This year Safe Ground transitions into adulthood and turns 21. As part of our 21st Birthday celebrations, which will take place throughout 2016 Safe Ground is participating in the Wandsworth Arts Fringe.We will be hosting a weekend of poetry workshops, performances and a criminal justice themed treasure trail! Read further to find out more about our festival activities, where the venues are and how to purchase tickets.
Bite Size Poets is a series of mini poetry workshops led by renowned poets and performers Joelle Taylor and Sara Hirsch for members of the local Wandsworth community. Learn to be a poet and performer in 45 minutes. Before you know it you will be writing, rhyming and reciting with members of your group. Each cohort will be made up of 15-20 participants, who will produce 1 group poem and 1 individual poem of only 10 lines each. At the end of each day there will be a chance for our new poets to showcase their work at our performance event Bite Size Poets Mic Night (free to workshop participants).
Bite Size Poets Mic Night hosted by Deanna Rodger will crown each day of poetry workshop activity led by Joelle Taylor and Sara Hirsch on behalf of Safe Ground. Come along and watch and listen to people who became poets in 45 minutes.
The Criminal Justice Treasure Trail will uncover for the general public the criminal justice history of Battersea, bringing fresh perspectives to well established landmarks and also leading people to places, areas and buildings they would never normally visit. Participants will follow poetic clues leading towards a final destination, which might be a poetry workshop or free entry into a spoken word performance event Bite Size Poets Mic Night. The first team of two, each session, to complete the trail in the fastest time, will win a pair of complimentary tickets to the amazing immersive experience ‘Lady Chastity’s Reserve’ courtesy of Handmade Mysteries at the Four Thieves Pub (redeemable for up to a year). Prizes are also available to a free yoga workshop with Battersea Yoga.The trail is timed to be completed in 1.5 hours and should take no longer than 2 hours. Participants automatically take personal responsibility for their own fitness to participate and to navigate the route. Any persons under 16 years should be accompanied by a responsible adult. See rallying point and start times below.
Activities are aimed at engaging a cross section of Wandsworth residents. Families are welcome. See below for full listings or workshops.
BSP workshops are £5
BSP Mic Nights are £5 (free for workshop participants)
Criminal Justice Treasure Trail is £10
Saturday 14th May 2016
12pm – 2pm Criminal Justice Treasure Trail (to book your ticket please click here)
12pm -12.45pm Battersea Library – Joelle Taylor (to book your ticket please click here)
1pm – 1.45pm Winkworth Battersea Estate Agents – Sara Hirsch (to book your ticket please click here)
2pm – 4pm Criminal Justice Treasure Trail (to book your ticket please click here)
3pm – 3.45pm Battersea Library – Sara Hirsch (to book your ticket please click here)
3pm – 3.45pm Winkworth Battersea Estate Agents – Joelle Taylor (to book your ticket please click here)
6pm – 7.30pm Waterstone’s Bookshop – Bite Size Poets Mic Night hosted by Deanna Rodger (to book your ticket please click here)
Sunday 15th May 2016
12pm – 2pm Criminal Justice Treasure Trail (to book your ticket please click here)
1.30pm -2.15pm Battersea Library – Joelle Taylor (to book your ticket please click here)
1pm – 1.45pm Pump House Gallery – Sara Hirsch (to book your ticket please click here)
2pm – 4pm Criminal Justice Treasure Trail (to book your ticket please click here)
3pm – 3.45pm Pump House Gallery – Joelle Taylor (to book your ticket please click here)
3pm – 3.45pm Battersea Library – Sara Hirsch (to book your ticket please click here)
5pm – 6.30pm Pump House Gallery – Bite Size Poets Mic Night hosted by Deanna Rodger (to book your ticket please click here)
Using this, Safe Ground’s Wandsworth Fringe Festival hub page submit your thoughts and experiences of the Bite Size Poets Workshops, Bite Size Poets Open Mic Nights and the Criminal Justice Treasure Hunt. 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 #OnTheHunt #BSPPoets
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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