Funding announcement inspires change - Funding for first large scale arts in prison project in Scotland
For the first time, prisoners in Scotland will benefit from large-scale arts education which has been shown in other parts of the UK and the world to contribute to a reduction in re-offending.
The Inspiring Change project , which has received a £300,000 grant from the Scottish Arts Council, will take music, drama and the visual arts into Scottish prisons. Its evaluation research will extend our knowledge of how involvement in the arts contributes to a reduction in re-offending.
The unique and innovative project, involving seven major arts organisations in partnership with the Scottish Prison Service, was developed in response to the increasing prison population, projected to reach 8,700 inmates by 2016, and the desire to pilot new innovative ways of supporting learning and rehabilitation.
Statistics on the prison population are stark:
- 83% of prison sentences in 2005/06 were for 6 months or less and 57% of all prison sentences were for 90 days or less
- Nearly half of offenders receiving custodial sentences in 2006/07 had already been to prison three or more times; nearly one in six had been to prison more than ten times
- More than two-thirds of offenders are reconvicted within two years of a custodial sentence
- 90% of women in prison have drug and alcohol problems, and 75% have a history of abuse. The picture for male offenders and young people is similar
- An estimated 60% of prisoners lack sufficient literacy skills and 75% lack the numeracy skills to apply for 96% of available jobs
An objective of the arts programme is to engage prisoners in projects which improve literacy skills. In addition, the projects will provide a connection with the prison learning centres with the aim of developing prisoner involvement with education.
Evidence from England and the USA shows that the arts have the potential to make a significant contribution to offender rehabilitation.
Prisons and young offenders institutions report that rates of offending within the institution by people involved in arts projects decrease. In 1999, a study by the Irene Taylor Trust at HMP Bullingdon, Oxford-shire, found that in the months following the final performance, there had been a reduction of 58% in the number of offences by the participants, compared with the six months before the project began.
The Inspiring Change project will improve the access of offenders in five pilot prisons to three key media; music, drama and visual art. A launch conference in February 2010 will bring together all the organisations involved - arts, the prisons service, criminal justice and academic researchers - to discuss the project and its evaluation. Inspiring Change will conclude with a further conference to assess its impact and disseminate learning. A travelling exhibition of prisoners’ work will tour Scotland in 2011.
Inspiring Change is a unique collaboration. It is the first time in Scotland that so many arts organisations have come together for any reason, let alone to develop innovative practice with prisoners.
Motherwell College, the project co-ordinator, is the lead provider of education in prisons in Scotland. The Scottish Prison Service is an active partner in the project. The arts programmes will take place in Barlinnie, Greenock, Open Estate (Castle Huntly), Shotts and Polmont Young Offenders Institute.
The award of £300,000 from the Scottish Arts Council has been supplemented by contributions, in-kind and financial, from the arts organisations themselves. The initiative will be the subject of a rigorous long-term evaluation programme and the project will also work with communities in Scotland to ensure that prisoners will have opportunities to continue to develop skills and interests in the arts after release.
Motherwell College Principal and Chief Executive Hugh Logan said:
‘As the lead provider of prison education in Scotland, Motherwell College is proud to be involved in this innovative project and working with a wide range of Scottish arts organisations. The College has been collaborating with the Scottish Prison Service to expand the current curriculum for offenders in custody. The project has a strong emphasis on the expressive arts and will use the arts to stimulate engagement with learning and improve literacy. The project will culminate in an exhibition of all the work produced by prisoners participating in the project. A final conference on the arts in prison will present the findings of research to assess how far arts projects enable the development of skills, attitudes and behaviours that might help offenders decide to desist from offending.’
The arts organisations involved in Inspiring Change came together to welcome the announcement Jeremy Raison and Guy Hollands, Artistic Directors of the Citizens Theatre said: ‘The Citizens Theatre believes theatre and drama have an essential role to play in bringing about positive social change. We are delighted that this project, which brings together a unique collaboration of major arts organisations, allows us to bring the skills and experience of our staff to stimulate creativity, promote positive goals and make a meaningful contribution towards the long-term recovery of the male and female prisoners of Barlinnie and Greenock Prisons. We look forward to seeing the results of the academic evaluation of this groundbreaking project which will benefit not just the individual organisations involved, but the arts and culture sector as a whole - and we hope will set the framework for further development of this work.’
Dominic Hill, Traverse Artistic Director commented: ‘We are hugely excited by the opportunity this project gives us to complement and build on the demonstrable success of OutWrite (our recent playwriting project with young offenders in Her Majesty’s Young Offender Institution, Polmont). Both projects are intensely creative and open up opportunities for close engagement in the arts for people who are generally outside the formal education system, and who may have rejected education, playwriting and theatre as ‘not for them’. I know from observing the participants and their work in previous projects that the sense of achievement felt by those taking part is tangible and, in many cases, life changing.’
John Leighton, Director General of the National Galleries of Scotland said: ‘The National Galleries of Scotland is delighted to be involved in the Inspiring Change project which forms an important part of our wider outreach strategy. By working with arts organisations across Scotland we hope to contribute to valuable research on the role that the arts have to play in the rehabilitation of offenders.’
Roy McEwan, Managing Director of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, said: The Scottish Chamber Orchestra has a history of developing innovative work within the Scottish Prison system. This project enables unprecedented collaboration which, underpinned by rigorous evaluation, we hope will stimulate debate and lead to further projects and research.’
‘Joan Gibson, Chief Executive of the National Youth Choir of Scotland said: ‘NYCoS prides itself on its inclusiveness. Now with over 2000 young singers taking part in our Area Choirs alone, more and more young Scots are experiencing the joys of singing. NYCoS is delighted to be helping the young men of Polmont Young Offenders Institute to overcome some of the social barriers they face and to experience for themselves the social, mental and physical benefits that singing can bring.’
The Scottish Ensemble’s Chief Executive Elizabeth Andrews said: ‘We welcome this opportunity to be part of a far-reaching pilot project using the arts as a medium to transform the lives of prisoners in Scotland. We passionately believe that our music is something which everyone should have access to, whatever their circumstances, and the framework of the Inspiring Communities project allows us to do just that.‘
Scottish Opera General Director Alex Reedijk said: 'For the first time in Scotland, the role that the arts , and especially music, can play in the long term rehabilitation of prisoners will be fully evaluated, and we hope that this will lead to properly funded, permanent programmes of this nature.'
Release Date: 5th November 2009
Press Contacts:
Mon-Wed inc: Lesley Falconer, Motherwell College
Phone: 01698 23 26 50 or email lfalconer@motherwell.co.uk
Wed-Fri inc: Fiona Hainey, Motherwell College
Phone: 01698 23 23 66 or email fhainey@motherwell.co.uk
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