Arts Council England – response to consultation
of the secure estate
Arts Council England is the lead body charged with developing the arts in England.
We work to get great art to everyone by championing, developing and investing in
artistic experiences that enrich people’s lives. The Arts Council believes that every
young person should have the opportunity to experience the richness of the arts,
that it is every child’s birthright.
The arts have a long and impressive history of delivering rehabilitation. They are
also able to demonstrate a strong track record in efforts to prevent crime, inspiring
some of the most vulnerable and hard to reach young people by providing
personal insight and skills that can bring about lasting changes in behaviour.
We agree with the proposals to provide young people with a purposeful and
meaningful day while in custody, offering programmes and interventions that will
encourage more positive behaviour and increase a young person’s self-esteem
and skills. We would encourage the Youth Justice Board and wider youth justice
sector to include the arts a key element in the provision offered by the secure
estate.
We have supported a wide range of organisations that specialise in working in the
criminal justice system such as Geese, Theatre in Prisons, Clean Break, Dance
United, and Rideout. In addition, several of the arts venues that receive regular
funding from the Arts Council have developed a role in working with the criminal
justice system. For example, Lyric Hammersmith has strong links with
Hammersmith Youth Offending Team and West London ISSP, delivering weekly
activities to young people on Detention Training Orders. They also deliver a twomonth rolling programme to young people Not in Education Training or
Employment to reengage these young people to learning. This work is a good
example of how the arts sector plays a key role in supporting the needs of those at
risk of offending.
Summer Arts Colleges and Arts Award
A strategic partnership between the Youth Justice Board and Arts Council England
started in 2006, the Summer Arts College programme is an intensive, full time
programme offered over the summer holiday period, intended for high risk young
people, particularly those on Intensive Supervision and Surveillance (ISS) and
recently released from custody.
1
The specific objectives of the Summer Arts Colleges are to:
 Reduce levels of (re)offending during the Summer Arts College and in the
following months
 Increase educational engagement and facilitate transition into mainstream
education, training and employment after the Summer Arts College
 Improve literacy and numeracy skills through the arts and to achieve an
accreditation through the Arts Award
The programme is designed around the Arts Award framework, which provides a
nationally recognised qualification at level one, two or three on the QCF
(Qualifications and Credit Framework). The experience of achieving a qualification
has been shown to have a very positive effect on these young people, introducing
a sense of achievement and recognition that many have previously lacked. The
qualification is often a useful way to reengage young people in learning and
support their progression to other education, employment or training. The Arts
Award is also a great way of building soft skills, such as communication and team
working, and creates a strong sense of well being by achieving and thriving in a
new skill area.
Annual evaluations have demonstrated that Summer Arts Colleges have
consistently met their objectives of reducing offending, increasing educational
engagement and improving basic skills for young people at risk of (re)offending.
Some headline results from the 2010 programme were
 95 per cent achieving a qualification (80 per cent at level one and 15 per
cent at level two)
 71 per cent increased their literacy score and 74 per cent increased their
numeracy score
 the mean offending rate for completers before the programme was 10.3
offences per 100 weeks at risk. While on the programme, the mean
offending rate fell to 3.8 and remained lower at 6.5 for the weeks after the
Summer Arts College.
We are currently finalising a piece of research with the Arts Alliance undertaking
an economic analysis of the Summer Arts Colleges programme. Initial indications
suggest that the programme shows a significant economic return on investment in
terms of both reducing reoffending rates and raising literacy and numeracy levels
leading to great life chances. We can share this research with you when it is
finalised at the end of October 2011.
Unitas, the delivery organisation for the Summer Arts Colleges programme is also
undertaking a longitudinal study of the programme using PNC (police national
2
computer) to track those who have participated in the programme. Again, we can
share this research once it is complete.
Overall, the evidence supporting the Summer Arts College model, with Arts Award
embedded strong. We believe that this model could be replicated in a secure
setting, and contribute to a young person’s ‘full and purposeful day’.
Arts Award is also successfully delivered across the youth justice sector with 109
centres currently delivering the qualification with young people at risk of offending
or reoffending; three of these are youth offending institutions and one is a secure
children’s home.
'The course is well structured and has proved to be an asset to the delivery of
purposeful activity within Norwich Prison. The young men volunteered for the
course and attended every session with great enthusiasm and commitment. This
is testament to the easy learning style, the tutor’s relationship and understanding
of the group along with a subject matter that is understood and recognised by the
men.' YOI principal officer
Artsmark
The consultation suggests that the YJB is interested to look at lessons learnt from
other sectors working with young people with emotional and behavioural
difficulties.
Arts Council England runs programme called Artsmark, a kitemark for formal and
non-formal education settings that demonstrates their commitment to delivering a
high quality, broad and balanced arts offer. It also acts as an effective tool to audit
current practice in a setting and inform future development. The Arts Council sees
our network of Artsmark schools and settings as centres of best practice for
delivering the arts in schools and ensuring the maximum impact for young people.
Artsmark has been open to schools for ten years and has a large cohort of special
schools, including 22 pupil referral units who are often working with young people
with significant emotional and behavioural difficulties.
Arts Council would be happy to support strategically linking this group of settings
with the youth justice sector to support sharing best practice of using arts
interventions with these groups. From this year Artsmark is also open to Youth
Justice settings including Youth Offending Institutions and we hope to support a
number to gain Artsmark this year in partnerships with Catch22, again we would
be happy to work strategically with the YJB and MoJ (Ministry of Justice) to ensure
good practice form these settings in rolled out to the sector.
3
Long term relationship
In order to support the YJB and MoJ in their future role to identify and disseminate
effective practice we would be interested in building on and expanding the
relationship we currently have around Summer Arts Colleges.
The MoJ currently chairs a forum called the Arts Forum to look at Arts practice in
the criminal justice sector, we would be interested in expanding this or developing
something similar that has a particular focus on young people at risk of offending,
both in terms of the secure estate and wider youth offending services.
If you would like to find out more about the key findings from the research and
evaluations associated with the Summer Arts Colleges and Arts Award, or would
like to look at developing the strategic relationship with the Arts Council, please
contact Kate Attard, Senior Officer for Learning kate.attard@artscouncil.org.uk; or
Laura Gander-Howe, Director of Learning laura.gander-howe@artscouncil.org.uk.
4