The newsletter for arts organisations working in criminal justice | July 2014
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In this month's issue...
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Exciting opportunity for arts organisations
In order to build on the Arts Alliance's past and current work, we are embarking on an ambitious research and delivery programme - Inspiring Futures, which 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 a 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 art form and geographical location 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.
Deadline: 5pm, 12th September 2014. Click here for more information.
Please note that funding for this project has not yet been secured.
The Arts Alliance work with the University of Cambridge on Inspiring Futures research
We are delighted to announce that Professor Loraine Gelsthorpe from the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge will be the lead researcher for the next Arts Alliance research project - Inspiring Futures. This large scale research project aims to explore a coordinated programme of arts activity to help us further understand how and in what way arts interventions can contribute to offenders' lives and the wide community. The overall aim of the proposed programme of activity is to bring about a step-change in both the credibility and the reach of arts projects within the Criminal Justice System. Loraine will also be working with Dr. Caroline Lanskey, who has a background in education. The Arts Alliance look forward to developing this exciting project with the research team. Click here to read more about the project.
New on the website: course accreditation
We have just launched a new page on the Arts Alliance website that covers awarding bodies that you or your organisation might consider approaching to have your course(s) accredited. These include the Arts Award, OCN London, OCR and AIM Awards. We will keep expanding this list, so please do get in touch with us if you know of any others we can add. Click here for more information.
Looking to start out in the arts and criminal justice sector?
Following a pilot scheme which ran from 2013 to early 2014, we are rolling out our professional mentoring programme to expand opportunities for our members to develop professional skills and knowledge in the field 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 mentors will provide a range of support about using arts within the Criminal Justice System, such as professional guidance, networking opportunities, advice on training and professional development and ideas for direction of travel. If you would like to receive professional mentoring from an expert Arts Alliance member, please click here for more information. Deadline for applications: 15th August 2014.
Creativity on the Ground: NEW blog series and live Q&A discussions on Twitter
As a result of receiving funding from Arts Council England, the Arts Alliance is launching '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 blog posts will be written by various people - both individuals and those from organisations - from across the sector. They will focus on different art forms, and raise discussions and debates on topical subjects. The first blog post in the series will be published on Thursday 31st July, and will be written by Saul Hewish from Rideout about their Talent4 conference in Birmingham that happened earlier in July. Additionally, Saul will be participating in a live Q&A on Twitter about the event from 11am - 12pm on Friday 1st August. We very much encourage you to join in! Click here to read Saul's blog. Don't forget to join us on Twitter: @ArtsAllianceCJS using #ArtsCJS
The Arts Alliance around the web...
In July, Arts Alliance Manager Jess Plant wrote a comment piece for the Big Lottery Fund's Your Voice, Our Vision project, noting the need for more funding to ensure that people in prison and those on community sentences; who are some of the most disadvantaged groups in our community, have access to arts and cultural experiences as a springboard to positive change and to bring about equality in society. Join in the conversation here. Additionally, the Arts Alliance appears in the latest issue of Arts Professional which focuses on arts and criminal justice. For this, Jess Plant authored a piece about keeping the arts in criminal justice settings on the political agenda. Arts Alliance members Geese Theatre Company, Clean Break, and Prisoners Education Trust also appear in the issue. Click here to read the article.
Have you got something for the next newsletter?
The next newsletter will be sent on Thursday 28th August. Please email kate.davey@clinks.org with anything you would like included in the next newsletter by Thursday 14th August.
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Synergy Theatre Project's new Drama Workshop Leading course
Course starts 13th August 2014 | Central London | Free
Synergy Theatre Project will be offering a free ten week introductory course for ex-prisoners in Drama Workshop Leading. Learn how to lead drama workshops for young people and some of the theatre and facilitation techniques involved, then try out the skills you have learned in a real workshop setting. No previous experience required, just a commitment and willingness to give it a go. The course starts on 13th August, Wednesdays 6.30 - 9pm. For more information please email info@synergytheatreproject.co.uk or phone 020 3668 6730. Deadline: 6th August 2014.
National Summer School for Arts Fundraising and Leadership
31st August - 5th September 2014 | Leeds | £1,750 + VAT
The National Summer School for Arts Fundraising and Leadership offers an intensive programme of study for emerging cultural entrepreneurs and will be led by renowned academics and arts sector professionals. Led by the University of Leeds in partnership with the Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy Programme, this new course in fundraising leadership is aimed at arts managers to give them a breadth of insight, ideas and skills in how to lead arts fundraising in challenging economic times. It is also an accredited course with the University of Leeds, and represents half of the credits required for a Post Graduate Certificate in Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy. Click here for more information.
The Cultural Commissioning Learning Programme Phase 2
16th - 17th September 2014 | Newcastle | £75 - £180
From 2014 - 2015, the Cultural Commissioning Learning Programme will work with arts organisations, museums and libraries, and with commissioners to build knowledge, skills and understanding, and to bring these sectors together. Aimed at middle and senior managers in arts organisations, museums and library services, including those responsible for developing new funding streams and winning contracts, the Learning Programme entered Phase 1 in July 2014. Phase 2 will be a two day programme aimed at helping delegates to understand how to demonstrate the impact of arts and cultural activities in public service outcomes. Click here for more information.
Working with Young Offenders: a communication skills approach
22nd September & 27th October 2014 | Manchester & Bristol | £185
60% of young people who offend or are at risk of offending have Communication Support Needs, limiting their ability to benefit from rehabilitation interventions, build productive relationships and move forward in their lives. These workshops aim to teach you more about how these difficulties present themselves and give you the chance to develop skills to improve your practice. This workshop is popular with those working with adult offenders who want to improve communication and engagement with this group. Contact Talk Links via their website and mention the Arts Alliance to receive special offers when booking. Click here for more information on these workshops and other training run by Talk Links.
The Other Side of the Wall: Geese Theatre Company training event
22nd - 24th September 2014 | Birmingham | £330
Geese Theatre Company has been at the forefront of arts based practice with offenders for the past 26 years. The BAFTA winning organisation is once again running a three-day course open to anyone who is interested in, or has experience of working with offenders and young people at risk of offending. The course is also recommended for students of Applied Theatre, Prison Theatre and associated studies. Participants will be invited to experience and practice a variety of drama-based methods for use in groupwork, with focus on exploring some of the basic principles behind Geese's work with offenders. Email info@geese.co.uk for more information.
Arts and health in Wiltshire
30th September 2014 | Wiltshire | Free
Wiltshire Council's Public Health and Arts Development services are holding a conference to explore the contribution that cultural activities play within the health and wellbeing agenda. The conference, which is aiming to establish a countywide network of arts and health practitioners, will include presentations of practice within the county as well as discussions about how to engage commissioners. The council and partner agencies will be launching opportunities and soliciting feedback on future areas of work, and will decide on the winner of a new one-off fund designed to challenge the sector to innovate a single action or project that will take the entire sector forward. Three projects will be pitched and the conference delegates will vote for their choice. Click here to book.
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New Director at Good Vibrations
Gamelan in prisons charity Good Vibrations has got a new Executive Director - Katy Haigh. Katy is delighted to have been appointed to lead such a vibrant charity and has lots of exciting plans for the organisation. She is also the newest member of the Arts Alliance's Steering Group. Katy's professional experience is as a Senior Manager is the charity, education and creative sectors. Most recently she led organisational culture-change for Inanna Inc., an Australian charity supporting people affected by homelessness, mental illness and trauma. Katy began learning Gamelan whilst studying Music at The University of York and in 2003 she went on to introduce the genre to West London secondary schools through the government's Excellence in Cities programme. Katy sees Gamelan as an amazing way of supporting people to develop crucial life skills, such as confidence, listening and teamwork. Katy is really looking forward to working with you all and invites you to come along to one of Good Vibrations' participants' play-throughs in the next few months. Click here for the Good Vibrations website.
Ministerial reshuffle
Following July's ministerial reshuffle, Mike Penning MP and Andrew Selous MP have joined the ministerial team at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). Mike Penning has been appointed as joint Minister of State for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims. This means he has responsibilities both at the MoJ and the Home Office. He is the Member of Parliament for the Hemel Hempstead constituency, and joins from the Department of Work and Pensions. Andrew Selous has been appointed as Minister for Prisons, Probation and Rehabilitation. He is Conservative MP for South West Bedfordshire. Click here for full details on the ministerial reshuffle.
Music in Prisons and Helix Arts have secured funding from Northern Rock Foundation
Two of our members; Music in Prisons and Helix Arts, have secured funding from Northern Rock Foundation's Fresh Ideas Fund to support both organisations at HMP Low Newton to develop a creative tool which will help staff within criminal justice settings to deliver outcomes related to reducing re-offending. 'Songbook' will be created for women offenders by women offenders and will offer an authentic understanding and creative methods to discuss the real issues and causes of offending behaviour using song and spoken word. The resource will be created on site, then developed and trialled before being made available nationally to criminal justice agencies. Click here for the Music in Prisons website.
Clinks survey: the role and value of volunteers
Clinks' Justice Involving Volunteers in Europe (JIVE) project is keen to identify the level and nature of volunteering within the Criminal Justice System across Europe. Their online survey will help gather evidence and give them a better understanding of how and why European organisations working with prisoners and ex-offenders use volunteers, highlighting what works and beginning a dialogue on best practice. The survey focuses on areas including selection and engagement with volunteers, how they are trained and motivated, and how organisations structure the work carried out by volunteers. If you use volunteers in your organisation, have you say here.
Museums on prescription research
In July, a team of researchers led by Dr Helen Chatterjee at University College London began a new three year project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council to explore the value and role of museums in social prescribing. Social prescribing links patients in primary care with local sources of support within the community which can improve their health and wellbeing. 'Museums on Prescription' is the first project of its kind internationally and will research the development and efficacy of referring socially isolated older people to partner museums in Central London and Kent. The research project is a collaboration between a number of museums and health and social care organisations in London and Kent, and is augmented by a range of other strategic partnerships. Click here for more information.
The future of Virtual Campus
At this year's Govnet Modernising Justice conference: Technology, Innovation and Efficiency (24th June), there was a focus on how ICT can improve rehabilitation. In particular, a speech by Chief Inspector of Prisons Nick Hardwick commended Prisoners Education Trust's recent report 'Through the Gateway: How Computers can Transform Rehabilitation.' The Prison Reform Trust also called for prisoners to be given secure access to the internet to support their rehabilitation. The event also included a session on the Virtual Campus led by Mark Taylor, the national Virtual Campus Manager, focusing on the potential for ICT solutions to improve people's opportunities to learn and get ready to return to society. Click here to read more.
Navigating the health landscape
'Navigating the health landscape in England' is Clinks' new guide which provides an overview of the new commissioning landscape, explaining the roles of organisations with direct commissioning responsibilities as well as key organisations in a commissioning support role. It has been specifically developed for voluntary sector organisations working with offenders, and covers the commissioning arrangements in places of detention, as well as for offenders and ex-offenders in the community. It highlights where voluntary sector organisations working with offenders and their service users can influence health and care provision. Download the guide here.
Creative Wales Awards - 2014/15 round open
The Creative Wales Awards are provided by the Arts Council of Wales (ACW) as part of its annual programme of funding support for individual artists. The Awards are available to individual arts practitioners in Wales for creative development projects, including taking time away from usual commitments to concentrate on a specific project. Grants of up to £20,000 will be provided to support an intensive period of open-ended learning and research around significant artistic propositions. Projects could involve the creation of new, experimental and innovative work that takes forward the art form and creative practice, and is intended to enable artists working in any creative discipline, or across disciplines, to enhance and refresh their skills, creativity and creative partnerships. Deadline: Friday 12th September 2014. Click here for more information.
Consultation launch: care and protection of children and young people
Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), HM Inspectorate of Probation and HM Inspectorate of Prisons are currently undertaking a consultation on proposals for integrated inspections of services for children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers, and joint inspections of the Local Safeguarding Children Board. They are seeking the widest possible range of views from those who have an interest in, or expertise relating to, child protection and provision for children looked after and care leavers in order to ensure that the changes proposed take proper account of these needs and circumstances of all interested parties. The consultation closes on 12th September 2014. Click here for more information.
Summer issue of Not Shut Up Magazine out now
Not Shut Up is a quarterly national magazine celebrating creativity in a range of custodial settings; including prisons, secure hospitals, refugee centres, and children's homes across the UK. Celebrating their tenth anniversary year, they publish stories, essays and artwork from behind bars, as well as working with writers and artists post-custody. Through their Academy and publishing programmes, their charity supports those who have been locked away beyond the edges of society, helping to give them a voice and change perceptions of what the arts can do for wider social good. The magazine is delivered free of charge to over 300 establishments and care teams around the country, promoting the benefits of creative thinking, reading and writing. Click here to read the latest issue.
Understanding the value and impacts of cultural experiences
On 21 July, Arts Council England published 'Understanding the value and impacts of cultural experiences'; an international literature review conducted for the Arts Council by WolfBrown. This review aims to help us understand how others have asked or considered the question: 'what value do personal experiences of art and culture have for people?' in the past, and to contribute towards existing knowledge in this area. Click here to read the report.
More in arts and criminal justice...
- Arts Alliance members who have become Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisations this year include: Clean Break, The Koestler Trust, London Arts in Health Forum, Helix Arts, TiPP, Cardboard Citizens, Geese Theatre Company, Dance United Yorkshire, Artichoke, John Hansard Gallery, and Artswork.
- Presentations from Arts Development's National Seminar programme on cultural commissioning are now available online.
- July's Prison Service Journal includes an article on the role of creative writing in reducing re-offending and a case study on the impact of cultural history research and creative writing practice.
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From the Evidence Library: Prison Arts Resource Project
The Prison Arts Resource Project (PARP) is an annotated bibliography of evidence-based studies evaluating the impact of arts programmes in U.S. correctional settings. Each of the 48 entries includes information about the arts programme as well as the study research goals, methods and a summary of findings. Adult offender and juvenile offender programmes are identified. While not an exhaustive list, this collection of annotated impact studies represent publicly available evidence that can be accessed by individuals and organisations seeking to develop their own evaluation or research, or who are seeking evidence of impact for the purposes of programme development and policy improvement. Click here to read the report.
The Young Review
Building on a previous round table on 'how the commissioning process can improve outcomes for BAME offenders?' chaired by Baroness Young and convened by BTEG and Clinks, The Young Review has brought together a Task Group of representatives from the public, private and voluntary sectors to explore how to improve outcomes for young black and Muslim men in the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales. Click here for more information.
Service user views on the prison estate
User Voice have published a service user response to The Justice Committee's inquiry into 'Prisons: Planning and Policy.' The response records the reactions of service user led focus groups to the Government's programme of reforms and efficiency savings within prison. The groups felt that working prisons had been achieved to an extent, but with serious flaws and reservations; lower operational costs are having a serious negative impact on their security, safety, environment, food and access to education, books and courses; and the location of their prison had or has a negative impact on mental health, safety and desistance. Download the report here.
Crime and Community: exploring the scope for community involvement in criminal justice
This report by the Institute for Criminal Policy Research and Birkbeck, University of London explores the concept of community justice by reviewing policy developments in relation to community engagement under the preceding and current government. It reviews data on volunteering and political and civic participation and also includes empirical research into the scope and nature of community activism in four deprived neighbourhoods. Click here to read the report.
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This newsletter is written monthly by Kate Davey.
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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