Evaluations
Evaluation Report: Community Exchange project between detainees at Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre and young people at West London YMCA
The report explores the project’s impacts on participants’ wellbeing and resilience, awareness and understanding, and musical skills. Based on observations, questionnaires, interviews and focus groups, it contains a wealth of detail about the creative process and the experience of participants. The report also looks at the project as an example of ... read on →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
Continuing Positive Change in Prison and Community
An analysis of the long-term and wider impact of the Good Vibrations Project. This report, commissioned from Birmingham City University’s Centre for Applied Criminology, looked at the impact of taking part in Good Vibrations on participants 12-18 months on, assessing the long-term institutional impact of participating and measuring whether any ... read on →
Breaking Down Walls - The Good Vibrations Project in Prison
This study looked at the educational benefits of taking part in Good Vibrations, setting its work in the context of prison education in the UK. It also assessed the value-for-money of Good Vibrations courses.The evaluation was specifically commissioned to build upon two earlier evaluations undertaken by Good Vibrations themselves (see ... read on →
