2makeit is a charity that helps rehabilitate prisoners and ex-prisoners by offering them creative expression through programmes in skills such as music, art and writing.
Engaging with fellow prisoners, guided by experts including musicians, artists and writers, they learn how to collaborate and create, inspiring them to lead more productive and positive lives whilst in jail, and law-abiding lives on release.
Our team consists of professionally experienced Trustees, staff, advisers and volunteers, including senior prison management expertise and achievements in education, the arts, charities and business at the highest levels.
We aim to provide a more flexible approach to developing creative programmes alongside prisoners and prison staff to respond more directly to local needs to enable prisoners ‘2makeit’ in an environment which is both rehabilitative and creative. A key component involves establishing relationships with charity staff delivering programmes which are aimed at increasing prisoners’ confidence, self-esteem and ability to work with others through a creative environment.
Due to the pandemic access to prisons became highly restricted, we responded to this challenge by developing our work in the community and with individual beneficiaries. This has now become a larger proportion of our work compared to pre-pandemic operations when the majority of our work was in custodial settings.
We are pleased to have been able to respond more directly to needs in the community as 2makeit and with partner organisations. As a result we could provide increased support to individuals and groups having to come to terms with issues of physical and mental health, accommodation, employment and general wellbeing as well as the impact of Covid-19 on their resettlement and rehabilitation.
