Awards recognise arts leadership in prisons

Awards recognise arts leadership in prisons

A leader in developing an innovative arts programme in Northland Region Corrections Facility, and a creative project led by Hastings secondary school students and young offenders in the Youth Unit of Hawkes Bay Regional Prison have been recognised at Te Putanga Toi Arts Access Awards 2018.

The annual Te Putanga Toi Arts Access Awards were held in the Banquet Hall of Parliament on Wednesday 1 August (subs: embargo 6pm 1 August). The awards celebrate the achievement of individuals and organisations providing opportunities for people with limited access to engage with the arts as artists and audience members.

Two of the awards recognise leadership in using the arts as a tool supporting prisoners’ rehabilitation and reintegration.

Ray Smith, Department of Corrections Chief Executive, has attended the Arts Access Awards for the past six years. He presented the Arts Access Corrections Whai Tikanga Award to Hawkes Bay Regional Prison and St John’s College in Hastings while Minister of Corrections, Hon Kelvin Davis presented the Arts Access Corrections Māui Tikitiki a Taranga Award to Beth Hill, programme leader for arts, self-directed learning and living skills at Northland Region Corrections Facility.

“It’s great to see these groups being recognised with these well-deserved awards,” Ray Smith said. “Each of these award winners has done and continues to do a fantastic job in helping prisoners towards a crime-free future, which is safer for all our communities. We’re very grateful for their support and dedication.

“Arts programmes are hugely beneficial ways for prisoners to increase their literacy, express themselves, channel their emotions and connect with their family and friends. These critical life skills help prisoners better engage with the other education, rehabilitation and employment programmes we deliver in prisons.”

Beth Hill also received the Arts Access Accolade, presented by Arts Access Aotearoa staff and board to acknowledge an individual who has inspired the Arts Access Aotearoa team and helped the organisation achieve its vision of a society where all people in New Zealand have access to the arts.

Highly Commended certificates
Highly Commended certificates were also presented. These were:
• Rue-Jade Morgan, Dunedin, Highly Commended, Arts Access Corrections Māui Tikitiki a Taranga Award 2018, for his use of mau rakau (martial arts) and tikanga at Otago Corrections Facility to inspire positive change, and for encouraging released prisoners to take up education opportunities at Otago Polytechnic where he works as a lecturer.
• Bundy Waitai and Arrin Clark, Northland, Highly Commended, Arts Access Corrections Whai Tikanga Awards 2018, for their cultural programmes at Northland Region Corrections Facility that empower prisoners to reconnect with their culture, gain a sense of identity and make positive change.

In addition, Write Where You Are Trust, New Zealand Festival, and Rimutaka and Arohata Prisons, Wellington, were Highly Commended in the Arts Access Te Auaha Community Partnership Award 2018 for working together to deliver the Prison Voices event. This was a safe, valuable experience that had many positive outcomes for all involved, in particular for the women and men inside.

Background on recipients
Beth Hill, Northland Regional Corrections Facility
Beth Hill is the backbone of the arts programme at Northland Region Corrections Facility. Her dedication has seen the facility develop the country’s most successful arts programme, one that is considered a benchmark for other rehabilitation and reintegration programmes run in New Zealand.

The programme developed by Beth offers access to theatre, creative writing, art history, painting, printmaking, sculpture, graphic design and music, where prisoners find support and gain new skills on their pathway to rehabilitation. They can also study NZQA courses and gain qualifications through Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu – The Correspondence School and NorthTec.

A former prisoner, who was a member of the Redemption Performing Arts programme for three years, wrote: “In this programme, I have gained a much better and broader understanding of my skills and abilities to cope with things that life may throw at me. It’s opened a whole new world about my expectations of life.”

Beth’s inclusive and holistic approach to wellness covers the principles of Whare Tapa Wha and her compassion for kaupapa Māori is deep. It is through the arts that Beth delivers her programmes but it’s through empathy, energy and action that Beth delivers outcomes.

The judging panel said: “For the past five years, Beth has been a champion of arts and education as transformative tools in Northland Region Corrections Facility. Her arts programme offers an impressive range of artforms and provides a model for other prisons to follow. Through tikanga practice and community outreach, Beth is opening doors to encourage the men to make positive change.”

Hawkes Bay Regional Prison and St John’s College, Hastings

Students from St John’s College, participating in the Young Enterprise Scheme programme, worked with young offenders in the Youth Unit at Hawkes Bay Regional Prison to develop a company, and create and market rimu platter boards.

This evolved into a unique relationship between the youth prisoners and the students, who had never visited a prison. Nor had their family members.

Most of the prisoners in the Youth Unit have a history with Child, Youth and Family Services; most have served sentences at youth justice facilities; and most have a combination of challenges involving drugs, alcohol, violence, gangs and mental health issues.

“Bruthas” was chosen as the name of the company, which then developed the concept of making interlocking platter boards that together, form the shape of a waka.

These boards were made by rangatahi in the Youth Unit, along with some of the rangatahi who had transitioned from the Youth Unit to the Te Whare Tirohanga Māori (Māori Focus Unit) but returned as tuakana (mentors).

The Youth Unit also provided a ten-week tikanga programme, facilitated by an external provider.

The waka concept was based on the individual journeys of the rangatahi: the trials and tribulations in their lives, and their work towards their future goals and aspirations.

Profits from the sale of the platter boards ($1755) were donated to the local charity Leg-Up Trust, supporting disadvantaged youth.

The judging panel said: “We loved this partnership project where two groups from diverse backgrounds—high school students and young prisoners—collaborated on a Young Enterprise Scheme project within a tikanga framework. Exploring the young prisoners’ creative potential, they developed a successful business model and showed what’s possible.”

Arts Access Aotearoa receives core funding from Creative New Zealand and has a contract with the Department of Corrections to support and advise on its arts activities and programmes.

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