| Principles for development
Our activities and plans for the future are underpinned by the following principles:-
Fairness and equality
As an organisation aiming to benefit some of society’s most vulnerable and marginalised people, the Koestler Trust is committed to fairness in all its decision-making, and, as far as lies within its power, to promoting equality in access to resources and social opportunities. We have a Diversity Strategy in place to ensure our progress in this area.
Quality
In order to change and grow, the Trust needs to maintain and improve the quality of its core processes – staffing, finance, administration, management, governance, communications, policies and procedures. These processes ensure that the service received by offenders and other stakeholders is consistent and responsive.
Focus on outcomes
All the proposals in our business plan are aimed to achieve specific outcomes for offenders or for the public. Evaluation and monitoring will help the Trust see how well it achieves these outcomes, and develop its activities in response. However, the Trust recognises that social and creative outcomes cannot always be measured in numerical or scientific terms. Although the Trust will gather statistical evidence as far as possible, its primary role is to demonstrate effectiveness through artistic means – by showcasing the creative achievements of offenders.
Consultation and involvement
The Trust is also committed to developing its activities in response to the views of service users and other stakeholders. This will include regular questionnaires and a forum of offender-artists.
Partnership
The Trust is committed to working in collaboration with other organisations in the arts, criminal justice and related fields. This is the only way that we can achieve many of our objectives.
Co-ordination
Co-ordination is necessary to maintain the Trust’s distinctive national identity and role. There are many organisations that run arts projects directly with offenders. Koestler is distinctive in awarding, exhibiting and selling the resulting artworks. So, whenever we work directly with offenders, this work is always integrated with the awards, exhibition and sales.
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