We are delighted to be one of thirty-two organisations selected to receive funding from the Baring Foundation. Their Creatively Minded Men programme is designed “to improve the rates of male participation in inclusive arts activities or to offer men-only sessions.”
Our successful project proposal means we are able to build on some recent work we have been delivering in the male prison estate, specifically with men living in Psychologically Informed Planned Environments (PIPE). Over the next two years we will work closely with staff on a number of prison PIPE’s to design and deliver projects, enabling men to take part in a range of creative sessions and ultimately to be part of shaping their own theatre performance.
PIPE units in prisons provide staff with additional training to develop an increased understanding of their work with the aim that this increased understanding helps to create an enhanced safe and supportive environment.
There tends to be a greater focus on the importance of relationships and interactions between staff and residents and a typical regime includes keywork sessions with staff, structured group discussions, socially creative sessions and enrichment activities.
We are delighted to have received this funding and can’t wait to begin delivering these projects with men on the prison PIPE units. Watch this space to see how these projects develop over the next couple of years!
