To celebrate Safe Ground’s legacy over the years and journey into adulthood, we marked this keystone year with a host of events throughout the year:
Wandsworth Arts Fringe (Saturday & Sunday, May 14th & 15th 2016)
Inspired by the GROUNDation Poetry Project, Bite Size Poets is a series of mini poetry workshops led by renowned spoken word poets Joelle Taylor and Sara Hirsch. The workshops made participants poets in 45 minutes! Workshops took place at Battersea Library, Winkworth Estate Agents and Pump House Art Gallery.
At the end of each day, participants had the opportunity to showcase their poetry at a performance event, Bite Size Poets Mic Night. These performance events were led by Deanna Rodger and took place at Pump House Art Gallery.
We also hosted a Criminal Justice Treasure Trail. This exciting opportunity allowed participants to follow poetic clues whilst bringing fresh new perspectives to local landmarks along their journey. Participants raced against the clock as they had 1.5 hours to complete the trail to be in with a chance to win special prizes such as tickets to an immersive theatre experience with Handmade Mysteries and free yoga classes at Battersea Yoga!
Open House (Tuesday, July 19th 2016)
To mark Safe Ground’s inauguration day, we held an Open House day event at our previous Battersea offices. This was a fantastic opportunity for the public to drop in and learn more about the organisation’s history. Hear first-hand accounts of the impact of Safe Ground’s programmes from Alumni members and delivery staff, watch film screenings from our archives, visit the pop-up gallery space where Alumni art work will be on display and listen to insightful historical talks from local historian Sean Creighton and attend an object handling session with Stewart McLaughlin from Wandsworth Prison Museum.
Using this, the 21st Birthday hub page submit your own thoughts, ideas and artistic responses to the theme ‘celebration’ and ‘birthday’. 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, Instagram or Facebook using the hashtags – #SafeGround21 #SGOnTheHunt #BSPPoets
After attending Safe Ground’s MOVING. HOME. Symposium (Thursday 8th September 2016) I was left, as I imagine many others were, with my mind spinning full of thoughts and questions about the nature of this concept we call ‘home’. I was blown away by the breadth and depth of what was discussed, and by the thought […]
Taking up temporary residency at the National Theatre (Dorfman Theatre), Southbank again this year, somewhat ironically it hosted our discussions around MOVING. HOME. The symposium was the last in a trilogy of events spread throughout 2016 that celebrate Safe Ground’s 21st birthday. We used this important milestone in our unfolding history to take a moment […]
On 19th July, sector colleagues, friends and family of Safe Ground travelled from up and down the country to join us for our official 21st birthday celebrations! With over 50 people turning up throughout the day, our Battersea office was filled with positivity and a lot of (professional) love. The day was kick started by […]
As part of Safe Ground’s 21st Birthday celebrations, poetry workshops were held at Battersea Library, Winkworth Estate Agents and Pump House Gallery. Click on the images below to read the poems created from sessions with Joelle Taylor and Sara Hirsch.
This week Communities and Communications Manager, Obinna Nwosu, joined Ian Barclay for the ArtsWatch programme on Wandsworth Radio. To catch up and listen to the interview about Safe Ground’s activities during the Wandsworth Arts Festival as well as our 21st birthday celebrations, click here or listen below.
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.
We hosted our Symposium A Matter of Life and Death at the Roundhouse. We invited guests to discuss issues of punishment, prison, exclusion and harm. We also had five performers, all with lived experience of the criminal justice system.
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