Evaluations
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 →
Final evaluation of the Artist in Residence at HMP Grendon
This report presents findings from the second half of a four year art residency at HMP Grendon. Through analysis of observational data, interviews, focus groups, and assessments of social climate with prisoners at HMP Grendon, this report concludes that the residency has promoted a number of positive outcomes. There is ... read on →
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 →
“The Good Days are Amazing” An Evaluation of the Writers in Prison Network
This qualitative evaluation by Sheffield Hallam University was designed to:
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 →
Talent 4....
Evaluation of an arts-based workshop programme aiming to increase participants awareness of their own innate talents and skills, this research project sought to measure the effects of participating in a Talent 4... project on offenders' self -belief in their capacity to gain employment, strengths and weaknesses, ability to work with ... read on →
An evaluation of the Artist in Residence at HMP Grendon
Through observation and interviews with inmates and staff,this report documents the process of developing an artistic residency in a Therapeutic Community prison and provides an evaluation of the impact on those taking part. Based on observations across four prison wings and interviews with sixteen inmates, this report is able to conclude that ... read on →
Arts Mentoring for Released Prisoners: An Evaluation Project - interim report
An interim report on the evaluation of the Koestler Trust's mentoring scheme. The evaluation concerns both the implementation and effectiveness of the mentoring scheme, and employs both qualitative and quantitative methods, including direct observation of mentoring sessions and hour-long, face-to-face interviews with both mentors and mentees. The implementation part of ... read on →
Music in our Time - an evaluation of a participatory creative music programme for older prisoners
An evaluation of a participatory creative music programme for older prisoners in 6 prisons to assess its impact on improving health and well being. The evaluation focused on analysing the workshop experience; benefits and opportunities of the programme; and the perspectives of the musicians. read on →
Miss Spent in Custody
An independent evaluation of a pilot for a new skills development course for young women in custody delivered by Clean Break in April 2010. The evaluation report identified that the project convincingly demonstrated the value of drama exercises, creative education and the use of role play in teaching personal skills, ... read on →
The Great Escape: exploring the rehabilitative dynamics involved in 'Changing Tunes'
The goal of this report is to develop a 'logic model' that can account for how Changing Tunes (CT) works as a rehabilitative strategy, outlining both the dynamic processes involved and their immediate/short-term and medium/longer-term impacts on the lives of participants. This analysis identified seven, key elements of the CT ... read on →
The Academy: a report on outcomes for participants
An evaluation of the two-year experimental phase of Dance United’s Academy project, this report showed that the Academy’s dance-led education programme delivered measurable increases in their capacity to learn and imparted a range of so-called ‘soft’ skills, which can, in turn, be linked to very favourable ‘hard’ outcomes in criminal ... read on →
