The newsletter for arts organisations working in criminal justice.
In this month's issue..
- National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance news
- Arts in criminal justice news and publications
- Events and training
- Resources and opportunities
NCJAA Advisory Group meeting
In April it was great to be able to bring the NCJAA Advisory Group together in person and then be joined by network members for a networking event in the afternoon. It took place at Voluntary Action Islington in London and brought together a diverse group of colleagues, ranging from those experiencing their very first day with the Alliance to others who have been deeply involved since its earliest days.
We looked at the current work plan, objectives and how we influence strategy in various forums. The broad spectrum of experience around the room set the tone for rich, layered conversation and participants reflected on their emotional and practical experiences with the NCJAA to date.
Rebecca from Odd Arts then led the group in identifying the NCJAA’s key strengths and opportunities. Among the strengths highlighted were the Alliance’s people, including its artists and arts organisations — recognised as the heart and purpose of the NCJAA. Additionally, the group underscored the Alliance’s capacity to influence change and shape policy as a core asset. The challenges and threats identified included internal staff changes, the uncertain political landscape, shifting government initiatives, and persistent issues around sector funding, particularly the lack of resources and clarity in funding streams. This all fed into a collaborative exercise to then identify the group’s collective vision for the NCJAA, revolved around six major pillars:
- Knowledge & data sharing
- Policy influence & advocacy
- Community & partnerships
- Clear communication & visibility
- Practical tools & resources
- Sustainability & resilience.
It was such a valuable day for shaping our work and engaging with the wider membership. We all agreed that being in a room together brings so many benefits and it was really good to actually see each other.
Influencing Heads of Education, Skills & Work
NCJAA, Clinks Director of National Influencing and Networks - Sam Julius, and Catrina McHugh of Open Claps Theatre Company and the holder of the Arts seat on the Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group, joined forces to deliver a tutorial to highlight the need for including the arts and creativity in the education offer in prisons. We highlighted findings from the Inspiring Futures research, bringing focus to art being a gateway for people in prison to engage in core subjects, develop life skills, confidence, emotional language and family links, among other impacts and benefits, as well as the overarching impact on reducing reoffending. It was very well received and there are ongoing discussions with key individuals at HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) on ways forward.
Funding the voluntary sector in criminal justice
In this blog, Clinks highlight some of the particular issues raised by charitable trusts and foundations that participated in our 2024 State of the Sector research. The insights from the funder-specific focus group illustrated the “very challenging environment” that the sector is currently operating within. This included an acknowledgement of prison overcrowding, backlogs in courts, underfunding of probation services, as well as continued concerns about the new Labour government’s approach to criminal justice and whether they will be able to bring about meaningful change. Read the blog here
In relation, New Philanthropy Capital has published a new report, in partnership with Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales, on the on the allocation of funding for the voluntary sector in criminal justice. The findings show that 94% of statutory funding goes to charities with annual incomes above £2 million. Charities with annual incomes up to £500,000 received only 1.42.% of statutory funding. Voluntary organisations also found that statutory funding often comes with 'funding gaps', with the cost of delivering contracts not always fully recuperated.
Small Charity Week platforming – Storybook Dads
Throughout Small Charity Week Clinks is platforming their amazing Clinks members! Check out this video from Storybook Dads, a national charity that helps families to stay connected in a beautifully simple and unique way.
Storybook Dads record imprisoned parents reading a children’s story which is digitally edited and enhanced. The children are comforted by these stories as they can play it whenever they are missing their absent parent. And imprisoned parents feel that they are doing something meaningful for their children from behind bars. Nurturing connections between prisoners and their kids while they are separated helps with reintegration back into the family unit upon release. For many families Storybook Dads/Mums can be a lifeline. Watch the video here and find out more about Storybook Dads here
Small Charity Week platforming – It’s Not Your Birthday But…(INYBB)
INYBB have written a guest blog for Clinks about their work using art as a creative health tool within the criminal justice system. Check out the blog to learn about their journey as an organisation and how their vison works in practice. Read the blog here
Independent Sentencing Review and recall changes
May saw the publication of the Independent Sentencing Review’s final report, to which Clinks have produced a detailed response, analysing its core recommendations and what needs to be done to make a success of the proposed reforms, including the voluntary sector’s role in the implementation process. Additionally, Clinks worked with officials to communicate the latest reform to prison recall policy, informing the sector of the change via this blog. The change will enable the greater use of Fixed-Term Recalls (over Standard Recalls) and will be phased in from early September.
Committee Responses
Clinks also published a range of committee responses to: the Welsh Affairs Committee inquiry into prisons, probation and rehabilitation in Wales; the Justice Committee inquiry on tackling drugs in prison; the Justice and Home Affairs Committee inquiry into prison culture: governance, leadership and staffing. They also published the Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3) Reference Group report on tackling racial disparities in the criminal justice system.
Untold
Untold is empowering young men in prison to reclaim their story - helping to rebuild lives through creativity, new stories and new skills to provide a fresh start.
Untold's mantra for each young man they support is: "You are not your story. No single event defines you. Every ending is a beginning, a chance to start a new chapter - an opportunity to start over without being shackled by the past. We'll teach you the skills you need to go boldly into the future. Your potential is still untold. Your story is yours to own." Find out more about Untold Creative Training
Prison Reading Groups
Prison Reading Groups (PRG) has been setting up and running reading groups in prisons for 25 years. They recently commissioned an evaluation of the benefits as experienced by members. The report was launched at the House of Lords and it provides powerful evidence of the role reading groups and other arts-based activities can play in helping prisoners develop agency, a sense of self-worth and a belief in their ability to turn their lives around. Read the evaluation here
The Artist Care Project
The Artist Care Project have published a new research report and set of principles for supporting artists who work in complex and challenging settings.
The report presents evidence of the ways organisations and individuals seek, offer and engage in care and supervision to support artistic work in challenging and complex settings. It provides insights into how organisational structures and governance create opportunities for providing care for staff and the lived experience of being a freelance musician. They want people and organisations across the sector to use and develop their principles for Artists’ Care.
The Artists’ Care project arose from an awareness that for many who work in secure settings, promoting the mental health and wellbeing of those they work with may come at the cost of maintaining personal mental health and wellbeing. Despite this, there are no recognised standards and poor evidence concerning what works to support artist well-being.
The next stage of the project will involve the design and testing of bespoke Artists’ Care programmes to better support artist well-being. Read the report here
Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Market Engagement
8 July | online | free
The MoJ will be holding a further Market Engagement (ME) session to present the findings of the Early Testing of the Community Link Worker role and provide people with the opportunity to ask questions. This will be the final ME event in relation to the early testing. The MoJ aim to share the full report one week in advance of the meeting. For further information please read this document that has been shared before: Early Testing of the Community Link Worker Service for the re-design of future rehabilitation services. You can register for the event using this link
NCJAA & Royal Literary Fund Workshop: Case Studies
8 July | online | free
The National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance (NCJAA) and the Royal Literary Fund (RLF) are excited to be partnering again to deliver our capacity-building writing programme.
The training is designed for individuals and organisations delivering services and projects in the criminal justice system.
A case study tells the story of a person, group or event. It is a structured approach to exploring ideas, explaining situations, demonstrating learning, reporting progress or celebrating your organisation’s success and the benefits for individuals, communities and other stakeholders. Case studies can also be useful for marketing and research. This online workshop will help you to consider the following:
- Key elements of a case study (introduction, context, needs, description of intervention(s), outcomes and benefits.
- Tone and style for different audiences (funders, other stakeholders and organisations, individuals, families and broader community.
- Use storytelling skills to make your case studies more engaging and readable.
- Self-editing and proofreading.
Check eligibility and book here
Finding Rhythms – Making Waves Live
10 July | London | free
Join Finding Rhythms for a night of live performances showcasing the creative works made by participants from their Making Waves music and mentoring programme. Making Waves is their flagship programme which supports young people at risk, and individuals whose lives have been impacted by the criminal justice system, to channel their creativity and share their stories through music.
Expect live performances from a lineup of emerging artists who’ve spent several weeks in their Peckham studio, working one-to-one with a professional music producer. They’ve written, recorded and released original tracks and now they’re sharing them live. Book your tickets here
Insiders at Edinburgh Fringe
16 August | Edinburgh | free (Donations)
Sam Rowe runs the creative expressions department of a homelessness organisation in Scotland, with particularly focuses on prisons and people coming through the criminal justice system. They are showing a production at the Edinburgh Fringe this year and invite you to come and see it if you are attending the festival. More info here
Future Communities Fund programme
The Co-op Foundation has launched the second round of their Future Communities Fund programme. Through this £1.75 million programme round, they are looking to fund organisations which support young people with experience of the justice system to re-engage with their communities, following their time in custody. Grants will be awarded on an unrestricted basis and to a maximum value of £150,000 over five years.
As part of this round, they are looking to fund approximately ten organisations:
- With an annual income of £250,000 or less
- That are not-for-profit organisations, which are registered and operate exclusively in the United Kingdom
- Have two or more unrelated directors or trustees on the Board
- That primarily support justice-experienced young people aged 10-25 years old
- Which have a sole purpose of supporting justice-experienced young people to re-engage with their community.
Announcing the new £85 million Creative Foundations Fund
A capital fund for creative and cultural organisations that supports restoration and renewal projects. First announced as part of the £270 million Arts Everywhere fund, Arts Council are working alongside the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to invest the £85 million fund, which will support theatres, galleries, and arts centres restore buildings in need of repairs. Expressions of interest will open 30 June. Read the applicant guidance to find out more about the fund and if you are eligible to apply. Find out more here
WORKSHOP: Free therapeutic and mindful photography workshops
Mindful photography UK CIC is excited to share that they have received funding from Women in Business; Two Ridings Foundation to work with women and girls in and around York to deliver free therapeutic and mindful workshops over the coming year. Mindful Photography allows us to slow down and take notice of our surroundings. Therapeutic Photography is a structured self-exploration process facilitated in a safe and safeguarded environment. If you would like to refer anyone to their face-to-face or online projects, or welcome Mindful Photography into your space to deliver a free workshop, please contact rebecca@mindfulphotography.org.uk
Mindful Photography acknowledges that men can also be survivors of domestic abuse, and projects are provided under Rise to Thrive funding. For more information about the process of therapeutic photography visit www.mindfulphotography.org.uk or view the impact video here.
The 2025 Fantastic for Families Awards are open for applications!
The Fantastic for Families Awards celebrate the achievements of arts and cultural organisations, and the ways their work enriches the lives of families and older people. Champion your creative activities, events or initiatives for families or older people - apply by 5pm on Wednesday 16 July. More information here
Call for submissions: Royal Society for Public Health Journal
Arts Council have teamed up with the National Centre for Creative Health to put together a special issue of Perspectives on Public Health, a journal from the Royal Society for Public Health. We’re looking for submissions that show how creative approaches can support the health of individuals and communities – whether through research, policy, or prevention. Deadline is 1 September. Find out more
The Quilters Documentary
Described by a colleague as "A very short but incredibly powerful documentary on the power of the arts in prison and prison arts helping those on the outside who need care and compassion and the power of people in prison to create new senses of self". An award-winning short documentary, men in a Missouri maximum-security prison design and sew beautiful, personalised quilts for foster children. Watch on Netflix
HOLLOWAY
There are still dates across the country to see the Award-winning documentary HOLLOWAY. It follows six women as they return to the now abandoned Holloway Prison in Central London. Sharing some of the most intimate experiences of their lives, these six women unravel what led them to prison, building an eye-opening portrait of trauma and failing systems, while discovering their extraordinary capacity to heal through sisterhood. The film was made via a unique process of a trauma-informed co-creation with our contributors, praised by academics as a ‘blueprint.’ More info and screenings here
Theatre of the Oppressed Collaboration
A Message from Odd Arts: Geo Britto, from Brazil, is coming to UK likely this November. Geo is one of the longest standing theatre of the oppressed practitioners in the world, having worked with Boal for many years (The Theatre of the Oppressed was developed by Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal during the 1950’ps and 1960’s). Geo is keen to collaborate with other organisations in the UK to see if any socially engaged organisations are interested in partnering/hosting/collaborating on a training day led by Geo. Odd Arts has done these a number of times and they always go down incredible well. Whilst in Europe, Geo tries to work with as many people/organisations as possible, and much of the resource achieved goes straight back into their vital work in Rio.
If interested in hosting Geo for one of these training days please email him direct geobritto@gmail.com
Vacancies
Arts & Learning Strategic Lead - Safe Ground
Want to post a vacancy?
Clinks members can post job and volunteer vacancies on our Jobs Board for free.
Full instructions for uploading a vacancy can be found here.
For assistance, email membership@clinks.org
Take a creative break
Create your own poem or sonnet using this free online poem generator. Perhaps you’re the next Yeats, Shakespeare or Oscar Wilde!
Want to include something in the next newsletter?
The next NCJAA newsletter will be sent on Thursday 28 August. If you have any news, opportunities or events relating to art organisations or projects within the criminal justice system that you would like included, please submit your information via our online form by Monday 18 August.
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