Ridgelines Language Arts provides community arts education for those who are impacted by stigma and injustice in the rural ridges and valleys of central Pennsylvania. Our programs — from poetry and storytelling to creative writing and journaling — take place in settings outside of academic institutions, including our area’s domestic violence shelter, low-income nursing home, youth detention center, state women’s prison, queer and trans youth groups, and more.

Through in-depth language arts workshops led by professional Teaching Artists, participants gain ways to explore their voices and stories, exercise creative agency, and advocate for personal wellbeing and social change. Our programs, exhibitions, and publications leverage creative expression to create many layers of social connection. We do this work because we believe that healthy individuals and just social conditions are sustained by the reflection, honesty, pleasure, and intimacy fostered by the study of language arts.