Evaluations

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

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

The Arts of Desistance: Evaluation of the Koestler Trust Arts Mentoring Programme for Former Prisoners

This report presents and discusses the findings of an evaluation of an arts-based mentoring scheme that is aimed at prolonging and enhancing desistance from crime through providing former prisoners with opportunities to continue engaging with the arts after release. The evaluation focused both on the implementation and effectiveness of the ... read on →

Author Leonidas Cheliotis (London School of Economics)

Published October 2014

Artforms Creative Writing, Multi-Arts, Music, Visual Arts

Organisation Koestler Trust   Project venues Parc, Peterborough

Participant type Male and Female Adult Ex offenders

Sample size: 60

An Evaluation of Talent 4... Europe LLP-TOI programme: A Group Programme to Identify Talent and Skills

This report is an evaluation of Rideout’s Talent 4… Europe programme. Talent 4… is an arts-based diagnostic programme designed to help participants identify personal strengths and skills to help increase motivation and inform better decision making about future training or employment. This evaluation analyses data from a total of 234 ... read on →

Authors Laura Caulfield, Rebecca McGuire-Snieckus (Bath Spa University)

Published September 2014

Artform Multi-Arts

Organisation Rideout

Participant type Male and Female Adult Ex offenders, Male and Female Adult Long term unemployed, Male and Female Adult Offenders

Write to be Heard: Supporting Offender Learning through Creative Writing

The report explores the impact of a creative writing programme developed to engage ‘hard to reach’ learners in prison.   The mechanism was a creative writing competition, incorporating a schedule of workshops in 28 prisons, encouraging entrants to write pieces for broadcast on National Prison Radio (NPR).  Using qualitative and quantitative ... read on →

Authors Jane Hurry, Patrice Lawrence, Jessica Plant, Anita Wilson (Arts Alliance)

Published March 2014

Artform Creative Writing

Organisation Arts Alliance   Project venue Prisons around the UK

Participant type Male and Female Adult Offenders

Musical Pathways: an exploratory study of young people in the criminal justice system, engaged with a creative music programme

118 young people engaged in a participatory music programme across eight youth justice settings in England and Wales. The research objectives were to [1] investigate meanings and values young offenders attribute to music, their relationships with music, and its significance to their health, wellbeing, lifestyle and social status; [2] observe ... read on →

Authors Norma Daykin, Nick de Viggiani, Yvonne Moriaty, Paul Pilkington (University of the West of England )

Published January 2014

Artform Music

Organisations Superact, University of the West of England

Participant type Male and Female Juvenile Young People at risk

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

Family Man: 2012-13 Evaluation Scope

The purpose of this evaluation is to demonstrate the long-term impact and cost-effectiveness of Family Man to policy makers, funders, prisons and practitioners; and to complement Gwyneth Boswell’s qualitative study of the revised Family Man and other previous evaluations. read on →

Published 2013

Artform Drama

Organisation Safe Ground   Project venues Belmarsh, Birmingham, Bristol, Dovegate, Highpoint, Leeds, Parc, Wandsworth

Participant type Male and Female Adult Families of offenders, Male and Female Juvenile Families of offenders, Male Adult Offenders, Male and Female Adult Prison Staff

Sample size: 500

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

Evidence Review: Music making with young offenders and young people at risk of offending

This review by the University of the West of England (UWE) was commissioned by Youth Music in March 2011 with the purpose of identifying evidence concerning the impact of music making on young people within the youth justice system. The Review aim was to gather and, if possible, synthesise evidence ... read on →

Authors Norma Daykin, Nick de Viggiani, Yvonne Moriaty, Paul Pilkington (University of the West of England )

Published July 2011

Artform Music

Organisation Youth Music

Participant type Male and Female Young Offenders

Developments in the HM Prison Service and Safe Ground Family Man programme, and the Safe Ground Network during 2007-8: An independent review

The purpose of this evaulation was to examine the developments Safe Ground had made to one of its prison interventions, Family Man, and to the Safe Ground network during the period 2007-08 following recommendations made in previous reviews. It utilised semi structured qualitative face to face interviews, telephone interviews and questionnaires ... read on →

Authors Gwyneth Boswell, Fiona Poland

Published October 2008

Artform Drama

Organisation Safe Ground   Project venues Belmarsh, Wandsworth

Participant type Male and Female Adult Families of offenders, Male Adult Offenders, Male and Female Adult Staff

Sample size: 258

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