Evaluations

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

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

Sounding Out - Jim Cartwright

The report followed Music in Prisons as they ran a pilot ‘through the gate’ project which, through music, aimed to provide longer-term rehabilitative opportunities to previous project participants in order to help bridge the gap between life inside and out prison. The key aims were to assist reintegration; impact on ... read on →

Published 2013

Artform Music

Participant type Male and Female Adult Ex offenders

Sample size: 7

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

Young People not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) and Music Making

An evidence review of published, international, peer-reviewed and ‘grey’ literature that explores the effects of music making on NEET young people or those ‘at risk’ of becoming NEET, including a specfic review of 34 Youth Music funded projects that delivered music-related activity to NEET young people or those ‘at risk’ ... read on →

Published September 2011

Artform Music

Organisation Youth Music

Participant type Male and Female NEET

Inspiring Change: Final Project Report of the Evaluation Team

An evaluation of a series of arts-based interventions across the Scottish criminal justice system, focusing on the impact of engagement in these programmes on offenders’ attitudes and behaviours as well as their ability to learn.The findings concentrate on examining the quality of the arts experience, the people and processes involved, ... read on →

Authors KIrstin Anderson, Sarah Colvin, Fergus McNeill, Mike Nellis, Katie Overy, Richard Sparks (Scottish Centre for Crime & Justice Research, University of Glasgow, University of Glasgow)

Published February 2011

Artforms Creative Writing, Drama, Music, Visual Arts

Organisation Motherwell College   Project venues Barlinnie, Greenock, Open Estate, Polmont, Shotts

Participant type Male Adult Offenders, Male Young Offenders, Female Adult Offenders

Sample size: 219

Challenging Offending Behaviour with a Creative Twist

A review of arts-based practice within Leicester City Youth Offending Service (YOS) engaging young people at risk of offending - including YP on RAP and ISSP programmes. Descriptions of visual, drama, media and music interventiions including case study projects from organisations such as Soft Touch as well as the national ... read on →

Published 2010

Artforms Drama, Media, Multi-Arts, Music, Needlework, Radio, Visual Arts

Organisation Soft Touch Arts   Project venue Leicester

Evaluation of Artlink Central in HMP & YOI Cornton Vale

This evaluation is based on the work of Artlink in HMP/YOI Cornton Vale from April 2008 to April 2009, as part of the Arts and Restorative Justice Programme introduced there in 2007. The first section of this report briefly reviews the relevant literature, which highlights the benefits of having prisoners ... read on →

Authors Nancy Loucks, Briege Nugent (Families Outside)

Published May 2009

Artform Multi-Arts

Organisation Artlink Central   Project venue Cornton Vale

Participant type Female Adult Offenders, Female Young Offenders

Sample size: 12

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

Beats & Bars - Music in Prisons: An Evaluation

The report evaluated a series of five-day music projects which took place in eight men’s prisons across England from October 2007 to July 2008. The evaluation was aimed at understanding the impact of the project on its participants’ engagement with purposeful activities whilst in prison. In particular the impact of ... read on →

Authors Alexandra Cox, Loraine Gelsthorpe (Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge , University of Cambridge)

Published

Artform Music

Organisation The Irene Taylor Trust (Music in Prisons)   Project venues Brixton , Edmunds Hill, Littlehey, Manchester, Wandsworth, Wayland, Whatton

Participant type Male Adult Offenders

Sample size: 69

Dance Included: towards good practice in dance and social inclusion

Intended as a practical tool for organisations and individuals working in dance and social inclusion, covering: planning, partnerships, recruitment and retention of participants, professional development, project activity, evaluation, outcomes and, legacy. It also included a brief evaluation of case studies from the series of ACE funded dance organisations working in ... read on →

Author Helen Jermyn (Arts Council England)

Published May 2006

Artform Dance

FM and FI and Skills for Life

This evaluation commissioned by the OLSU, examined how far the 'Family Man' and 'Fathers Inside' programmes contributed towards the ‘Skills for Life Strategy’. It found that both programmes support the strategy by focusing on speaking, listening and responding skills and includes details of the percentages of FM & FI course ... read on →

Author Sue Oakley (Offenders Learning and Support Unit, Department for Education and Skills)

Published April 2005

Artforms Drama, Multi-Arts

Organisation Safe Ground

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