Evaluations

An evaluation of The Irene Taylor Trust’s Sounding Out programme 2016-2018

Sounding Out is a music traineeship which provides former prisoners with longer-term opportunities upon their release, to bridge the gap between inside and outside prison. The evaluation takes a qualitative approach to explore the views and experiences of participants, staff and family members to understand if and how Sounding Out ... read on →

Authors Laura Caulfield, Andrew Jolly, Rachel Massie (Institute for Community Research & Development, University of Wolverhampton)

Published March 2019

Artform Music

Organisation The Irene Taylor Trust (Music in Prisons)

Participant type Male Adult Ex offenders

Sample size: 10

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

Evaluation of the use of 'Good Vibrations' percussion courses to improve motivation to change and treatment readiness with convicted sexual offenders embarking on treatment programmes

Previous research has highlighted the benefits of implementing music-centred interventions in correctional settings. The present study used a mixed method approach to explore prisoners’ experiences of a week-long Indonesian percussion music course, introduced in a UK sex offender prison to enhance motivation and readiness for change pre-treatment. Study one examined ... read on →

Authors Nicholas Blagden, Helen Elliott, Jessica Faulkner, Rebecca Lievesley, Verena Sperling, Belinda Winder (Nottingham Trent University)

Published December 2015

Artform Music

Organisation Good Vibrations   Project venue Whatton

Participant type Male 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

Women at the HeArt Evaluation Report

Women at the HeArtwas a Thames Valley Partnership project, funded by Arts Council England,  The Monument Trust and Thames Valley Probation, building on the organisation’s experience of using the arts with vulnerable groups. Aims:

  • Creatively empower vulnerable women by offering participatory arts sessions
  • Embed good creative practice into support services ... read on →

    Author Alison Leverett-Morris (Thames Valley Partnership)

    Published February 2014

    Artforms Drama, Mixed Media, Visual Arts

    Organisation Thames Valley Partnership   Project venues Alana House Womens Centre, Crisis at the Old Fire Station, Elizabeth Fry Approved Premises

    Participant type Female Adult Vulnerable women

  • 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

    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

    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

    The experience of ‘Journey Woman’ from the perspective of the participants

    Using theoretical frameworks such as CBT, role theory, social learning theory and narrative therapy, Forensic Psychologist Rebecca Day explores women offenders’ experience of  Geese Theatre Company’s one week project ‘Journey Woman’, which was delivered four times at HMP Foston during 2007/08.  read on →

    Author Rebecca Day (Geese Theatre)

    Published January 2013

    Artform Drama

    Organisation Foston   Project venue Foston

    Participant type Female Adult Offenders

    Sample size: 34

    An Evaluation of a Pilot Study of a Literature-Based Intervention with Women in Prison

    This study investigated whether ‘Get Into Reading’, a literature-based intervention, which had been established in other custodial contexts and non-custodial mental health settings in the UK transposed to a female prison; HMP Low Newton, and whether any of the benefits identified in custodial and non-custodial contexts elsewhere were reported by ... read on →

    Authors Josie Billington, Jude Robinson (University of Liverpool)

    Published 2012

    Artform Creative Writing

    Organisations National Personality Disorder Team, The Reader Organisation, University of Liverpool   Project venue HMP Low Newton

    Participant type Female Adult Offenders

    Musical Learning and Desistance from Crime: The case of a 'Good Vibrations' Javanese Gamelan project with young offenders

    This paper discusses new empirical evidence for a positive relationship between musical learning and desistance from crime. On investigating the learning processes occurring within a Javanese gamelan project in a Young Offenders Institution, parallels between musical learning processes and the development of certain attributes linked to desistance from crime emerged.  ... read on →

    Author Jennie Henley (Institute of Education, University of London, University of London)

    Published February 2012

    Artform Music

    Organisation Good Vibrations

    Participant type Male 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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