Hidden voices

Hidden Voices was a collaboration with Zap Art & Sussex Prisoners’ Families (SPF) to raise awareness of the ‘hidden sentence’ faced by one of society’s most invisible groups – prisoners’ families (partners, carers, parents and particularly young people and children).

The project sought to highlight the impact of family imprisonment upon wellbeing, relationships and life chances and offer a platform to promote youth voice. Funding supported a programme of expressive arts workshops in youth clubs and community centres across East and West Sussex. The University of Brighton ran a 3-day intensive digital storytelling project delivered by the University of Brighton and DigiTales, professional training and a public showcase event in May as part of the Brighton Fringe Festival.

Working with a group of young people with family members in prison the workshop produced digital stories through which they gave an insight into what it is like to have a family member in prison. The resulting films are emotionally charged, powerful pieces of work that had a huge impact on the audiences who saw them at the Fringe Festival.

Funding

People’s Postcode Trust is a grant-giving charity funded entirely by players of People’s Postcode Lottery. To find out more about the trust or to apply for funding please click this link: www.postcodetrust.org.uk
To find out how to play the People’s Postcode lottery, and thus support more charities, please follow the People’s Postcode Trust link.

BBC Children in Need awards grants each year to organisations supporting disadvantaged children and young people in the UK who may be affected by homelessness, neglect, abuse or poverty, or those who have faced challenges in their lives such as serious illness, disabilities and psychological disorders.
BBC Children in Need is a charity registered in England and Wales (802052) and Scotland (SC039557) whose aim is to make a positive change to the lives of disadvantaged children and young people across the UK.

Partners

Zap Art is a creative arts charity, internationally renowned for introducing high quality, powerful arts experiences to new audiences, with a particular focus on engaging people in areas of deprivation, working with disadvantaged or marginalised groups. Zap designs creative programmes and cultural events that involve communities, and through working in partnership with social organisations it seeks to support people to transform their personal situations or tackle social issues.

Sussex Prisoners’ Families (SPF) is a community interest company, established in 2013, which supports local families in Brighton, West Sussex and East Sussex to cope emotionally and practically with the imprisonment of a loved-one. SPF offers support and advice to families (partners, carers, parents, young people and children) as well as training and awareness-raising for professionals so that they can better meet families’ needs. SPF’s first strand of work is supporting defendant families in court, but they are currently developing community based support groups including youth voice activity.