MOMRI Research Fellow Michael Golden presented a new musical work at an online international conference hosted by Prof. Mary Cohen of the International Music and Justice Network (IMAJIN).

Dr. Cohen has joined the network of scholars and practitioners engaging with the MOMRI team in discussions about the current state and future direction of Music in Peacebuilding. Her focus is in creating musicking activities that bring together incarcerated individuals with those “outside,” to the benefit of all: the Inside Outside Songwriting Collaboration Project. Interested in the project in particular as it links to MOMRI’s research mission, Prof. Golden teamed up with an inmate at the state prison in Iowa (USA), setting a powerful poem written “inside” about the inmate’s determination to improve his life even under very difficult conditions.

The song was well-received at the online forum, which included participants from the UK and Australia as well as all corners of the US – researchers, non-profit executives, formerly incarcerated individuals, family and community members, music therapists, and of course, songwriters and performers.