Artlink Central Freedom to Create - Year Two project evaluation report by Kevin Harrison

2014-15

Freedom to Create supporting women-centred artist practice in prisons

A report on Year Two of a Three Year Creative Criminal Justice Programme in HMP and YOI Cornton Vale Delivered in partnership with New College Lanarkshire and Scottish Prison Service A report by Caroline Carmichael

Funded by Creative Scotland, The Robertson Trust & The VOLANT Charitable Trust through Foundation Scotland

Artlink Central is a Registered Scottish Charity SCO 08158 www.artlinkcentral.org

Contents 1. Forward 2. Overview 3. Artlink Centralâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Criminal Justice Programme 4. Background information on the women and the population at Cornton Vale 5. How we have Approached Evaluation? 6. Project outcomes and progress 7. Projects â&#x20AC;&#x201C; progress and development 8. Feedback from participants, SPS and Artists See separate report for Year One. http://issuu.com/kevinharrison66/docs/artlink_central_freedom_to_create_y?e=0/9788925

Forward The Freedom to Create programme has provided a rich testing ground for developing arts led approaches to working with women in prisons. After an initial period of partnership development and learning about how to evolve a co-productive approach to creative programme development, our year two report demonstrates the reach we have been able to have across the prison establishment. All delivery was outwith the learning centre this year and we engaged more prson officers than ever before in evolving our programme. The work created has been personal and collective, and has tested approaches to working in residential blocks, in work parties and with families. We have created sited artwork in the grounds, produced screenplays and even created products with women who participated as well as exhibting work within the prison and at Dunblane Museum for the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Fesitival 2014. Recognition of our acheivements also came in the form of a secondment opportunity to Scottish Prison Service for Artlink Central to deliver an Arts Review across the service in early 2015. Artlink Central would like to thank the dedicated Scottish Prison Service officers and Education staff from New College Lanarkshire who have made Freedom to Create possible.

Kevin Harrison Director of Artlink Central

Overview The â&#x20AC;&#x153;Freedom to Createâ&#x20AC;? programme specifically aims to meet the needs of women offenders, both in terms of identifying and addressing barriers that may or may not be gendered physical, social or emotional barriers to participating in and engaging with cultural opportunity, but also which use creative approaches to exploring and addressing the wider context of the gendered nature of criminal justice establishments in a positive and co-productive way. Freedom to Create is an Artlink Central project funded by Creative Scotland, Robertson Trust, and Volant Trust through Foundation for Scotland, delivered in partnership with the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) and New Lanarkshire College (NCLAN) through the Criminal Justice Third Sector Framework for Partnership. Freedom to Create is a women-centred programme of high quality arts initiatives that aim, through strong partnerships, to support the wider SPS objective of encouraging desistance from crime and supporting Scottsh Government-led Offender Outcomes. Both the Angiolini Report published in April 2012 and the Corston report published in March 2007 highlight the distinct differences between Male and Female offenders and the need for a women-centred approach to rehabilitation. The reports identified that the reasons for women being in prison in general are very different to that of their male counterparts and the impact to their families can be devastating . Children of women in prison are much more likely to go into care as women are more likely to be the main carer. Although the artforms that the artists explore with the women may be similar to art work in Male units, the approach is specifically aimed to support the needs of female population at HMP Cornton Vale. To test this further we are currently exploring one specific project in partnership with North Lanarkshire College exploring the different outcomes when using similar projects within a male and female unit in year three of the programme.

Artlink Centralâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Criminal Justice Programme About Artlink Central Artlink Central is an arts agency working across Central Scotland, engaging artists in communities. Established in 1988 Artlink Central is a registered charity based in Stirling, with a focus on developing evidence-based practice in the following areas: - Arts and Health - Arts and Disability - Arts in Prisons and - Arts and Young People. Partnership Approach The organisation works both within institutions and in community-based settings, delivering across art forms and working closely with artists, statutory and voluntary sector agencies and with people accessing artistic programmes. Artlink Central work geographically across Central Scotland and beyond. Most of our work takes place within Forth Valley Area. We work in partnership with NHS Forth Valley, Scottish Prison Service, Stirling Council, Falkirk Council and Clackmannanshire Council and a number of Third Sector, Further and Higher Education Partners.

Programme Artlink Central has extensive experience of delivering cultural opportunities to offenders and has had significant success in capturing strong evaluation of work delivered. After a strong three year programme which ended in 2010, a new range of programmes has been undertaken in 2013, as outlined below: 1. Creative Practice in Prisons Evolving new programmes which support women centred practice by artists in prisons, focussing initially on HMP Cornton Vale. 2. Forthways This is a new Creative Public Service design programme, exploring how referral pathways can support offenders in prisons and living in the community, to access creative opportunities which support them to reduce chances of reoffending. 3. Scottish Prison Arts Network Supporting this new organisation as a partner and playing a strong strategic and practical role in establishing and growing this emerging network, to raise the profile and quality of arts practice / delivery in criminal justice in Scotland.

About Cornton Vale Cornton Vale is the primary establishment in Scotland for holding female offenders on remand and those sentenced to prison by the courts. Cornton Vale provides custodial facilities for female prisoners (including young offenders) in all sentence ranges and supervision levels. It has a design capacity of 309 places, this figures includes 24 spaces within the independent living units (ILUs) adjacent to the prison grounds for appropriate women nearing the end of their sentence, and seven mother and baby spaces available inside the prison. In total, the prison has six accommodation blocks. Whilst Cornton Vale is Scotlandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only all female prison, women are also held in Edinburgh, Greenock, Grampian and Inverness.

Evaluation Process The evaluation process has been informed by, and is a continuation of, Artlink Central’s previous work in Cornton Vale. It now also incorporates the SPS Third Sector Partnership Framework with Scottish Government Offender Outcomes embedded. A freelance evaluator is contracted to oversee the evaluation process and report on outcomes. A project-specific evaluation, in the form of this report, has been carried out by an independent evaluator. Aims of the evaluator • Establish a planning monitoring and evaluation process for all practitioners, integrated into practice with a clear focus on outcomes. • Embed Offender Outcomes within artist planning • Provide evaluation support to artists • Produce a framework and supporting documents to consolidate the evaluation process • Establish a system to gather data from three sources, in order triangulate data and produce and much more accurate evaluation to be used for future planning. framework (based on Third Sector Partnership Framework), advice for keeping diaries and a discussion on being creative in their approach.

Outcome One Stronger partnership working & co-production in programme development Artlink Central is able to develop programmes that not only support and enable women offenders to evolve them, but which also engage all key stakeholders in the process to embed the programme within the prison hosting it and to build on the strengths and opportunities each stakeholder brings to the programme to strengthen outcomes and the impact it has and to support strong communication. This extends to creating a wider strategic network of relationships that support the programme to evolve and grow as it extends to new establishments and as future partnership and development opportunities arise 1.

Create a strong strategic plan for developing strong relationships across the criminal justice sector Appoint a development consultant to lead on the network and programme development from the outset, with the remit to evolve a clear and well researched development plan to embed the learning from the programme and with the aim of ensuring sustainability and legacy.

Jennifer Hill was appointed as Development consultant in 2013. Jennifer Hill has developed a communication strategy for the project. Scottish Prison Service offered Artlink Central a secondment to deliver a review of arts across the establishment Strengthened position and visibility within the sector Organisational support to and representation on trustee board of SPAN (Scottish Prison Arts Network)

Strong and clear management and communication structure Complete the Third Sector Criminal Justice Framework process and implement it fully through the programme. Establish a programme structure which includes effective partner engagement through named members forming a project management group, a biannual or quarterly steering group and connections to other cross working groups that are relevant to the programme.

A project steering group has been established and meetings are ongoing. The structure has supported better continuity of involvement of both education and programme staff despite numerous changes to personnel appointed to the steering group.

Co-production through participation Build in co-production approaches and offender involvement in recruitment and programme development processes

Through the weekly drama programme the woman have been co-producing a play with the Artist. The women have been involved in all the writing and recruitment of other women. Services have been designed in partnership with officers and have involved women in their design. Individual aspirations supported for example playwriting.

Project steering group has been resilient through change. Communication structure has extended beyond the steering group reaching 14 - 15 key staff.

Outcome Two Reduced inequalities for women offenders in prisons The programme specifically aims to meet the needs of women offenders, both in terms of identifying and addressing barriers that may or may not be gendered physical, social or emotional barriers to participating in and engaging with cultural opportunity, but also which use creative approaches to exploring and addressing the wider context of the gendered nature of criminal justice establishments in a positive and co-productive way. 1.

Access audit and exploratory work of needs of women carried out Artists explore, identify and begin to address barriers to participation that may or may not be gendered or gender specific through initial consultation and creative engagement. This will include exploring how cultural activity itself can be gendered, as well as the social and physical environment. Artists will extend some of this exploration into working with women in other prison settings. A strong evaluation practice will be embedded from the outset and will use the audit to create benchmarks where possible for measuring the success of the programme.

Year two projects evolved and developed from the findings of year one

Equalities focussed programme developed Artists evolve specific programmes to meet the needs of women offenders. This could be about creating more opportunities for women to create work that encourages family contact, or about exploring art forms that may have gendered associations or ones which women may traditionally not access. It may extend to particular issues relevant to women offenders such as domestic violence, bereavement or substance misuse. In addition to an overall outcome around women in general and groups of women with specific barriers, we will have a person-centred outcome approach so that we are not over generalising and so that the programme evolves around individuals, recognising where women may also have multiple barriers due to disability, age, health,orientation, race, religion and others.

The artists have taken the learning from year one to develop and programme tailored to HMP Cornton Vale

Co-productive processes piloted One initiative will explore the artists working with women on conceptualising the physical and social design of a woman centred prison, as a possible process to engage offenders in an asset based approach in the consultation on the building of future prisons for women.

We were unsuccessful in securing additional funding to deliver this specific project, but were able to apply the approach within other projects and across our Forthways community criminal justice project, also funded by Creative Scotland.

Artists were asked to keep diaries or submit planning/ monitoring and evaluation forms based on Third Sector Framework. Offender outcomes were considered throughout this process. Where appropriate pre and post programme questionnaire were completed by participants alongside artistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; views and comments. Communication, planning and development with SPS and Education were ongoing.

All the work undertaken by the artists has been person centre and inclusive. Artists have worked with a broad range of women including women with mental health issues and or disabilities. Working in small groups allowed one to one support when required.

Outcome Three Creative Practice evolving, embedded and valued within criminal justice Artlink Central will develop a peer learning network of artists that will support and nurture practice development with the aim of establishing a strong base of knowledge, learning and a framework for quality social practice in a criminal justice context of working with women. The artists will be tasked with their own learning, sharing practice with each other and with other stakeholders such as the women themselves, prison, healthcare and learning centre staff. Artlink Central will also share practice via the Scottish Prison Arts Network and Artworks Scotland. Where possible there will be connections with other relevant projects such as the new placement scheme for Glasgow School of Art students.

Artists as Peer Learning Network Artists will be contracted to deliver programmes that support practice development and will be expected to share their learning through a range of informal and formal mechanisms

Three core artist with support input three visiting artists continue to work in HMP Cornton Vale in year two. Artists have shared their work with through a development day in June based on artist practise. Artist are invited to take part in SPAN events and contribute to artist sharing. An exhibition of work also took place in Dublane Museum in Oct 2014.

Artist Practice to be Outcomes Focussed Artists will be expected to take an outcomes based approach to all the work they do and programme proposals will have artistic and offender outcomes embedded within their scope.

Dissemination of Learning Artlink Central will disseminate practice to the wider arts and criminal justice community through a range of mechanisms and partnerships including STIR, SPAN and Artworks Scotland, where possible and relevant.

Artist have engaged in planning, monitoring and evaluation (with offender outcomes embedded)

Artlink Central artist delivered presentations to SPS staff and colleagues on Artist practice and have attended SPAN events. Scottish Prison Service offered Artlink Central a secondment to deliver a review of arts across the establishment

Outcome Four Increased participation in creative opportunities by women offenders Artlink Central will deliver a participatory creative arts programme to women offenders predominantly with HMP Cornton Vale with gradual extension to women who have now been moved to other prison settings. The programme will be delivered in partnership with Motherwell College and Scottish Prison Service Staff across blocks and in the learning centre. The programme will be designed in consultation with women offenders and will reach different groups of vulnerable women, increasing their access to arts and learning opportunities and supporting improvement in wellbeing. The programme will investigate gender specific issues within criminal justice as well as exploring the relationship between different art forms and gender in this context to increase and widen womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s engagement, participation in and outputs possible from creative practice with women offenders.

Increase Participation Artlink Central will deliver a programme of creative opportunity to a minimum of 100 women in year one, delivered by professional artists in prisons, predominantly HMP Cornton Vale.

145 individual participants took part in Artlink Central projects between April 2014-March 2015. Eight of these participants were the womens children who took part in a family event.

Reduce Barriers to Participation Artlink Central will meet access requirements of target groups and report on improvement in access to learning and wellbeing for these groups, as well as set specific areas of investigation.

Embedded in artist practice and project development.

Embed Creativity Artlink Central will develop participatory programmes with artists and women offenders that create meaningful dialogue and learning about the role creativity can play in women offendersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lives and in criminal justice provision for women.

Embedded in artist practice and project development. All artists have evolved their programmes in response to dialogue with staff and participants.

Freedom to Create Programme Progress and development Year Two of the programme has very much focussed on building on the initial learning and development from year one as well as responding to direct approaches for creative projects from various areas of programme and residential units. A key feature of Year Two was that work almost exclusively occurred outwith of the Learning Centre with specific focus on supporting transitions for particular units as women temporarily located in other establishments were relocated back into Cornton Vale after some refurbishment to the prison. As with year one there remained a separation between the Visual Arts and Performance Arts programme development. Drama continued to be delivered in Wallace House in the evenings, whilst the visual arts, also coupled with writing, was delivered in residential units and work parties in a range of projects.

Visual Arts

Catherine Sargeant and Frances Douglas

Words Wall

Visual arts Project based in Specialist Residencial Unit This project continued into year two from year one where the women had created lettering for the family hub notice boards to enhance the environments for families visiting. The women in Ross House said that they would like to use the signage they created to enhance the environment in the block. A mural project was planned but SPS didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want the artist to paint directly onto the wall. After some discussions and planning between the artists, women and SPS it was agreed to use the similar lettering that had been used for the family hub. This would mean the artwork would be able to be attached to the wall. The women worked on different designs and came up with words relevant to them that interlocked to create one piece of work. 15 women were involved at different stages but 5 women made up the core group. The group worked as a drop in due to the complex needs and support required by the women in Ross House (a unit which houses very vulnerable women with complex needs particularly around mental health)

Illuminate Poetry and Visual Arts Project in Residential Units - July 2014 Illuminate evolved from direct requests for projects in two units in Cornton Vale, one offering specialist support for mental health and one which particularly supported women on remand. The aim of the project was to enable participants to find ways of expressing aspect of their lives through experiencing art forms such as creative writing and watercolour painting. Artists Evlynn Sharpe and Frances Douglas led creative workshops in which the women from HMP Cornton Vale first took part in writing exercises, sharing personal memories and feelings, before experimenting with watercolour techniques to make artworks to complement the text. The project took place in Younger House and Ross House with 14 women engaging, 12 of these women committed to the programme. Ross house is the mental health unit and as such these women needed more support, with one woman needing one to one support. The project took place over five days, 2 days of creative writing and 3 days of visual arts. Seven of the twelve women who completed pre programme surveys had never taken part in a course within the prison and all nine who completed the post project survey said that they would take part in other creative project within the prison and out in the community and would recommend it to others. The whole group rated the course very highly giving it either 5/5 or 4/5. They also rated the staff very highly with the same scoring. SPS staff were asked to complete a personal liaison forms for each of the women they had referred to the project outlining 1-3 outcomes that they would like to see the women achieve.

These outcomes included. • More active on daily routines • Learn new skills/unlock potential • Successfully work as part of a group • Express feelings • Interact with staff and other prisoners • Increase confidence Staff felt that the women had achieved these goals through taking part in the project post project feedback on these goals for individual women included. • Eager to attend class • Learned new skills in creative writing • Worked well and mixed well with the group • More active • Very settled and working well with others. The women spoke very positively about their experiences. “This is the best thing I’ve ever done in here. I’m ashamed to say I’ve been in and out of here and this is the first time I’ve ever done anything in here that I felt was therapeutic. I’ve told everyone, I’ve told the governor too.” “Loved every minute of this class. I think it’s very therapeutic and helped me a lot. I would love to continue this as it’s really helped with my self-esteem and confidence.” All the women said they would have liked more time and more space. This will be carefully considered for future intense targeted projects, however we have learned from other projects that while undertaking such intense work it is better that it is time limited as there is less likely to be the disruption of women being moved, liberated or the other many changes that take place daily within a prison environment. The women felt deeply proud of their achievements. Certificates were presented to the women. One of the women at Ross house who needed one to one support was overwhelmed by this and said it was the first time she had ever received a certificate for anything. The work was exhibited in the Dunblane museum and a publication of the work was produced. The women were recorded reading their poems which were played for a small audience of partners and other invited guest at a special event at Dunblane Museum. All the women received their own copy of the publication were possible. One of the participants who was unable to complete the course as she was moved to another facility contacted Artlink Central when she was liberated and hopes to get involved in projects outside. 17

Visual Arts with Craft Work Party This project was a result of the very positive work that took place with the garden work party in year one. The aim was to expose the women to other creative techniques and art processes which they could incorporate into their card making for the prisoners shop. The SPS officer in charge would be there to support the artist and oversee what was happening so she could later support the group to use or develop these techniques once the artist had finished. Unfortunately it became apparent very quickly that the SPS officer would not have enough time to support the artist or be fully engaged in the project and the artist worked alone. The artist felt that although the women were learning new skills and enjoying some of the processed that she couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see any completed work making it to the shop. A meeting was scheduled for the artist, evaluator and SPS officer followed by a meeting with the women mid-way through the project. The aim of the meeting was to look at the outcomes and how to proceed The SPS officer felt she was too busy to take an active role in the sessions but felt it would be very good for some of the women to take a more lead role. This is something she encourages in the work party. Two or three women were identified who may like to do this forward and SPS officer said she would encourage them. Another issue raised was the transitory nature of the group due to different lengths of sentences. It was agreed that a smaller group doing more intensive work would be a good idea and there were some women who were enjoying the sessions who have longer sentences. Women on shorter sentences would have the opportunity to get involved but would need to show commitment and it would be optional. There was also a discussion about coming up with a couple of group designs and the women taking responsibility for different parts of the process. The work was also discussed with the women. They had enjoyed the experimental work and had a real desire to make personal work. The group discussed that one of the project aims was to make cards for the shop and to look at solutions to come up with designs 18

that suited the tastes of the women in Cornton Vale. They felt as a group the work that they had been doing with the artist until then (although they were enjoying it) didn’t meet that market. It was agreed that to achieve the outcome of producing something for the shop that it would work best if the women worked together to come up with two design for Christmas cards and set up a small production line using the techniques taught by the artist. The money raised by these cards would be donated to charity. This part of the project would be organised by the SPS officer A small run of 64 cards were produced. Each woman in the project was allowed to take one card to send to a relative. Only a small number of cards were sold in the shop. The women felt this was partly because the cards still didn’t quite meet the market in the prison but also that it was never agreed which charity the money would be going to. The SPS officer felt strongly that although personal goals for the women such as team work and learning new skills had been met that the project didn’t fit that particular work party. The women felt that they would need a lot more time to perfect techniques and explore more advance materials and methods to produce cards for the shop. They would prefer any future project like this, to be much more experimental and personal rather than a group project as they would like to have more of their own creative input. Like the SPS officer the women also felt that the project didn’t fit the work party but that they would be very keen to do a project that would extend their knowledge of printmaking. They valued what they learned but would prefer to use it to create personal creative projects rather than things to sell in the shop.

Family Days Family day at the Family Hub for the Common Wealth Games In July 2014 the family hub at HMP Cornton Vale in partnership with Arlink Central organised a special common wealth games family day for women and their children. Ten women were invited with six women attending and twelve children (aged 3 months – 14 years). The aims were • Get it right for the children (GIRFEC) • Family inclusion • Strengthening families • Promote health and wellbeing Arlink Central arranged for the Common Wealth Games Julia Donaldson Cycling Marathon to visit HMP Cornton Vale on that day – acclaimed actor and theatre maker Tam Dean Burn undertook a marathon endeavour to travel by bicycle to locations across Scotland and read to children, over the course of his journey, all of former Childrens’ Laureate Julia Donaldson’s 167 books. Artlink Central Artist Catherine Sargent did a workshop making paper puppets which Tam incorporated into the story telling. Feedback from everyone involved was extremely positive. It was hoped a similar event would take place again at Christmas but due to changes in staff at SPS to cover the SPS officer involved the Common Wealth Games event while she was off for medical reasons, it didn’t happen. Instead Tam Dean Burn returned to the prison with a musician to support with Burn’s Night celebrations with his own Burns for Bairns event.

Knit and Natter

A whole prison project This project was first suggested by the artists back in Jan 2014 while working with the Garden Party. Images of ‘Yarn Bombing’ projects were shown to the women and there was enthusiasm expressed both by SPS Garden Staff and by the women to do something similar for the prison grounds, possibly during the winter months when the garden party do not have so much to do. However due to communication not being sent to the correct senior manager this project was not allowed to go ahead at that point. This highlighted the importance of clear information and who to contacts for the development of future projects. The artists have worked extremely hard building positive relationships with SPS staff and communicating project ideas. This works very well most of the time but staff change frequently and sometimes a line of communication can be missed with negative effects on project development The idea was revisited in August 2014. Unfortunately it would not be with the group of woman who originally worked with the artists to develop the idea so it would lose some of it’s ownership. It was decided that the project would take the shape of teaching knitting,crocheting and other relevant skills to the women and make squares to attach together to decorate several trees in the prison grounds in January when there would be little or no colour around. It was a prison wide project with staff and women in blocks also contributing work. A lot of thought was given to the name of the project as ‘Yarn Bombing’ as obviously not appropriate in the prison context. It was decided to call the project ‘Knit ‘n Natter’ to try and give it a friendly and informal feel and sessions took place in the library in the Education block. Artists also researched alternative methods of creating ‘woolly squares’ for those who found knitting or crocheting too complicated, or to be used with groups who might not be allowed knit21

Participation and attendances Due to the nature of prison life, attendances varied from time to time for different projects. Artists never knew how many people would turn up for sessions as sometimes women didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t attend because of appointments, visits, court attendance, being confined to their cell, medical or other reasons and were often liberated before a course came to an end. Short intensive projects were developed alongside longer programmes to try to mitigate this. 145 women participated in Artlink central projects in year two. This number includes 8 children who took party in a family project. Below is the breakdown of participation. In year one 20 women did more than two projects. In year two project were more targeted and only 5 women took part in two or more projects. Partnership Artlink Central works in partnership with New College Lanarkshire and SPS. Although there were the usual settling in issues at the beginning of year one which have now been resolved, the partnership is very positive with strong communication and sharing of knowledge. Lorna Callery, Learning Centre manager commented that â&#x20AC;&#x153;Artlink Centrals work in the prison complemented the learning centre and there is huge value in having the Artist come in with new concepts and ideas. For the women it is good to also have artist who work differently with them, than their usual tutorâ&#x20AC;?. Until now it has only been the evaluator who has referred women from projects onto appropriate course in the learning

ting needles and crochet hooks. These methods included, hand knitting, finger knitting, straw weaving, pom poms and French knitting. One SPS staff member in Ross house (facility for vulnerable women with complex needs including mental health) commented that she felt it was also good for staff as it allowed them to think outside the box and find creative ways of doing projects that would usually be difficult due to the high risk of material needed (knitting needles and sharps). The staff in Education were also very supportive, particularly Maureen who is a keen knitter and who took responsibility of signing out wool to prisoners and officers who requested it in between our sessions. Several officers, including Arlene, also became quite involved. The garden party were involved in the installation of the artwork in the Gardens. Many of the women who took part were keen to continue to knit in the blocks and some have been able to do this. One of the women was a very experienced knitter, F, who came to all the sessions, but could not get her head around the idea of knitting as ‘art’, and continually asked if she could make a scarf. We kept trying to explain that this project was a chance to learn to knit/crochet etc. and that these first pieces would be used to create an art installation on trees. The evaluator met with her after the project and although she still thinks it’s better to knit scarves she was very proud of the work that was achieved and said really enjoyed the project. She laughed about how she won’t let anyone say anything negative about the work. She is now allowed wool and needles as she has moved blocks and knitting is helping her spend her time positively. At the end of the project there were enough squares to decorate three trees which the artist did with members form the garden party in January and the general response has been positive by the women and staff.

Performing Arts Jeremy Weller

Night Drama

Ongoing Friday night drama with residential unit A performance called “ A life in Wallace” created by the women and supported by the artist was performed in front of SPS staff for approval before being shown to the other women in their block in Year One. The performance for the block was well attended and feedback from participants, officers and the other women was extremely positive. It was hope that a short film of the production would be produced, however most of the cast members were liberated before this could be organised. The group continued to run twice a week with one of the key women who was heavily involved in the production of “A Life in Wallace” taking the lead one night and the artist on the other. The aim was, with the support of the artist as a mentor, that this women would take a lead role in developing the drama group in Wallace (she has a long sentences). The women were both excited and nervous about this but had already shown huge commitment by meeting during recreational time on Mondays to practice for “A life in Wallace” (without the support of the artist). This model ran for some time, however the lead woman (referred to as S) being mentored by the artist was moved to another prison. The artist had begun work with the other prison for another organisation and was able to continue this mentoring role. Case Study In 2013 when ‘S’ walked into my night drama class in Wallace, she didn't really stand out, she didn't say much. In one early session, she said "I'm not interested, only here to watch". The rest of the time she was quiet and, when she wasn't, she was challenging and even disruptive. A ‘lifer’, serving time for murder. She held the respect of the women and wasn't shy in showing that, in a battle for control of the group, she had more sway than me. She began to make comments to the other women about what I was doing. "That's not what he meant! He meant this..." She was translating for me, into prison and street life vernacular. When I asked her to jump in, she said: "My confidence is low, I'm shattered...I'm here to watch". But slowly she started to participate. It was because I asked her to demonstrate to the other women. This was a short step because she had already revealed herself as ‘in tune’ with the drama. Gradually in the improvisations she began to get involved more and more. It was as if in playing ‘a role’ she could take off her own her role, or step away from her prison persona - away from her prison mask - to show who she really was and what she saw. I could see that ‘S’ was enjoying this a lot. She was also very articulate and intelligent. Gradually the stories became more and more complex and ‘S’ became more involved. She began to assist me more openly. Then, almost without warning, she shifted to outright support and I began to mentor her. This led to her running a separate drama night in the prison; I would suggest a theme and she would take it up and feed back to me the results of the evening. We began to prepare a devised show entitled A life in Wallace. ‘S’ helped me to cast the show, she became the show’s stage director, lighting designer, head of wardrobe. She was everywhere and doing everything. 24

After the show I asked her how she felt. She was tearful, "I feel brand new, my confidence is through the roof..amazing, amazing".As indeed it was to see and be a part of her journey. I was also a bit tearful. This whole process of building trust in ‘S’ took around nine months in total. ‘S’ was moved to another prison, and I am now at the same prison, developing a new play. ‘S’ has taken on the same role: she leads the woman, recruits and is growing in confidence day by day. I am investigating a SVQ for her through Fife College. She has certainly earned it. After S’s departure from Cornton Vale and due to the transitory nature of the prison the group went through several transformations and began to be used more like a drama club with the women enjoying learning drama techniques and being creative but not investing in a production. However a couple of women began to write scenes and the women again began to take control and lead the development of the work being mentored and supported by the Artist. The women have begun to Develop a piece called the “ The Iron Inn” The women and artist describe the story “The story is set around an ironing board facing two sofas where the women iron their clothes, watch TV and talk. Hence the title "IRON INN…" G explains: "Everything takes place here, it is like a pub, everyone talks, there are no big dramas, but endless small ones that make up the life in here…like in a pub…" It is planned that the piece will be shown within the prison in March/April and filmed in May. Below the Artist describes how he works. “In all of my work with the women in Cornton Vale, I try only to use what's in the room, to use what I find there in the women; the emotions, frustrations, and most of all the humour that is present in the participants. It is a rule of mine that everything present in the room is what will eventually make up the story. I always let the participants ("actors") decide the stories, and I steer them. I also try and steer the depth of emotions used, usually the emotion of fun in my experience, and the question of whether fun is being had, reveals all (in doing so I am also watching out of course for those who overtly want to use the process and the story as personal therapy).The freedom of the room is sacrosanct, and my neutrality as an "Artist" with no agenda, to fix or repair the women, allows immense possibility for trust to grow and therefore for the women to risk sharing stories and experiences with each other, and for me to move the scenes and stories into rewarding areas.”

Partnership Artlink Central works in partnership with New College Lanarkshire and SPS. Although there were the usual settling in issues at the beginning of year one which have now been resolved, the partnership is very positive with strong communication and sharing of knowledge. Lorna Callery, Learning Centre manager commented that â&#x20AC;&#x153;Artlink Centrals work in the prison complemented the learning centre and there is huge value in having the Artist come in with new concepts and ideas. For the women it is good to also have artist who work differently with them, than their usual tutorâ&#x20AC;?. Until now it has only been the evaluator who has referred women from projects onto appropriate courses in the learning centre (the artists may have been unaware that they could do this) procedures and information on how to this will be shared and we will monitor the progress in year 3 26

Feedback from SPS, Partners, Participants and Artists A small sample of pre and post project surveys were completed by women who took part on more intensive projects. 19 pre project and 22 post projects surveys. The following is some of the findings. In the pre project survey the women were asked if they had taken part in any other courses in prison Five women responded yes they taken had part in other course in prison while 14 said they had not.

In post programme surveys the women were asked how they felt about the work they had done with the artists. One woman said she was disappointed. This woman was part of the craft party where there had been some difficulties and the workshop had not been fully supported as initially agreed because of the officerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workload. Her concerns have helped to shape some planning for future project.

The women were asked if they would like to do more course in prison and in the community.

Some women also left comments about how they felt about the projects. “loved every minute of this class. I think it’s very therapeutic and helped me a lot. I would love to continue this as it really helping with my self-esteem and confidence.” “Helped me to speak and write about my problems which I never do” – best thing about the project “I was given a chance to work with other inmates that I wouldn’t otherwise have” – Best thing about the project “I wish we had more courses like this, more space and more time” “I’ve always been a knitter but I learned new skill and loved the finger knitting. I was able to make a belt for my dressing gown. I have now moved blocks and can have knitting needles and wool. I’m making lots of things and the women all comment on them. It’s great.” Other comments and impact statements from women were: "This has reignited a passion for the arts as a career. This has opened up the REAL me and allowed me to be authentic. It has taken me back to a dream I had as a child -To be an actor." " you all have to return, be here next week, this play is important, it offers a chance to show all of our "Inner worlds", behind all of the 'acting' that prison life forces upon us, in order to just survive…" One of the women expressed to the other women " Drama takes me out of my own head, I can play another character which gives me freedom and confidence and helps build up my self- esteem." "It's good to have Jeremy do drama with us, it's a great way for the girls to build their confidence. It also gets the girls to socialise with each other, let's us take ourselves away from all the other stuff that's going on in our lives." "I enjoy drama, I look forward to friday night. Jeremy is amazing with us, he helps us realise what we are lacking, confidence, the scenes we create takes our heads to a better place." "I've never done drama before today and although I was a bit shy I soon came out of my shell and even forgot about people watching me and felt more and more confident." 28

"It's a good laugh and let's all the girls forget for a moment and build confidence and socialise and express your feelings and explore who we are." “This is the best thing I’ve ever done. I’m ashamed to say I’ve been in and out of here and this is the first time I’ve ever done anything I felt was therapeutic. I’ve told everyone, I’ve even told the governor” Officers could refer women to programmes and on referral were asked to complete Personal Officer Liaison forms outlining three outcomes they would like individuals to work towards or get out of the project. The following were the areas that individual officers highlighted • More active in daily regimes • Learn new skill and unlock potential • Successfully work as part of a team • Express feelings • Interact with staff and other prisoners • Increase confidence Officers felt these were met and even though there were issues in the craft work party and the officer felt the project wasn’t quite right for that setting, personal outcomes had been met and the women had learned new skills. The women in this project highlighting that they would like to explore doing more personal expressive art. Some post project feedback from officers on individual outcomes were • Eager to attend class • Learned new skill in writing • Worked well and mixed well • More active • Very settled in the sessions and working with others. SPS staff have been very supportive and communication has been generally very good. However with the changes to staff and managements there have some delays and changes to projects at times. Some officers From Wallace House commented that they have been impressed by the women’s dedication to the Drama group and said especially recently as it has been a time of a lot of change with women on very short sentences which proves challenging to projects such as Night Drama group. Several staff commented very positively on the work the artist do with Ross House (mental health block) and the importance of their inclusion in projects. They recognise that many of the women have very complex issues and at times are unable to commit fully to projects but their participation even when only minor is a huge step for many of the women. One officer said the drop in nature and well thought through projects have really fitted in well within Ross House and given women who would not usually leave the block access to creative opportunities. Illuminate and the knitting project have been particularly successful.

TheT

Freedom to Create Director - Kevin Harrison Partnership & Development - Jennifer Hill Evaluation - Caroline Carmichael Performing Arts - Jeremy Weller Visual Arts - Frances Douglas Visual Arts - Catherine Sargeant Writing - Evlynn Sharp Exhibition - Sarah Pearson Finance - David McQuatt Administration - Robin Anderson

Thanks to Kaye Clarke, Lorna Callery, Maureen Buchanen and Kirsten Sams from New College Lanarshire Thanks to Joyce Currie, Carol Ann Murray, Samantha Ferriday and all staff at HMP YOI Cornton Vale Thanks to staff and volunteers at the Family Hub and Dunblane Museum. Thanks to Tam Dean Burn and colleagues.

Supported by Creative Scotland, The Volant Trust funded through Foundation Scotland and The Robertson Trust