Awards 2020 recognise arts leadership in prisons

A leader in sharing his skills and life experience as a former prisoner with men at Otago Corrections Facility and an arts programme where prisoners at Northland Region Corrections Facility take leadership and mentoring roles have been recognised at Te Putanga Toi Arts Access Awards 2020.

The annual Te Putanga Toi Arts Access Awards were presented online for the first time by Arts Access Aotearoa on Tuesday 13 October. The awards celebrate the achievement of individuals and organisations providing opportunities for people with limited access to engage with the arts as artists and audience members.

Two of the awards recognise leadership in using the arts as a tool supporting prisoner rehabilitation and reintegration.

Rachel Leota, National Commissioner, Ara Poutama Aotearoa Department of Corrections, presented the Arts Access Corrections Whai Tikanga Award 2020 to Redemption Performing Arts Whānau and Redemption Arts Tuakana Teina Mentors at Northland Region Corrections Facility.

The Award recognised the men for taking leadership roles and mentoring other prisoners, including during the COVID-19 lockdown. The group works collaboratively and autonomously, using the pillars of Corrections’ Hōkai Rangi Strategy as its guide. The positive impact of this group of men provides an example for other prison sites to follow. Read more

Hon Kelvin Davis, Minister for Corrections, presented the Arts Access Corrections Māui Tikitiki a Taranga Award to Rue-Jade Morgan, a lecturer at Otago Polytechnic and tutor at Otago Corrections Facility.

The award recognises Rue-Jade’s leadership in sharing his skills and life experience as a former prisoner with others in his Te Hōkai Manea Tīpuna The heartfelt feedback from the men in Otago Corrections Facility is testament to the value of his work. Read more

The annual Te Putanga Toi Arts Access Awards are the key national awards in New Zealand celebrating the achievements of individuals and organisations providing opportunities for people with limited access to engage with the arts as artists and audience members. They also recognise the achievements of an artist with a disability, sensory impairment or lived experience of mental illness.

Highly Commended certificates

Highly Commended certificates were also presented to:

• Leonie Aben, Hawkes Bay Regional Prison, Arts Access Corrections Māui Tikitiki a Taranga Award 2020, for her outstanding commitment, innovation and leadership in driving the use of the arts and culture as a powerful rehabilitative tool, the standard of her art and education programmes in Hawkes Bay Regional Prison, strengthened through Whanaungatanga, and her award-winning work with the Youth Unit. Read more
• Home Ground programme, Wellington, Arts Access Corrections Whai Tikanga Award 2020, for its use of creativity to encourage women in the justice system to get in touch with who they are and deal with the difficult, often traumatic things that have happened in their lives. Read more