12th
September, 2017
Dear
Sir
I would like to
take this opportunity to draw to your attention the support and
positive engagement Literature Wales has given to HMP & YOI
Parc over many years of collaboration.
The Creative
Arts at Parc, is a thriving and successful department offering
prisoners the opportunity to engage in the various education
classes and through the additional projects and workshops that take
place on a regular basis in all areas of the establishment. Since
the prison opened twenty years ago there has been a successful
collaboration with Literature Wales to help provide funding, advice
and support to offer a wide variety of workshops and projects for
the prisoners.
The projects
and workshops that have been supported by Literature Wales have
given a large number of individuals an experience of and exposure
to creative writing in many formats, that they would not have had
the opportunity to have experienced without that support. This type
of experience is of great benefit to the prisoners as they
generally don’t have the opportunity to access such
events.
One of the main
opportunities for Literature Wales to support the creative arts in
Parc has been by organising and providing suitable authors to
conduct workshops during the annual Hay in the Parc festival. This
event, now coming up to its tenth year, runs in conjunction with
the Hay Literary Festival and is formally a part of the event. Over
the years many well known and local authors have attended the
prison to discuss their work and conduct workshops, all of which
have been very well received by the prisoners.
Another very
successful collaboration has been the projects undertaken with the
prisoners and their families to write and illustrate story books
have been particularly successful. Literature Wales have provided
funding for two projects to date with a writer and illustrator
attending for two full days to produce a fully illustrated,
original children’s book. The workshops for these projects
give the prisoners time to work and interact with their children in
a very focused way and allows them greater family time together.
The outcomes in terms of the quality of writing and illustration
are also of an excellent quality which is an indication of the
enthusiasm and enjoyment the families feel.
Over the many
years working with Literature Wales, HMP Parc has had the
opportunity to organise creative writing workshops with a wide
variety of authors and other literary figures to give the prisoners
an insight into and an experience of many different aspects of
literature. The majority of these have been made possible with
Literature Wales providing match funding to arrange for the writers
registered with them to visit the prison.
The creative
arts has a very high profile in HMP Parc and creative writing is
one of the most popular and successful activities within the many
arts disciplines offered. This was recently recognised (2017) when
HMP Parc won the Arts in the Community Award from Arts and Business
Cymru in partnership with Literature Wales. The prisoners gain many
benefits from having the opportunity to access all forms of writing
and, along with the Writers in Residence employed in the prison,
the support Literature Wales gives to the establishment and
individual prisoners is invaluable. We have, over the years, found
the staff who visit Parc and those in administration, to be very
professional , supportive and enthusiastic in pursuit of the aims
to provide greater access to literature for as many individuals as
possible.
Yours
sincerely
Laurence Bater
and Phil Forder
Laurence Bater
Creative Arts Curriculum Manager
HMP & YOI
Parc
