Creative Arts for Rehabilitation
Over the last 30 years in the prison education sector, we have had the opportunity to work with world-class artists and creatives to shape the creative enrichment provisions that we offer our learners.
It is becoming more and more clear that an investment in developing cultural capital is fundamental to the rehabilitation process. Not only should learners be engaged in vocational and functional skills learning, but they should understand and appreciate the world around them. This isn’t used just to encourage them to partake in further education classes but needs to be delivered for its own sake.
Our commitment to creative arts for rehabilitation
Amongst others, we have worked with Open Eye Gallery to deliver photography lessons in secure environments, Tate Liverpool to create collaborative installations, and Horse and Bamboo Theatre to encourage introspection and communication through drama. Most importantly however, we ensure that we offer creative enrichment art classes in-house to those learners who want to access it.
Our high-quality creative arts and enrichment and Personal and Social Development (PSD) programmes support the mental health and general wellbeing of our learners in prisons.
By engaging our learners in creative enrichment classes, not only are they supported in the development of many 'soft skills' like teamwork and communication, but we are also opening the door to further participation in our provisions. Every Novus colleague and external partner plays a critical role in contributing to this aim.
