About us

Our vision is to ensure the arts are used within the criminal justice system as a springboard for positive change. We provide a network to promote, develop and support high quality arts practice in criminal justice settings, influencing and informing government, commissioners and the public.

We represent a large network of individuals and organisations that deliver creative interventions to support people in prison, on probation and in the community, with impressive results. We provide a collective voice at policy level and develop evidence to make the case for arts in prison, probation and community settings, raising the profile and quality of the arts in criminal justice settings.

We do this by

• promoting arts organisations via our website, conferences and providing networking opportunities
• building the evidence base with our online Evidence Library, research and events
• supporting and informing policy through regular meetings, consultations and developing relationships with key influencers
• practice development via mentoring, conferences and sharing good practice case studies
• developing audiences through events, social media and working with national and sector press.

We do this via online platforms and resources, news and events, and by building relationships and networks with policy makers and commissioners. To ensure that key stakeholders and others understand – through testimony and evidence – the power of the arts to transform lives, we also carry out research and administer the Evidence Library, the online library of research and evaluation reports on the impact of the arts in criminal justice.

Image courtesy of Artichoke. Other Side of the Wall, Errol Fernandes, Dan Civico, Sarah Blood, Sheree Mack, Lindsay Duncanson, Lumiere Durham 2013