country**: United States
- **location**: 314 S Park St, Kalamazoo, MI, United States, Michigan 49007
- **lat**: 42.28958
- **long**: -85.5874
- **full address**: 314 S Park St, Kalamazoo, MI, United States, Michigan 49007

## Event Organizer details

- **affiliate_id**: 2
- **organizer**: Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (https://allevents.in/org/kalamazoo-institute-of-arts/21741021)

## Event gallery

- **Alt text**: banner
  - **Image URL**: https://dyn-image.allevents.in/generate-image?v=4&title=Artful+Evening%3A+The+Ways+that+Paper+Leads+to+Freedom&date=Thu%2C+13+Nov%2C+2025+at+06%3A00+pm&bg=2
- **Alt text**: thumbnail
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events9/banners/0a292c254eb0cfd3f119a2d4c713b6b2a44493889fc5106684f6155085f88d7a-rimg-w300-h300-dc050505-gmir?v=1762517626

## FAQs

- **Q**: When is the event happening?
  - **A:** Thu, 13 Nov, 2025 at 06:00 pm
- **Q**: Where is the event happening?
  - **A:** 314 S Park St, Kalamazoo, MI, United States, Michigan 49007
- **Q**: Who is organizing the event?
  - **A:** Kalamazoo Institute of Arts
- **Q**: What type of event is this?
  - **A:** art, literary-art, health-wellness, fine-arts, meditation
- **Q**: Where can I find ticket details about Artful Evening: The Ways that Paper Leads to Freedom ?
  - **A:** You can find ticket details about this event on AllEvents.

## Structured Data (JSON-LD)

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        "startDate": "2025-11-13",
        "endDate": "2025-11-13",
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        "description": "During this talk, Reginald Dwayne Betts will explore Felon: An American Washi Tale, a solo show that confronts the weight and legitimacy of the word “felon” through poetry, visual art, and performance. Drawing from his own story—sent to prison at 16, discovering poetry behind bars—Betts will offer",
        "organizer": [
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                "@type": "Organization",
                "name": "Kalamazoo Institute of Arts",
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                "description": "The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts’ mission is to cultivate the creation and appreciation of the visual arts in West Michigan. We believe the arts are for everyone. They inspire, fulfill, and transform. Founded in 1924, the KIA is a non-profit organization that has been a cornerstone of the arts and culture community for a century. With a permanent collection of nearly 5,000 works of art, the KIA presents touring and collection exhibitions in 10 galleries; offers four terms of art classes at the Kirk Newman Art School; and houses the KIA Gallery Shop, featuring artwork by area artists and international artisans."
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```