The newsletter for arts organisations working in criminal justice.
In this month's issue...
- National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance news
- Events and training
- Arts and criminal justice news and publications
- Resources and opportunities
Join our team as NCJAA manager
Apply by 1st June
We are recruiting for a manager who will be responsible for overseeing the work and development of the National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance (NCJAA), the national network for arts organisations and individuals working in the criminal justice system. As manager, you will be responsible for a small staff team and will work with a range of different stakeholders to improve policy and practice around arts-based work with people in prison, on probation and in the community. Read more and apply here
Launch event: Enabling creativity in a restricted regime
8th June | online | free
Join us to launch our new guide, Creativity in a restricted regime: a guide for prison staff, at an event made possible by the Rothschild Foundation. We will be joined by speakers from voluntary and arts organisations, HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and policy experts to hear their perspective on enabling creativity in prisons throughout Covid-19. Over a challenging year, we have seen incredible resilience and creativity on the part of those working to provide ongoing Covid-19-safe arts provision in prisons. The guide, produced by the NCJAA on behalf of the Arts Forum, showcases examples of this work and includes guidance for prison staff on how to make creative activity possible throughout Covid-19 and beyond. Book your place here
NCJAA network hang out
17th June | online | free
Join others involved in arts and criminal justice for a virtual hang out to talk and learn from each other during these challenging times. The event is open to all and is an informal space for you to share your successes, concerns and hopes with us and with others interested in arts and criminal justice from around England and Wales. We particularly welcome arts in criminal justice freelancers, practitioners and anyone else looking to connect with peers in the sector to give and gain support. Sign up here
Want to include something in the next newsletter?
We will be sending our next newsletter on Thursday 24th June. Please email info@artsincriminaljustice.org.uk with any news, research, events, opportunities or blog proposals by Tuesday 15th June.
Audio play Walking the Wing premiere and Q&A
28th May | online | free
This listening session is the first airing of Walking the Wing, an audio play created as part of the Sounding Out project documenting experiences of prison during Covid-19. Walking the Wing is a Rideout (Creative Arts for Rehabilitation) production, produced in collaboration with men serving sentences and staff at HMP Hewell alongside people with experience of the criminal justice system and academic Dr Sarah Bartley. The piece is performed by people with lived experience of prison and supported by the Prison Reform Trust. The audio work will be followed by a live Q&A with artists and performers. Sign up here
The Making of ‘My Path: Art by people in the criminal justice system’
2nd June | online | free
Find out more about Koestler Arts’ exhibition My Path, currently on display at Sheffield’s Millennium Gallery, at this free talk. The exhibition showcases artwork entered into the 2020 Koestler Awards from people in secure settings or on probation from around Yorkshire. In this virtual event, you can discover how the exhibition came together, from working with young people to curate the displays to installation at the Millennium Gallery. Speakers include Jo Tapp, Arts Manager at Koestler Arts; Sarah Jane Palmer, the Sheffield-based artist who led the curation sessions; Jay Shortall, Youth Justice Officer at Sheffield Youth Justice Service; and Ashley Gallant, Project Curator at Sheffield Museums. Sign up here
Sweatbox by Clean Break: screening and discussion
8th June | online | free
Join theatre company Clean Break for a screening of Sweatbox, a short film directed by Joint Artistic Director Anna Herrmann and featuring a cast of Clean Break members. The film takes viewers on a journey in a prison van, as experienced by Nina, Rachel and Stef, as they are pulled away from their lives and transported to prison. The film is an adaptation of Chlöe Moss' immersive play of the same name, originally produced in 2015. The screening will be followed by a conversation with the director and special guests about the themes of the film and the experiences of women in the prison system. Sign up here
Applied Shakespeare in the criminal justice system
9th June | online | free
Learn more about how Shakespeare is used in criminal justice settings around the world at this panel titled International Networks and Communities: Applied Shakespeare in the Criminal Justice System. Dr Rowan Mackenzie (who spoke to us in 2019 about her experience of rehearsing and performing Macbeth in HMP Gartree in a blog which you can read here) will be joined in conversation with representatives from the Shakespeare in Prisons Network, Shakespeare Prison Project, Detroit Public Theatre and other institutions. The conversation forms part of a three-day programme of events to celebrate the launch of the Shakespeare Beyond Borders Alliance. Sign up here
Holloway Prison at the London Festival of Architecture
Weekly 7th-28th June | online | free
As part of the London Festival of Architecture, a series of architectural panels will explore questions around the history and redevelopment of the Holloway Prison site. Until its closure in 2016, HMP Holloway was the largest female prison in western Europe. Now community group Reclaim Holloway is campaigning for a women’s building to be built on the site to provide services for women and the local community. The discussions will centre on the architectural legacy of the prison and how that might inform its future, especially in the context of feminist architecture, the role of architectural expression in encouraging healing, and structural inequality in architecture. Find out more about the panels and sign up here
Arts in criminal justice training from imagine if
10th and 24th June | online | from £20
Theatre company imagine if's training programme continues in June with sessions looking at community settings and evaluating impact. Explore the process of making art and theatre with groups of people with convictions in community settings in Creativity: ‘On the Out’. Consider what success looks like to different stakeholders and explore tools to effectively measure the impact of your arts work in the criminal justice system in Prove it: Measuring Creativity. Find out more and sign up here
Learn more about theatre in criminal justice with Geese Theatre Company
24th June | online | £5
Geese Theatre Company is hosting monthly online information sessions for anyone who would like to know more about its work in theatre and criminal justice. Theatre practitioners, artists, students, criminal justice and social welfare professionals are invited to join Geese to find out about its theatre-based group work, performances and work with masks. Participants will hear about Geese’s range of work, learn about its ethos and theoretical approach, see filmed examples and have the opportunity to ask their own questions. Sign up here
‘I am a theatre’: exhibition celebrates 40 years of Clean Break
24th June - 31st July | London | free
Theatre company Clean Break celebrates four decades of creating ground-breaking theatre on women’s experience of the criminal justice system with its retrospective exhibition ‘I am a theatre’: 40 years of Clean Break Theatre Company. The exhibition takes place at Swiss Cottage Gallery with Covid-19-secure measures in line with the latest government guidelines. It features original scripts, photography and artwork, original tv and documentary film featuring and produced by Clean Break from the 1980s to today, and an installation by artist Miriam Nabarro inspired by the 2019 production Sweatbox – set inside a decommissioned prison van – reimagined for the gallery space. Find out more and get tickets here
Share your experiences of probation reform
Clinks has launched a survey to understand the voluntary sector’s experience of the probation reform programme. We want to hear your views, including perspectives from organisations: that chose not to qualify onto the Dynamic Framework or bid for contracts; that chose to engage but were unsuccessful at some point in the process; and those that won contracts. Clinks is undertaking this research with three partner organisations: the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University, the University of Wolverhampton and the Institute for Voluntary Action Research. The responses and additional case studies will be used to create an in-depth report which will reflect the voluntary sector's experiences and detail lessons learnt that can be used to inform future commissioning processes. Take the survey here
Funding for smaller arts initiatives
Apply by 16th June
Grants up to £6,000 are available from D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust for UK registered charities working in the areas of advancement of the arts, health and medical welfare, and improvement or protection of the environment. The funding is to be used for core costs and projects. The Trustees favour small-scale, locally based initiatives. Find out more and apply here
Funding available in North East of England
Apply by 21st June
The Hadrian Trust is offering grants of up to £2,000 to help social welfare and charitable organisations working to improve the lives of people in the North East of England, particularly those working in the fields of arts, social welfare, youth, disability, the elderly, women, ethnic minorities, education and the environment. Organisations working with people in contact with the criminal justice system and their families are welcome to apply. Find out more and apply here
Jobs
Theatre Director, Imagine If
External Evaluator, Pan Intercultural Arts
Communications Manager, Clean Break
Manager, National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance
Want to include your organisation’s opportunity in the next newsletter?
If you’d like us to feature your job or volunteer post in our newsletter, please get in touch with us on info@artsincriminaljustice.org.uk and post your vacancy to the Clinks jobs board here. We are only able to share vacancies posted to the Clinks jobs board.
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This newsletter is written monthly. Email info@artsincriminaljustice.org.uk if you wish to submit any news.
Clinks manages the National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance (NCJAA) and is the legally accountable body for all official NCJAA activity.
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