The 2015 annual Symposium took place at The Temporary Theatre, National Theatre, South Bank, London, SE1 9PX Friday 20th February 2015, 1pm-5pm with networking in the National Theatre bar areas afterwards.
Entitled ‘Great Minds. (Think. Differently.) ’, the event continued the participatory debate we began in 2014 with It’s a Man’s World.
This year’s twist on the panel debate and key note speeches was facilitated by Safe Ground’s Executive Director, Charlotte Weinberg, and psychoanalyst Professor Renos Papadopoulos (Director of the Centre for Trauma, Asylum and Refugees (CTAR), University of Essex).
Vicky Pryce (author of Prisonomics)
Jonathan Robinson (author of IN IT)
Sara Lee, Director of Music in Prisons
Frances Crook, Chief Executive of The Howard League
and also Dr. Deborah Drake, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, The Open University and Gareth Davies, Fathers Inside Graduate.
This part of the event demonstrated Safe Ground’s innovative approach to social policy influence.
Using this, the GREAT MINDS hub page submit your own thoughts, ideas and artistic responses to the themes and discussions started by us or other participants like you. We welcome all ideas. You can respond to one of the blogs below by posting your own blog or video blog. Or get back to us via Twitter – #SGMinds, Instagram – #GroundsGREAT or Facebook – #SPKYRMIND
This year our annual Symposium took place at The Temporary Theatre, National Theatre, South Bank, London on Friday 20th February 2015. Entitled ‘Great Minds. (Think. Differently.)’, this year’s event continued the participatory debate we began last year with It’s a Man’s World. This year’s twist on the panel debate and key note speeches was facilitated by […]
In a blog we posted back in January this year we asked the question ‘Is Ched Evans Your Problem’ as part of our regular dialogue with the general public we call Great Minds. Here at Safe Ground we don’t just highlight issues or problems, we provide solutions. One suggestion we made was the following: “Football […]
The stage was set figuratively by a quotation by the poet Muhammad Iqbal that was emblazoned on the wall in the centre of the National Theatre’s Temporary Theatre: ‘Nations are born in the hearts of poets, they prosper and die in the hands of politicians.’ The layers of meaning are manifold because subtext is nuanced […]
In the spirit of dialogue opened up at our Great Minds symposium last Friday 20th February our friends at Give-A-Book relay their impressions and reactions to the event with a blog on their website that you can find here.
Kathy Evans, Chief Executive of Children England, argues that the voluntary sector devalues itself when tries to put a price on what it does. Evans argues that “charities today are routinely compared with commercial business or public services. We should, apparently, be more like one or both of them, less like ourselves.” To read her full article […]
It has been widely acknowledged that there is a wide difference between what political parties say and what voters think those parties will do in office. In Matthew Taylor’s new post he outlines a new approach to political debate in order to tackle this topic. Read more here.
Russell Webster writes about the challenges of modern commissioning where it is generally recognised that most offenders or people with addictions face multiple problems which interlock and reinforce each other. Read more here.
In The Telegraph’s latest article, Jessica Abrahams explores why prison population figures weigh in favour of men. Focusing on gender roles, Abrahams highlights how programmes like Man Up have helped to tackle issues surrounding masculinity head on. To read The Telegraph’s latest article on issues with crime and gender please click here.
Safe Ground is founded by Antonia Rubinstein and Polly Freeman in 1993, then established as a charity in 1995.
Men in prison at HMP Woodhill create a drugs prevention video ‘Ryan’s Choice’ for year 6 school children (1997/98)
‘Parents for the 21st Century’ collaboration with the prison service begins in 1999. This helps absent fathers, whom are in prison, learn how they can improve their parenting skills for children aged 6 to 12.
Film ‘Blinda’ is created by men in prison at HMP Wandsworth – the story concerns Frank, who is serving a 3-year sentence and has cut off all communication with his 8-year-old son Wayne.
‘Blinda’ wins an International Visual Communication Award in 2001.
Family Man launches at HMP Wandsworth in early 2003.
Family Man and Fathers Inside are firmly established, raising the profile of parenting and family relationships in prisons.
Safe Ground train Prison Officers at HMP Wandsworth to deliver Family Man.
The revised Family Man programme has been successfully trialled in 6 establishments.
Safe Ground are shortlisted for The Centre for Social Justice Awards.
Safe Ground train members of the Belgian Prison Service in using the arts to engage hard to reach learners
Creating Community Archives project begins at HMYOI Deerbolt, using archive materials to engage young men in prison in a dialogue with World War 2 veterans
Common Ground project begins, aiming to engage school children, older adults and people in prison in a creative dialogue
Transitions project takes place at HMP Wandsworth in October 2012
The project was a creative outlet, which produced short stories and film scripts, as well as film ‘The View’
Safe Ground on the Run raises £20,000!
New programmes in development include Man Up and Officers’ Mess
GROUNDation, Safe Ground’s first ever spoken word and poetry evening takes place at the LOST Theatre, Wandsworth
Safe Ground creates programme ‘The Cay’ and delivers rehabilitative culture training to the staff at HMP Balsam Ghut in the British Virgin Islands
A Justice Data Lab analysis finds that the one year proven reoffending rate for participants on the Family Man programme was 32%, compared to 39% for a matched control group of similar offenders
GROUNDation Poetry project wins a Gold award at the Koestler Awards in September 2015
Women’s programme ‘Our Own Stories’, a creative personal development programme for women, is piloted at HMP Styal, HMP East Sutton Park, HMP Askham Grange and HMP Low Newton
Safe Ground turns 21! An Open House event is held for the public to learn more about the organisation’s history
‘MOVING. HOME.’ Symposium is held at the National Theatre, exploring the meaning of ‘home’ with a range of panellists, including Safe Ground alumni and Baroness Helena Kennedy QC
A Justice Data Lab analysis finds that Fathers Inside participants are 40% less likely to re-offend than their counterparts.
Safe Ground win the Longford Prize for contribution to penal reform
Officers’ Mess is delivered at HMP Berwyn, with 86% of participants agreeing that the course made them think about how they respond in different situations
The Who Am I? programme in partnership with Ormiston Families’ Transforming Rehabilitation is rolled out in probation sites across the East of England.
Our Symposium ‘A Matter of Life and Death’ is held at the Roundhouse. We invite guests to discuss issues of punishment, prison, exclusion and harm. There are five performers, all with lived experience of the criminal justice system.
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