FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kim Diehl (305) 441-0506, kim@womensfundmiami.org

Miami – Performing before a full audience at the Gusman Center on October 18, acclaimed playwright Eve Ensler and a cast led by ArtSpring director Leslie Neal carried the voices of incarcerated women onstage in Any One of Us: Words From Prison, Miami.

Any One of Us, Miami, which was conceived by Ensler, reveals the connection between women’s incarceration and their history of abuse. Their experiences came alive with readings by Ensler and a cast of Florida artists, advocates, and community leaders—including Dr. Laura Bedard, deputy secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Katy Sorenson, television host Hunter Reno, and many others. Acclaimed songwriter and Carbonell Award nominee Amy Carol Webb performed her original score, written especially for this occasion.

Proceeds from the evening, which topped $150,000, will benefit ArtSpring and Women’s Fund of Miami-Dade's grantmaking programs that prevent at-risk girls from entering the juvenile justice system. Proceeds will also go towards the publication of an anthology produced by women inmates during the Bridging the Gap workshops, a program organized by ArtSpring, Vicki Lopez Lukis, the Girls Advocacy Project and the Florida Departments of Corrections and Juvenile Justice. The anthology will be distributed to adolescent girls in detention and to at-risk girls as a tool for education and intervention. Funds generated by the event also will benefit V-Day, a worldwide effort created by Eve Ensler to end violence against women.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida was the Diamond Sponsor of Any One of Us, Miami.

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