Join Songs in the Key of Free to celebrate the musical talent of men who are incarcerated at the Graterford State Correctional Institute with a free concert livestreamed in the Music Department at the Free Library of Philadelphia.

The musicians you'll hear are all students of Songs in the Key of Free, a new program in which Philly musicians and songwriters develop the skills of men who are incarcerated through performance-based classes in composing, arranging, and musicianship.

Songs aims to bring accomplished and classically trained musicians into prisons. People who are incarcerated or in reentry rarely get the chance to receive musical training, because they often come from underserved neighborhoods that suffer from poverty. All evidence shows that the opportunity to create orchestral music in collaboration with professional musicians is tremendously empowering.

This concert will feature the music written entirely by those who are incarcerated. In this public forum, we hope to contribute to larger efforts to dismantle the boundaries the US carceral state has erected. At its core, musical ensembles are a shared, collaborative space in that multiple musicians play together. Songs in the Key of Free is expressly designed to be a collaborative venture.

We hope you can be in the audience to hear these creations and be one more crack in the wall to unmuffle these voices.

Free Library of Philadelphia
Parkway Central Library
Music Department – First Floor
1901 Vine Street
Philadelphia, PA
19103

For more information, please call 215-686-5316 or email erefmus@freelibary.org

Accessibility: A wheelchair ramp is located at the Library’s Wood Street entrance, and a public elevator is located next to the building’s northeast courtyard.