ABOUT US
Tim Robertson at TEDx Cardiff
ANNUAL REVIEW
We've had an exciting year, here are some of the things we are really proud of:
- 5627 artworks by offenders, secure patients, immigration detainees and probationers were entered for our awards
- We awarded £27,515 in prizes across 57 artforms from animation to woodwork.
- We provided specialist arts mentoring to 48 Koestler Award winners who have real potential.
- Our UK exhibition at the Royal Festival Hall, curated by victims of crime, was a Time Out Critic's Choice and received more than 14,000 visitors.
These are just a few of the highlights from our year, please download our Annual Review (pdf) to read the full report.
Why prison Art?
The current high levels of re-offending affect us all. To make our society safer, it pays to channel offenders' energies to positive ends, to build their self-worth and help them learn new skills. The arts are an especially effective way of engaging with offenders who feel alienated from mainstream education and employment, and there is growing evidence that the arts are an effective in changing offenders' lives. At the Koestler Trust, we monitor and evaluate our activities to review their effectiveness. However, our main role in this debate is to showcase the range and quality of creative work produced in prisons and other criminal justice settings. The artwork we exhibit demonstrates powerfully what offenders can achieve with the right support and educational input.
Is it right that prisoners should benefit financially from their artworks?
About 1 in 4 entrants to the Koestler Awards receives a cash prize, between £20 and £60, with £100 awards for Outstanding Achievement. The award-winning works are also put on sale in the annual exhibition, and the cash prize or sale price (less commission) is credited to the private account of the prisoner, young offender or patient. These are relatively small amounts of money but are confirmation of the quality of work submitted and convey a great deal of pride and encouragement. Prisoners can also use the money to help their families, or save it to provide much-needed funds on their release, thereby being less reliant on benefits or the generosity of relatives. 25% of all our sales income also goes to Victim Support.
KOESTLER TRUST 2010 ENTRANTS SURVEY REPORT
The results from the survey sent out to everyone who entered the Awards in 2010 are now in and have been published as a report for us by Richard Brine. Thank you to everyone who took the time to fill in the questionaires. This valuable information will enable us to provide a better service to Award entrants and improve and build on all the things the entrants feel we're getting right.
Read the full Report (pdf)
QUICK LINKS
Stephen Shaw, Prisons and Probation Ombudsman writes:
“Despite the progress made in recent years in prisons in terms of regimes, the quality of accommodation, and the treatment of prisoners, all jails inevitably restrict the human spirit ... Prison life is grey, monotonous, predictable.
The major exception to this rule is to be found in the arts and crafts rooms in prison education, or in the artefacts made by prisoners in their own cells. Art flourishes in prisons to a degree perhaps unknown in any other institution. It inspires thousands of prisoners, most of whom have shown neither inclination nor talent before entering custody. And the greatest driver of art in prisons in recent years has been the Koestler Trust.
I visit a prison on average every ten days, and I know the enthusiasm the Koestler Awards engender. Prisoners, whose only acquaintance with art and creativity has often been unhappy memories from school, discover skills they never knew existed. The impact on their own sense of self-worth (and, I believe, on their behaviour) is incalculable.
What is also so impressive about the Koestler Awards is the range of work it encourages: from painting to poetry, from calligraphy to carpentry. Through its Annual Exhibition, the Koestler Trust plays an important part too in educating the wider public about the talent that resides in prisons and special hospitals.
The Koestler Awards represent an injection of creativity, humanity and empowerment into the closed world of prisons.”
