Profiles

We profile the work of programme managers, volunteers, arts tutors, prisoners and ex-offenders.

Nelson creative space works with local offenders

16 April 2010
Painting the walls, tidying up the outdoor area, working alongside the artists and helping to make props for Community Art Works’ float in the annual Christmas parade in Nelson are some of the tasks undertaken by local offenders serving a sentence of community work. View Nelson creative space works with local offenders...

Sharon Hall: artist and tutor

16 March 2010
Sharon Hall, Restricted Programmes Co-ordinator and prison tutor at The Learning Connexion, talks to Arts Access Aotearoa about being an artist and facilitating the prison art programme for TLC. View Sharon Hall: artist and tutor...

The arts in Wellington prisons

25 February 2010
Programmes Manager Mary Stenton talks to Arts Access Aotearoa about arts activities in the three Wellington prisons (Rimutaka, Arohata and Wellington), which together house more than one thousand men and women. These range from low-security prisoners, some of them in self-care accommodation or special focus units, to long-term, high-medium security with restricted unlock hours. View The arts in Wellington prisons...

The Learning Connexion: working in prisons

11 February 2010
Prisoners are able to participate in Learning Connexion courses through distance learning processes. At the beginning of 2010, there were 80 students studying from Corrections’ facilities around the country. View The Learning Connexion: working in prisons...

The arts in Canterbury Prisons: everyone benefits

8 February 2010
A conversation with one of the delegates at the CSAC Women Offenders Conference, hosted by the Department of Corrections in December last year, got Monique Reekers thinking about presenting a prison performing arts event, similar to Te Timatanga Hou: The New Beginning – a work by Jim Moriarty and Te Rakau Hua o Te Wao Tapu Trust, performed with prisoners in 2004. View The arts in Canterbury Prisons: everyone benefits...

Paul Bradley: challenging prisoners to create and make choices

9 December 2009
“Jumping into a creative mindset for a couple of hours a week can be a big ask for prisoners living in an environment where everything else is so structured,” says art tutor Paul Bradley. View Paul Bradley: challenging prisoners to create and make choices...

Robyn Hughes: life skills through art

13 October 2009
Learning life skills such as teamwork, communication, self-criticism and following a project through to its completion are among the many benefits of prison art programmes, says long-time Auckland Prison art tutor and former Auckland University lecturer Robyn Hughes. View Robyn Hughes: life skills through art...

Mark Lynds: mover and shaker

7 July 2009
“International research shows that the arts in their many forms can be a powerful rehabilitation tool for prisoners,” says Mark Lynds, Programmes Manager at Auckland Prison and Northern Region Corrections Facility, and recipient of the Big ‘A’ Prison Arts Leadership Award 2009. View Mark Lynds: mover and shaker...

“It motivated me to change my life”

21 October 2008
Using the skills and self-discipline he learned as a prisoner, Auckland artist Bryan G. Slight is so busy these days he reckons he hardly has time to cook dinner. View “It motivated me to change my life”...