Local Regional National

Superact! started life with a very local focus, delivering projects amongst its own communities, the schools, care homes and such like around Somerset.

As the organisation has grown, it has progressed to also working on projects of a regional, national and more recently international nature, often alongside organisations, charities and government departments with a fairly broad geographic outlook.

We have continued, however, to recognise that delivery is stronger when there continues to be a stong understanding of the local communities in which they are delivered, be it for a one off event (of which we organise many) or as part of a larger initiative.

We have also found that we have become better informed about the communities we serve with our UK projects thanks to our connections with artists and deliverers from other cultures and a sharing of their views and experiences. The programmes we offer have become richer as a consequence.



Music in Time

Music in Time is Superact’s most recent prison project funded by the Transformation Fund. The project provided informal learning programmes for adult prisoners, and includes a formal evaluation by the University of the West of England, and support from Age Concern, (ACOOP), in engaging the older prison population.

Music in Time has managed to put in place and run 6 programmes of music in 5 South West prisons, despite the extreme challenge of the very limited 3 months available to us. Our working relationship with our new partners, UWE & ACOOP, has developed into a solid foundation for future work. It was always a mutually supportive process with each partner helping each other in overcoming obstacles.

Our principle aim in providing this sort of informal, interactive learning programme, was to encourage participants, particularly the older ones, to stay engaged with learning new things. We wanted to inspire them to look for ways to keep their minds and creativity active. We wanted them to feel they could carry on after we had left, to make and listen to music, and join with others in the prison to do this. There has definitely been a sense of achievement felt by some participants, and thoughts about how to move forward with music.

“I found it an uplifting experience. It gives you confidence … it was like a community thing really, a bond with people I might not normally associate with on the wing. I felt positive after the first time and so was quite happy to go along the second time. I actually looked forward to it.” Participants’ Comments

The participants were generally picked by the prisons from 2 groups, over 50’s and foreign nationals. Joining these together had mixed results. Generally the older prisoners thought the mix was a good idea, but practically the younger prisoners tended to jump in quickly to activities that sidelined the older prisoners somewhat. Mixing it up had a very positive effect on social interaction in the sessions and more significantly, between sessions.

“Yeah, the mix is very good. With the music, it is easy to know people, easy to trust them, there’s more communication with people – old people and young people together. Without music, we haven’t got a topic – normally, we don’t talk to each other.”

There was a great appreciation of the way the programme was run. The sessions were very interactive and the participants were the creative contributors. It was their ideas and input that guided the creative process with support from the musicians. This is very different from the standard classes taught in a prison.

We hope that this project has shown it’s participants something of how informal creative study and expression can fill their lives. All who came away from this project wanted more. There was a huge recognition of how the experience fostered new friendships, and built communities of people who will continue to share experiences after the projects completion. The ACOOP Rep is still in the prison settings and can provide some continuity with the original music sessions, encouraging further exploration of musical ideas.

“There isn’t really anywhere to go to sit down as musicians and have that much of a chance to do anything. Maybe that’ll change, maybe we’ll be allowed to go over to the chapel a bit more, because it’s not used that often. I mean, it would be great to be able to do that, even one afternoon a week would be good.”

Finding ways to make this a continuing programme is the next task. Though it is always dependent on financial support, it also needs support from within the system. Motivating both officers and prisoners to create their own workshops with the occasional visiting groups would keep the momentum going and make the project their own. The ACOOP groups are already well positioned with their weekly meetings to develop this type of project. The example set by Music in Time will hopefully spark some of this sort of activity in the immediate future. Superact hopes to look towards putting a more long running music program into one or two prisons as the next step.

“It was very life-affirming – us being treated as adults and being treated with dignity. They made you feel as though you were a part of something.”


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