The newsletter for arts organisations working in criminal justice
In this month's issue...
Deadline fast approaching: call for expressions of interest from arts organisations
Don't forget to submit your expression of interest to be a part of our Inspiring Futures research project before 5pm, 12th September Inspiring Futures aims to bring about a step-change in both the credibility and the reach of arts projects within the Criminal Justice System. We are therefore looking for expressions of interest from suitable arts organisations to be involved in this large scale research and evaluation proposal that will find new ways to explore the impact of arts on offenders as well as the broader Criminal Justice System and the community. We will be selecting up to six arts projects across various art forms and geographical locations to develop creative projects alongside our research team. To be eligible, your arts project must be designed to deliver rehabilitative outcomes for offenders or ex-offenders with a focus on a desistance based approach. Please note that funding for this project has not yet been secured. Click here for more information.
Innovative practice: arts in criminal justice settings
The Arts Alliance is hosting an event collaboratively with officials from the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) on Wednesday 24th September at the Southbank Centre. The event will coincide with the opening of the Koestler Trust exhibition 'Catching Dreams.' The day is aimed at Heads of Learning and Skills (HoLSE), education providers and lead governors as well as new potential Transforming Rehabilitation providers and arts and voluntary sector practitioners, providing an opportunity for everyone to come together and share innovative practice in arts and criminal justice. The event is a follow up to last year's event where we explored the current challenges and possible solutions on how arts can contribute to helping providers and establishments make progress under OLASS 4. Please click here for information on how to book. This event has limited capacity and priority will be given to HoLSEs, lead governors and education providers when booking.
Creativity on the Ground: Live Twitter Q&A with Diane Parker
As a result of receiving funding from Arts Council England, the Arts Alliance has launched 'Creativity on the Ground: Arts in the Criminal Justice System'; a series of five blog articles on good practice within the arts and criminal justice sector that will be posted on the website over the next four months. The first blog post in the series was written by Saul Hewish from Rideout about their Talent4 conference in Birmingham in July and the second by Sarah Atter from TiPP. Click here to visit the Arts Alliance's blog. On Thursday 11th September, we will post a new blog by Diane Parker, and will hold a Twitter Q&A with her on Friday 12th September from 3 - 4pm. Join in using #ArtsCJS!
Want to improve your skills in the arts and criminal justice sector? We have extended our mentee application deadline
We have extended the deadline for those wanting to apply to be mentored as part of our professional mentoring scheme. The scheme aims to expand opportunities for our members to develop professional skills and knowledge in the fields of arts and criminal justice through a one-to-one mentoring relationship. Expert mentors working in the arts and criminal justice sector will provide a minimum of four meetings or telephone conversations over a six month period to their mentee. The deadline is now 5pm on the 19th September. Click here for more information on the scheme.
From the Evidence Library...
Dr Laura Caulfield's (Bath Spa University) final evaluation of the Artist in Residence at HMP Grendon presents findings from the second half of a four year art residency at the prison. Through analysis of observational data, interviews, focus groups, and assessments of social climate with prisoners at HMP Grendon, this report concludes that the residency has promoted a number of positive outcomes. There is a growing recognition of the importance of social climate in the successful running of secure settings, and prisons in particular, but to date no research has formally assessed the role of the arts in this area. Click here to read the Evaluation report.
Have you got something for the next newsletter?
The next newsletter will be sent on Thursday 25th September. Please email kate.davey@clinks.org with anything you would like included in the next newsletter by Thursday 18th September.
The Unusual Suspects Festival: unlikely connections for social change
2nd - 5th September 2014 | London
Over four days this September, a festival created by the Social Innovation Exchange, Collaborate and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation will bring together the 'unusual suspects' - individuals and organisations from local voluntary organisations to innovation agencies to multinational companies, who are making real social change happen by working together in new and different ways. The festival will feature a collection of interlinked events that will draw out the ways in which collaboration and social innovation can work in sync, and ask how this can help address some of the most difficult issues we face in society today. Click here for more information.
The Inner Self: Drawings from the Subconscious
4th - 21st September 2014 | CGP London, Southwark Park | Free
'The Inner Self: Drawings from the Subconscious' is a group show of the work of seven Outside In artists all living within Greater London and working on the theme of the subconscious. Predominantly black and white in colour and using drawing as the primary medium, the works were selected from 154 submissions to Outside In's open call out earlier in the year. The exhibiting artists include: Jan Arden, Imma Maddox, Nigel Kingsbury, Hannah Swain, Billy Weston, Pat Mear and Terence Wilde. Works by the Outside In artists will be accompanied by a display of pieces by renowned Outsider Artist Nick Blinko. There will also be a series of events taking place alongside the show. Click here for more information.
Boscombe Fringe Festival hosted by Vita Nova
11th - 14th September 2014 | Boscombe
This year, Vita Nova has increased the size and scope of the Boscombe Fringe Festival, with local venues joining in and artists from around the UK visiting to showcase their work. The festival will include theatre, music, live art, performance, dance and exhibitions by both community groups and professional artists. Unlike other performing arts festivals, performances and exhibitions at Boscombe Fringe Festival have been selected as they respond to, or are made by, people affected by social issues such as mental health, addiction and poverty. Click here for more information.
Using the arts with juvenile and young offenders
18th September 2014 | The Cornerhouse, Manchester | £150
This one-day Artswork workshop will explore the benefits of using creative activities with young offenders, both within the community and the secure estate. Developed in partnership with Soft Touch, this course will examine the practical issues, such as those encountered in secure units, and personal issues, such as motivation and the development of young people. The course will use a mixture of training techniques to help educate and reform. Click here for more information.
Opening of the Koestler Trust's 'Catching Dreams'
24th September 2014 | Southbank Centre, London | Free
Bob and Roberta Smith RA will be officially opening 'Catching Dreams', the 2014 Koestler Trust exhibition on 24th September. The opening will be hosted by Lord Ramsbotham, honorary president of the Koestler Trust, and will include performances by Changing Tunes and Glasgow's Citizens Theatre with 'Positive Prison? Positive Futures...' This year's exhibition is curated by ex-offenders who have completed a year's programme of mentoring with the Koestler Trust's specially trained and support artist mentors. The show will continue until 30th November 2014. Click here for more information.
Clinks' 'Volunteering with offenders' training course
2nd - 3rd October 2014 | Exeter | £100 - £240
Do you train or manage volunteers working in prison or the community? Clinks is offering you an opportunity to attend their very popular 'Volunteering with offenders' training course. This two-day course, in partnership with Devon Reform, will cover working with offenders in both the community and in prison, and has been designed to provide trainers and volunteer managers with the expertise needed in their work with volunteers and mentors. You will learn about the role of the volunteer and mentor in supporting offenders, and receive copies of the 'Volunteering in Prison' and 'Volunteering in the Community' training packs and CD. Click here for more information.
Discussing the future of prisons
19th November 2014 | London | £45 - £185
'Through the gate: Transforming rehabilitation and the future of prisons' is a Howard League for Penal Reform event that will discuss how the Transforming Rehabilitation agenda will transform prisons at a time when the prison system faces "unprecedented budget cuts and for many behind bars travelling through the gate remains a distant prospect." The event will ask what the future is for prisons and what other key issues should be in focus. Themes will include: through the gate and achieving desistance; beyond the gate and key issues in focus; and within the gate and change inside prison. Click here for more information.
Clean Break is looking for a Student Support Worker
Clean Break is an award-winning theatre company working at the forefront of social, political and cultural change delivering theatre education in community and custodial settings. They are looking for a woman with a strong professional track record of working with vulnerable adults and who is passionate about providing specialist support to women affected by the Criminal Justice System. As Student Support Worker you will identify and assist in meeting the various support needs of all women attending Clean Break, particularly their mental health, drug/alcohol concerns, financial, education, welfare and career needs through one-to-one support, assessment, action planning, partnership building and other support measures. Deadline: Monday 15th September. Click here for more information.
Clinks case study: arts and restorative justice with young people
Arts Alliance member Helix Arts is a participatory arts organisation based in Newcastle upon Tyne that works with a range of socially excluded groups, including ex-offenders. They work across a range of art forms including visual arts, film making, creative writing, graphic design, street dance, music and MC-ing, photography, drama and kite making. This case study focuses on two of their programmes: The Choices Project that worked with young offenders who are subject to Intensive Surveillance and Supervision Programme (ISSP), and The Restorative Justice Project that worked with young offenders who had restorative justice elements to their sentences. Download the case study here.
Campaigners win bid to grant prisoners access to steel-string guitars
Campaigners have won a bid to grant British prisoners access to steel-string guitars. In response to a campaign led by Billy Bragg and MP Kevin Brennan, prisons minister Andrew Selous has lifted a blanket ban on taking the instruments behind bars. "This is a victory for common sense," Kevin Brennan said in a statement, "the power of music to help prisoners rehabilitate is well documented... [and] if we want to reduce reoffending we need to support purposeful activities like learning to play an instrument." Click here to read the article in The Guardian.
A4e ends its prisoner education contract
The welfare-to-work provider A4e has prematurely pulled out of a £17m contract to deliver education and training to prisoners in 12 London prisons on the grounds that it was unable to run the contract at a profit. The company, which was due to continue providing training until July 2016, employs 400 teaching and support staff within London prisons. A4e runs another teaching contract in prisons in the east of England which it has decided not to terminate. Click here to read more.
Story tour in prisons wins praise
A project encouraging male prisoners to read with their children has been applauded by Ofsted for its contribution to family learning. The Booktrust Stories Tour, which took a live literature show into prisons for prisoners to enjoy with their children, has been named a model of good practice by the regulator. Ofsted also said the Stories Tour prison programme, which was run by Booktrust alongside Arts Council England and Pact, was an "innovative and beneficial family learning programme." Click here to read more.
Clinks blog: informing volunteering for the future
Robert Price, Justice Involving Volunteers in Europe (JIVE) Project Co-ordinator at Clinks, has written a blog for the Association of Volunteer Managers introducing the project and calling for volunteer managers to feed into a piece of Europe-wide research on the role and value of volunteers within the Criminal Justice System. He says,"As volunteer managers I don't need to win you over or persuade you of the importance and the benefits of volunteering because you already know! However, what I would like is to hear your opinion and experiences of recruiting, training and managing volunteers within your organisation; it is this information which is vital to the project and will help shape in part its direction and structure, so please spare me 20 minutes of your time to complete the survey and help us inform volunteering for the future." Read the blog and fill out the survey here.
More in arts and criminal justice
- Michael Crowley has written for The New Union on whether prisoners should have the right to vote.
- Nesta have called for an arts funding shake-up in Arts Professional.
- The August edition of NOMS' e-zine 'Changing Lives Together' is available online here.
Evaluating the Peterborough Social Impact Bond: Report from RAND Europe
At a time when government finances are stretched there is growing interest in finding new ways to fund public services. One new funding model currently being tested is a Social Impact Bond (SIB). A SIB is a form of payment by results in which funding is obtained from private investors to pay for interventions to improve social outcomes. If these interventions are effective, this should result in savings to government and wider benefits to society. As part of an SIB, the government agrees to pay a proportion of these savings back to investors. If outcomes do not improve, investors do not receive a return on their investment. In September 2010 the first SIB in the UK was launched. Around £5 million was invested to pay for interventions for offenders discharged after serving short prison sentences (less than 12 months) at HMP Peterborough. RAND Europe has been commissioned to evaluate the development. This report is the second from the independent evaluation.
Interested in the health and care of offenders?
Does your work with offenders encompass their health and care needs? Do you struggle to know who's who and what is happening in the health world? Clinks' offender health resources can help you keep up-to-date and support you to engage effectively with health and care services and commissioners. The resources include publications, case studies and an offender health e-bulletin that you can sign up to receive. You can find these resources by clicking here.
Rehabilitation: What does 'good' look like anyway?
This Clinks article, published in the European Journal of Probation, explores the need for a clearer vision of what 'good' looks like in the rehabilitation of offenders, whether in prison or in the community. Such a vision is needed to underpin not only innovative and evidence-based service development but also outcomes led commissioning, and (in the context of England and Wales) the procurement of packages of rehabilitation services most likely to support the desistance process. The need for this is greater than ever, due to the current UK Government's Transforming Rehabilitation reforms that are set to drastically alter criminal justice policy in England and Wales. Click here to read the article.
The Paul Hamlyn Foundation's ArtWorks Evaluation Survey of Artists
A new survey has shown that the majority of socially-engaged arts practitioners feel their work is not valued by the sector as a whole and that there is not enough understanding of its benefits. The Paul Hamlyn Foundation's ArtWorks Evaluation Survey of Artists also reveals that artists working in community, participatory and socially-engaged settings rely heavily on informal training, with codes of practice and standards neglected by employers, commissioners and artists alike. It is interesting to note from the results of the survey that only 1% of artists working in socially-engaged settings said they worked within criminal justice. Click here for more information.
This newsletter is written monthly by Kate Davey.
© Clinks
59 Carter Lane,
London, EC4V 5AQ
0207 248 3538
Arts Alliance on twitter
Arts Alliance website
Clinks website
unsubscribe from this list | Terms & conditions of use
Clinks manages the Arts Alliance and is the legally accountable body for all official Arts Alliance activity. Clinks is a registered charity registration no 1074546 and a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales no 3562176