To launch their 2025-26 speaker series, on Tuesday evening, October 21 at 7:00pm AAUW (American Association of University Women) and Ilsley Library will host an interactive presentation in the Johnson Gallery at Middlebury College by John Vincent and Heather Newcomb, co-curators of the art exhibit “Finding Hope Within.” This traveling exhibit features works by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated Vermont artists, and has been viewed throughout the state since its opening at the Rokeby Museum in 2023.

John Vincent, a retired police officer, poet, and letterpress printer, will share the story of his business, A Revolutionary Press, which is committed to amplifying the voices of incarcerated writers and poets, detailing how this particular initiative evolved into direct collaborations with artists “inside.” Heather Newcomb is a community advocate at Vermont Works for Women, interacting as a certified somatic life coach with women living in poverty, battling addiction, or involved with our justice system to support their paths towards fulfillment and economic independence. Newcomb approaches her work through the lens of lived experience as a woman in long-term recovery from addiction and a history with the legal system, and as a single mother receiving public assistance.