The award-winning Irene Taylor Trust charity (ITT) is to host a series of webinars on the rehabilitative powers of music to celebrate its 25th anniversary in November 2020.
The Reflections webinars will explore different aspects of ITT’s creative programme to use music as a positive influence on the rehabilitation of offenders. The subjects covered will include ‘Why create music in prisons’, ‘Training former participants to lead’, ‘Moving projects online’ and ‘Collaboration – how and why?’
Named after the wife of the former Attorney General, Peter Taylor, the Irene Taylor Trust has helped over 4,400 participants in prisons across the UK and elsewhere. It collaborates with orchestras, ensembles, solo musicians and theatres to bring positive change to the lives of offenders. The trust is a steering group member of the National Alliance for Arts in Criminal Justice and a lead partner in Movable Barres, a European project to share ideas and techniques in music and dance.
Many of the prisoners it has helped have recorded tracks for release through the trust and performed on stage with guests such as Speech Debelle and Mark Knopfler.
Sara Lee, the trust’s Artistic Director, co-founded the organisation in 1995. The Trust’s success resulted in Lee being awarded a Fellowship of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. It was while she was a student there that she began exploring ways in which music could help in prisons, work which inspired Irene Taylor.
Lee says, ‘On a regular basis I witness how writing and performing music can change individuals, offer them new choices and help them think differently about their future.’
The 25th Anniversary Irene Taylor Trust Reflections webinar series starts on 4 November 2020.
Each event will feature a panel of experts and participants are invited to submit questions in advance at projects@irenetaylortrust.com.
The webinars are free, though the Trust asks those who can to make a donation here.
