Photography Project with HMP Askham Grange October – December 2005
Photography Project with Baseline/Arclight March 2006
Stretch working with Our Celebration August 2004 – November 2004
STRETCH PILOT PROJECT ‘THINKING SPACE’
Current Projects
Inspire Inside
Recently Stretch prison groups performed very well in a national competition run by the V&A called Inspired By that works with NIACE and Adult Learners Week. It appears there is potential to develop the work that the V&A could do with prisons. As the only arts organisation in the country that has made museums and offenders its speciality Stretch is a good position to work with the V&A.
The V&A approached Stretch, as they wanted help in accessing the prison population. Stretch will benefit from working with the fine collections and the expertise of V&A professionals. The V&A offered to form a partnership with Stretch whereby the V&A will provide extensive ‘in-kind’ provision and Stretch will liaise with the prisons and use the considerable expertise built up in this area on delivery of projects.
Stretch and the V&A hope to develop, pilot and evaluate a series of resources that widen access to their collections to groups that cannot visit and have no internet access. The V&A will provide cd-roms, virtual tours and handling boxes especially commissioned and designed for the project. Stretch will liaise with four prisons that will eventually receive the pilot projects.
Stretch has good working relationships with a few prisons in Yorkshire and the North East, namely HMP Askham Grange (women), HMP Kirklevington Grange and HMP Holme House. Stretch has used these prisons for focus group consultation in conceiving these projects. Stretch will deliver the pilots according to the Stretch methodology with Stretch artists over the first half of 2007.
Tyne and Wear Museums
Stretch is developing a series of projects between North East prisons and Tyne and Wear Museums. These projects will bring together three prisons and Tyne and Wear Museums such as Segedunum, Sunderland Winter Gardens, Shipley Art Gallery, Beamish and the Hartlepool Maritime centre. Each project will have a slightly different theme; gardens, book art and print-making and objects. One of the aims of the project is to add to the museums collections so we will be collecting oral histories and digital story telling around objects. There will be a final show and publication at the Discovery Museum Newcastle in the summer 2007.
Stretch will continue to deliver smaller taster and one off projects with recognised partners and new partners. Stretch is developing a sustained project with the mental health groups based around some very successful sculpture work at stately homes.
Working with NIACE
Recently Stretch has met with staff at NIACE to discuss possibilities of working together. Stretch would like to be in partnership with NIACE as it is a respected academic organisation and the remit of Stretch, to widen participation, is exactly that of NIACE. NIACE have expressed an interest in formal evaluation of the work with the V&A and has many programmes that could be worked into particular projects, such as Say What You Like, Quick Reads and Adult Learners Week. Stretch was advised to apply for funding for Inspire Inside from the ‘e-enabling’ grant scheme for offenders, which we have done as the project uses new digital technology in the virtual tour and CD-ROMs. Stretch would be interested in publication of results of work achieved. It has not yet been decided how exactly to take the partnership with NIACE forward but it is agreed on both sides that there is scope for partnership. NIACE will be formally evaluating Stretch projects in 2007.