Evaluations

BROAD: (Building Resilience and Overcoming Adversity through Dance & Drama) Research and Evaluation Report

Building Resilience and Overcoming Adversity through Dance & Drama (BROAD) is an innovative dance theatre pilot programme designed for vulnerable groups in prisons, secure children's centres and secure hospitals, co-created by Odd Arts company and Company Chameleon. Its innovation derives from the combination of theatre and dance, underpinned by training ... read on →

Authors Lynn Froggett, Hugh Ortega Breton (University of Central Lancashire)

Published July 2020

Artforms Dance, Drama

Organisations Company Chameleon, Odd Arts

Applied Performance Arts Interventions within Justice Services: Moving 'Forward' Toward an Integrated Sustainable Evaluative Approach

This report evaluates the impact of a resettlement programme using forum theatre and therapeutic creative delivery in prisons, adult resettlement centres and secure units.  It focuses on the impact good partnership has on effective projects as well as the need for long-term sustained work in prisons to ensure the highest ... read on →

Authors Richard McHugh, Hannah Smithson (Manchester Metropolitan University)

Published January 2018

Artform Theatre

Organisation Odd Arts   Project venues Barton Moss Secure Unit, HMP Manchester, Langley House Trust resettlement centres

Participant type Male Ex offenders

Sample size: 50

Creative Leadership and Forum Theatre: An evaluation report for Odd Arts

The report evaluates one of Odd Art’s creative programme that uses applied and forum theatre to increase leadership and skills. The following key outcomes of the Odd Arts Creative Leadership programme all demonstrate factors related to confidence, self-awareness and self-presentation, and, therefore, skills and capacities required to show creative leadership ... read on →

Authors Lynn Froggett, Laura Kelly, Julian Manley (University of Central Lancashire)

Published January 2018

Artform Theatre

Organisation Odd Arts   Project venues Care 4 Children, HMP Wymott, Langley House Trust

Participant type Male Juvenile Offenders

Sample size: 89

The Lullaby Project: areas of change and mechanisms of impact

Creative projects and their potential towards positive psychosocial change have been consistently evidenced, particularly with vulnerable groups. The Lullaby Project (developed by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute in New York) has now been implemented in UK through two pilot experiences where the Irene Taylor Trust (who led the initiative), brought ... read on →

Author Sara Ascenso

Published November 2017

Artform Music

Organisations Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Irene Taylor Trust   Project venues HMP Wandsworth, Praxis Community Projects

Participant type Female Adult Migrants, Adult Musicians, Male Adult Offenders

Sample size: 21

Art on the Inside: How Do Prison Art Teachers Maintain Their Professional Practice as Artist?

This evaluation asks the question: how do prison art teachers actively seek out opportunity for development and advancement in their specialist field? It empowers the voice of eight prison art teachers as artists working within a broad context of custodial settings including young offender’s institutes, adult male prisons and a ... read on →

Author Sophie Nickeas

Published August 2016

Artform Visual Arts

Organisation University of West London   Project venues HMP Highdown, HMP Lewes, HMP/YOI Bronzefield, HMYOI Cookham Wood, HMYOI Wetherby

Participant type Male and Female Adult Art teachers working in prisons/YOIs

Sample size: 8

Exploring Good Vibrations projects with vulnerable and challenging women in prison

This research involved 26 women who had successfully completed a Good Vibrations project, finding that:

  • for women in prison, taking part in a Good Vibrations project can reduce anger, worry, and levels of unhappiness, and improve social skills
  • reductions in anger, worry, and unhappiness may be sustained in the weeks ... read on →

    Author Laura Caulfield (Bath Spa University)

    Published December 2015

    Artform Music

    Organisation Good Vibrations

    Participant type Female Adult Offenders

  • A Narrative-Based Evaluation of 'Changing Tunes' Music-Based Prisoner Reintegration Interventions

    The report explains the results of exploratory research into the work of the prison based charity Changing Tunes, which uses music both within and also outside prison with offenders and ex offenders. Evidence revealed that the pro social impact on the participants came as a result both of participation in ... read on →

    Authors Jo Cursley, Shadd Maruna

    Published January 2015

    Artform Music

    Organisation Changing Tunes   Project venues Eastwood Park, Leyhill, Winchester

    Participant type Male and Female Adult Ex offenders, Male and Female Adult Offenders, Male and Female Adult Staff

    Good Vibrations: health and wellbeing of older offenders

    The purpose of this research project was to explore the older offender population and there engagement with the Good Vibration project.  The research found that:

  • Older offenders also experience the same emotional benefits as the general prison population
  • Older offender’s comments on additional benefits of the Good Vibrations project for ... read on →

    Authors Laura Caulfield, Dean Wilkinson (Bath Spa University; University of Worcester)

    Published 2014

    Artform Music

    Organisation Good Vibrations

    Participant type Male Older Offenders

  • Re-imagining futures: Exploring arts interventions and the process of desistance

    Carried out by Northumbria University and Bath Spa University, this report highlights examples of how the arts can support positive changes linked to personal agency, efficacy and identity, which are linked to the highly individualised journey of desistance from criminal behaviour. Key findings show that participation in arts activities enables ... read on →

    Authors Charlotte Bilby, Laura Caulfield, Louise Ridley

    Published November 2013

    Artforms Craft, Creative Writing, Music, Visual Arts

    Organisation Arts Alliance

    Participant type Male and Female Adult Offenders

    Sample size: 30

    Supporting employability and personal effectiveness through the arts: international evaluation of this European Project by Jo Cursley

    Supporting employability and personal effectiveness (SEPE) is the name of a qualification which was first conceived by the University of Exeter, developed and accredited by Edexcel and piloted through Superact by funding from Leonardo Lifelong Learning Project and the Medicor Foundation in five European countries. The arts were used as ... read on →

    Author Jo Cursley (University of Exeter)

    Published 2012

    Artforms Dance, Drama, Music, Visual Arts

    Participant type Male and Female Adult Offenders

    An Evaluation of the Personal Effectiveness and Employability through the Arts Project

    This is an external evaluation of the PEETA project involving the development, piloting and subsequent award of a new BTEC qualification known as Supporting Employability and Personal Effectiveness (SEPE).  The qualification aims to help those who may find accessing traditional routes to employability challenging. The project was piloted in five ... read on →

    Author Del Roy Fletcher (Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University)

    Published October 2012

    Organisation Superact

    “The Good Days are Amazing”  An Evaluation of the Writers in Prison Network 

    This qualitative evaluation by Sheffield Hallam University was designed to:

  • map the activities of the Writers in Prison Network (WIPN)
  • identify the barriers and facilitators to effective delivery of the programme
  • identify effective practice
  • assess the impact of the programme on prisoners, writers and prison staff
  • assess the effectiveness of ... read on →

    Authors Katherine Albertson, Caroline O'Keefe (Hallam Centre for Community Justice, Sheffield Hallam University)

    Published October 2012

    Artforms Creative Writing, Multi-Arts

    Organisation Writers in Prison Network

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