Land of the Free Preview Celebration

Cody Stuhltrager is an artist-in-residence at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, where he is developing a new body of work for a fall 2026 debut. Stuhltrager began his artistic career in 2013, collaborating with Mural Arts Philadelphia while incarcerated at SCI-Graterford. Over the past decade, he has contributed to dozens of Philadelphia murals and public art projects, exhibited at prominent venues including the Barnes Foundation, and dedicated himself to supporting fellow artists across disciplines in the production and installation of their work.

Miles Orion Butler is a musician, songwriter, poet, producer, and activist. Miles curates Little Lives, a Philadelphia-based music and songwriter collective built on the belief that the best art emerges from collaboration, not competition, where songwriters can explore, experiment, and create without the pressure of commercialization. Miles also co-founded Songs in the Key of Free, a nonprofit that has collaborated with incarcerated musicians and artists to write and record music inside prisons.

Poet, recording artist, songwriter, activist and revolutionary Ma’at Mama, Ursula Rucker is a certified veteran of the global music and poetry scene. For nearly 3 decades, Rucker has used her fiery prose and invigorating imagery to excite and inspire listeners around the world. In addition to her performance on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, Rucker has established herself as a top-tier recording artist. Her solo albums are brimming with power and wide-ranging musical diversity, including Supa Sista (2001), Silver Or Lead (2003), Ma’at Mama (2006), Ruckus Soundsysdom (2008), She Said (2010), and No Stranger Here, her 2011 collaboration with Shubha Mudgal and Business Class Refugees. Rucker has built an equally impressive catalog as a collaborator, working with everyone from The Roots, 4Hero, Jazzanova, Louie Vega, Doodlebug of Digable Planets; and many more. She has toured with her live performance memoir, My Father’s Daughter, which she describes as “90 minutes of self-truth and discovery.”  

She is a recipient of the prestigious fellowship award from The Pew Center for Arts & Change. In 2020, she released big/small poems for pockets, a chapbook of haikus. In 2021, Ursula collaborated with artist Vince Fraser on his exhibit Ase Afro Frequencies which debuted at Artechouse Miami. At the close of 2022, Ursula had the distinct honor of being selected for the Philadelphia Cultural Treasures Fellowship, recognizing her continued commitment to the advancement of art, and artist advocacy, and an endorsement from her community that her legacy is essential to the cultural fabric of Philadelphia.  

Bianca Tylek is one of the nation’s leading experts on the prison industry, the author of The Prison Industry: How It Works and Who Profits, and the Founder and Executive Director of Worth Rises, a national non-profit dismantling the prison industry and ending the exploitation of those it touches. Bianca’s groundbreaking work has brought relief to countless families impacted by incarceration and wreaked havoc on the prison industry. She leads the movement to make prison and jail communication free and has blocked financing for prison construction, challenged the malicious bankruptcies of prison healthcare providers, pressured corporations to stop facilitating death penalty executions, and so much more.  Bianca’s TED Talk has garnered 1.5 million views and her work has been covered by the New York Times, Washington Post, Atlantic, NPR, The Nation, Mother Jones, CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg, and more.