Art Helps Voices to be Heard

 Conversations - HM Prison Stafford, John Weightman MBE 

 Highly Commended Award for Watercolour

 (Source: The Koestler Trust website)

Art, regardless of our background and life experience allows us to access something deeper, as Thomas Merton once said “art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time”. The work of The Koestler Trust is an example of an organisation working with prisoners and detainees, enabling individuals to express themselves creatively.

A recent article by The Guardian details Sarah Lucas’s invitation by The Koestler Trust to curate an exhibition which attracted “between 4000-5000 entries” of prisoner’s art. The exhibition opened on 20^th September at London’s Royal Festival Hall. The  Trust states its aims to be the following:

• To help offenders, secure patients and detainees lead more positive lives by motivating them to participate and achieve in the arts.
• To increase public awareness and understanding of arts by offenders, secure patients & detainees.
• To be a dynamic, responsive organisation which achieves excellent quality and value for money.”

 (The Koestler Trust website,http://www.koestlertrust.org.uk, accessed 25^th Sept, 2012)

Let us examine the Trust’s first aim, encouraging participation in the arts, the Lucas curated exhibition is a high profile culmination of the achievements of creative expression of prisoner’s within the UK today. Koestler has been doing this for fifty years and Kazuri would like to take the opportunity to congratulate them on this achievement.

The trust’s second objective is perhaps the most important, raising awareness. By making itself accessible, to the potential service user and those outside the criminal justice system alike; stating its objectives clearly, so the value of the Trust and specifically art used as a tool within the context of prisoner rehabilitation, the value can be recognised by all.

Art accesses something in all of us, allowing us to understand and be understood. Arthur Koestler’s experiences as a prisoner in the Spanish Civil war motivated him to set up the trust in order to encourage prisoners to express themselves, learn new skills and channel energy that might be otherwise expended in other potentially damaging ways, for both the individual and also, society.

Thirdly, evidence to support the last objective of the Trust is crucial to ensure the longevity and the continuation of the function that the organisation performs.

High profile exhibitions like the Lucas curated event mentioned above keep the creative endeavours of participants in the public eye, raise money from sales of art, garner interest in the pieces exhibited and reciprocally, raise the profile of participants and instil a sense of self worth. 

Interest in participating in the Trust’s awards has risen dramatically since 2007, 4084 entries compared to 7674 in 2011. A full breakdown of the statistical data can be accessed here:

http://www.koestlertrust.org.uk/pdfs/entrants_graphs_2011.pdf

Finally, arts schemes, awards and exhibitions such as those run by The Koestler Trust help to reduce re-offending rates. A report commissioned by the Arts Alliance in 2011 states that “arts cut re-offending rates by up to 50%” (http://www.artlyst.com/articles/art-cuts-reoffending-rate-by-50-states-uk-report). 

In conclusion, the value of arts to the individual and to society can be expressed tangibly in these austere times from a monetary perspective. Re-offending costs society “£150,000 for each offender” (ibid link above). Organisations like Koestler and others represent a cost effective way of tackling root causes and engaging with disenfranchised, alienated people on an often long, lonely path. Lets support them, rather than cutting off arteries to funding.

Details of the exhibition can be found here:

http://www.koestlertrust.org.uk/

Additionally, the South Bank Centre is holding a special event on Sunday 21^st October to mark fifty years of the Trust’s work, details here:

http://ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/hayward-gallery-and-visual-arts/talks/tickets/the-koestler-trust-at-50-69704

Link to The Guardian’s article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/sep/18/sarah-lucas-unlocks-prisoners-art

The Walls Have Ears - HM Prison Wayland, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Silver Award for Mixed Media.

Contributors Wanted

Farah Damji, a director of Kazuri Properties CiC, which specialises in providing sustainable homes  and wraparound support to women leaving prison, on license in the community, exiting gang violence, domestic violence shelters or  supported housing and also women who head homeless families on the housing register, is guest editing November's issue of The Record. The publication is a popular free magazine produced by UNLOCK (The National Association of Ex Offenders), now under dynamic new leadership of Chris Bath and Chris Stacey. 

November's "women only edition" will feature contributions from women ex-offenders and those at risk of offending behaviour. We ask services that work with vulnerable women and those who have had some experience of the criminal justice system, not necessarily prison sentences, but DTTOs, Community Orders, probation or other forms of supervision, to cascade this information to their service users to gather contributions. Farah hopes by presenting the issues faced by women attempting to resettle into law abiding lives more can be done to develop a gender specific framework around women's services.

Martina Cole, crime fiction author is interviewed exclusively for Unlock, Women and Violence and lends her support. She states "I've always been very vocal about the treatment of women in prison and am happy to support anything that helps ease their plight - I believe that the majority of women who are in prison shouldn't be there anyway."

The issue hopes to bring to broader attention the way systemic abuse and entrenched violence in our public institutions and our personal lives impacts against women. We’re talking about violence in all its forms. Domestic abuse, financial exclusion, the media’s portrayal of female defendants, punitive sentencing, exclusion by enforced separation of the children of female offenders and their families by women being incarcerated hundreds of miles from their communities and roots.

If you would like to contribute or require further information, please contact farah@kazuri.org.uk  or Erica Crompton newsletter@unlock.org.uk

An Appeal to Crowdfuelled

Is this really just pop up cupcake bakery benevolence?

Crowdfuelled markets itself on its website as

“[being] all about creating sustainable social enterprises with a focus on providing a platform for different groups of people to find paid employment, training and development of skills and above all we want to help the individuals that work for our projects, build up their self-confidence, re-gain their trust for others again and be in a safe and positive working environment”

Crowdfuelled last week were the subject of much high profile media attention because they were at the head of the queue for the new iPhone 5 launch in order raise money for a their charity, a pop up venture, “The Hope Boutique Bakery”. The link below implies in its language that the business is trading. Crowdfuelled have been asked by various parties to respond to some questions and we are all waiting for a reply.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2203098/iPhone-5-Apple-fans-start-queuing-sale-Friday.html#ixzz27E66UlgU

However, in reality, baked goods and naivety don’t solve real life problems faced by survivors of domestic violence.

It is counterproductive, trivialises the seriousness of a web of issues that need to be addressed holistically in a safe, managed, yet compassionate manner to help the client move forward on a trajectory to success.

A discussion in the office arose around Crowdfuelled yesterday.  One of our volunteers’ reaction sums up exactly why the organisation needs to clarify their aims. G, our volunteer, read the news coverage and associated blog posts and was in tears.

 http://www.2ndcouncilhouse.co.uk/blog/2012/09/21/creepy-dudez-inc/ )

G, is a 40 year old black woman who killed her white partner of 12 years having suffered domestic abuse for seven of the twelve years. Her partner was also the father of her child.  She is currently serving an eight year sentence with an IPP, which means the system can hold her well after the halfway point of her sentence and even after her tarriff has been spent, until she is considered rehabilitated, for manslaughter. 

The judge presiding over her trial at the Old bailey wanted her to be tried for murder. However, due to CPS and police objections the charge was reduced. G was well known to the police as a victim of domestic violence, had made multiple visits to hospital A & E with wounds, cuts and broken bones. 

Now considered a danger to her child, G is allowed only monthly letters and no direct contact with the child, aged 10, who lives with the paternal grandparents, well into their 70’s. The child is not allowed contact with its half sibling; G's other child aged 21. These are the consequences of DV, broken families, shattered lives, no hope of healing.
G has no fixed date for her release, she is considered a huge risk to the public, although she has no other convictions and stabbed he partner as he tried to rape her, a third time over the course of an evening. She couldn't leave; she had nowhere to go with her young toddler.

G says:

"First and foremost why are they doing this? What personal connection have they got to the issue of domestic violence? To say to someone who has experienced any form of abuse that you think that going and baking cupcakes is another reminder the abusive male power all us victims of DV have felt:

"I can do this to you, I can make it better.  Or not." 

 It’s beyond offensive for them to profess to have any real idea of the sensitivity and delicate issue on which they have tried to make a platform for THEMSELVES, they should have done some research, they can't do this to real people. It diminishes the reality of the thousands of people who have experienced domestic violence or abuse of any kind.

How dare they?"

All we ask on behalf of all survivors of violence, trauma and abuse, the women we are and those we work with and the brave women like G who volunteer with our company, who have suffered,  Crowdfuelled, please read G's statement to you.

Every House a Home: Kazuri holistically addresses the housing needs of women, how we need you to engage

Whitehall generated, generic housing policy fails vulnerable women already marginalised and disenfranchised by society. Existing mainstream policy encourages a culture of dependence because it looks at the client’s needs in isolation against a framework of benefit entitlements, rather than self actualisation or empowerment.

It is a gradual and stressful transition from an existing traumatic place, be it prison or an abusive relationship to another round of refuges, hostels and unsafe, unsustainable accommodation culminating in the client finally being in housed in a residence a client can call home.

Kazuri’s approach is radically different and you can be part of the process of recovery through community action. We need socially engaged supporters to help us maintain the  provision of sustainable housing for every woman. Your support will allow us to continue our work 

Our Housing First model is deployed by assigning each woman with a dedicated advocate, who works to empower the woman (and her family) to reach her potential and achieve realistic goals.

Empowerment breaks the culture of benefits, violence, trauma and crime. Our clients live productive lives as stakeholders in society and they volunteer in local charities or social enterprises, to rebuild fragmented broken bonds.

You can be part of that success story. Each woman can also avail herself of the services of a mentor, a woman who has achieved some level of success in her community, as she wishes.

 It can be a long journey and the advocate, the mentor and the Kazuri community will be there every step of the way that takes investment from all involved. 

So how do we do this and how can you help? 

Kazuri builds on the existing success working with women ex-offenders, those on Local Authorities housing lists and women facing homelessness through domestic violence, based on the Housing First model.

We need supporters to invest time, love, resilience, energy and money! Investment goes beyond the financial, time, awareness and support are just as valuable. This is aligned with the holistic approach we adopt at Kazuri. Look at the whole picture and you will see a place in that vision for yourself.

Details of our current crowd funding campaign, on Buzzbnk, lists multiple ways to get involved and raise awareness of an innovative way to reach the most vulnerable who are hardest to reach.

Look out for our next crowd funding venture, Devi Ghar (Goddesses' Home), a fully serviced women's resilience centre offering everything from holistic body treatments, trauma counseling and a women only hotel.

https://www.buzzbnk.org/ProjectDetails.aspx?projectId=77