Search our website. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, get in touch at: hello@wearebluecabin.com.
A project which supports care experienced people in HMP / YOI Deerbolt to work with professional artists has been awarded funding from The National Lottery Community Fund.
Creative Aid, which is delivered by Blue Cabin, working in partnership with Nepacs, will now continue until 2027, thanks to a £150,000 grant.
Through Creative Aid, care experienced people in prison aged between 18 and 25 work with a series of artists in residence to explore different artforms. Over the last three years, these have included watercolours, poetry, collage, graphic design and theatre.
Blue Cabin has partnered with tialt to look into the impact of Creative Aid, using case notes, participants’ feedback, artworks, lyrical essays, poems, session observations, and ongoing dialogue between the Creative Aid team and its critical friends.
Over the last three years, Creative Aid has been shown to result in:
All participants are given the opportunity to work towards a Bronze Arts Award – a nationally recognised qualification which recognises their skills and exploration of the arts.
The project will also generate valuable insights into how creativity functions as a relational, restorative practice within custodial settings – supporting rehabilitation and reintegration into the community.
The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation is providing £10,000 to support a partnership with Thoughtful, the Society for Philosophical Enquiry (formerly known as SAPERE) to explore themes in Creative Aid artworks and host an online event.
“Philosophical enquiry helps people make meaning and explore issues that matter deeply to them. Our work with the Creative Aid project has supported participants in articulating the themes of their work, questioning their identity as artists, exploring the value of what they have created, and considering its impact on others.
“By facilitating philosophical conversations with public audiences, we have also encouraged the public to ask similar questions, leading to a deeper understanding of the importance of creativity for care-experienced people in custody, as well as the broader value of art,” commented Dr Grace Lockrobin, director of philosophy and education at Thoughtful.
Funding the wraparound package of support for care experienced young men, delivered by Nepacs specialists located within the prison, is the Swire Charitable Trust, who recently awarded the charity a grant over three years.
Artworks from the last three years of Creative Aid have been shared through online exhibitions and limited edition artists’ books.
Explore Engraved on Paper, the year one exhibition
Explore Piercing the Sky, the year two exhibition
Explore Time Never Stops, the year three exhibition
Thank you to The National Lottery Community Fund for supporting Creative Aid for another two years!
