People’s Pottery Project (PPP) is an artist-driven initiative whose mission is to empower formerly-incarcerated women, trans, and nonbinary individuals and their communities through the arts. As artists, we believe that access to the arts is empowering not only creatively, but also politically, socially, and economically.

PPP is organized as a collectively-owned ceramics business that trains, hires, and brings into leadership positions formerly incarcerated people, compensating them at a living wage. In addition to developing and producing collaboratively-designed ceramic products, PPP trains members in all aspects of running the organization. These skills will serve our members in any future professional pursuit, while helping us to effectively communicate our experiences and improve our capacity to organize.

Previous to the pandemic, People’s Pottery Project held free weekly ceramics classes for people impacted by incarceration who aren’t members of the collective, providing a creative space to learn skills, spend time in community, and make ceramic objects of their own design. We plan to resume classes once it is safe to do so, and include classes in other arts such as Writing, Drawing, Painting, and Public Speaking.

PPP centers formerly incarcerated women, trans, and nonbinary individuals because we recognize that despite excluded from participation in society on the basis of our history, we are survivors. We believe that our experiences and perspectives make us leaders in the fight for a socially just world.