T.O.N.E. U.P. EVENTS
T.O.N.E. U.P.
Learn about upcoming events, and read about or watch past events below.
Leaders of the New: 2025 Fundraiser & Celebration
Held Sunday, June 22, 2025 | 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Pimento Jamaican Kitchen & Rum Bar | St. Paul, MN
In June 2025, T.O.N.E. U.P. hosted a powerful community gathering to celebrate five years of reentry, redemption, and radical community care. The event brought together fellows, partners, donors, and community members to reflect on the journey so far and raise critical funds for the future of the Liberation of Leaders Fellowship.
Guests enjoyed an afternoon filled with live storytelling, leadership awards, music, food, and collective joy. A signed jersey from Minnesota Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards headlined the silent auction, and all recurring donors received a free T.O.N.E. U.P. shirt as a thank-you for their continued support.
Honorees Included:
Jeffrey Dorr-Slowey, Lavelle Oates, and Donte Stevenson – Fellowship Graduates
Jen Bowen & Mike Alberti (Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop) – Supporting, Uplifting & Guiding Award
Kevin Fenner – Perseverance Award
Together, we honored stories of transformation, celebrated leaders shaped by lived experience, and reaffirmed our commitment to liberation through love, opportunity, and radical accountability.
Past Events
Better Things
May 6, 2025
Moon Palace Books
Please join us on Tuesday, May 6th, at 7:00pm, at Moon Palace Books, for our next 5×5 Reading, featuring five fantastic writers: Halee Kirkwood, Danez Smith, Antonio Williams, Alice Paige, and Dralandra Larkins.
Each reader will take five minutes to share work; after the main reading, there will be a short break for refreshments, followed by an open mic period. All are welcome to show up and to participate in the open mic! (List is first come, first serve.) This reading, and the open mic afterward, will be hosted by Davi Gray, Erin Sharkey, and Louise Waakaa’igan. Light refreshments will be served; masks are required at Moon Palace Books. This is a free event! Better Things is a series of events sponsored by the ReEntry Lab, in partnership with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop (MPWW), the Longfellow Community Council, and Moon Palace Books, with funding from the City of Minneapolis‘s Partnership Engagement Fund.
From the Inside Out: Rebuilding Your Life After Incarceration
April 24, 2025
Saint Paul Neighborhood Network
From the Inside Out: Rebuilding Your Life After Incarceration—A community conversation presented in part by MPR News and Sahan Journal. Speakers include Antonio Williams Founder & Executive Director at T.O.N.E. U.P.
Please like, share, and join us for the conversation!
Art, Prisons, and Freedom
April 18, 2025
Minneapolis College of Art and Design
Art Prisons, and Freedom is an event exploring the possibilities for creative practices to transform society’s relationship to prisons, the criminal justice system, and the people impacted by incarceration. Nearly 2 million people are confined in prison in the United States, almost half-a-million people have not yet been convicted of a crime, and nearly 1 in 3 Americans have a criminal record. It should be no surprise that prisons impact all of us. Unsurprisingly, artists and writers both inside and outside of prison have been at the heart of reimagining what justice and freedom might look like in the future.
“Art, Prisons, and Freedom” features a panel of regional curators, writers, and artists examining the impacts of mass incarceration through their work.
Day of Empathy Community Event
April 5, 2025
North Commons Community Center
On April 5, 2025, we came together at North Commons Park to stand in solidarity with wrongfully incarcerated and over-sentenced families. The day was filled with powerful moments of community building, panel discussions, and a peaceful caravan for justice.
Connect with us
Want to schedule a meeting or book Executive Director Antonio Williams for a speaking engagement?
Let’s collaborate for impact.
Send an email to info@toneup.org
