Ngawha staff win Arts Access Awards for creative programmes

Beth Hill has made an art of bringing culture to prisoners.

Three staff members at Ngawha are being recognised by Te Putanga Toi Art Access Awards 2018 for bringing enrichment to prisoners' lives through creative arts.

Beth Hill, who leads the Northland Region Corrections Facility's art programme Redemption Arts and Education Services, will receive two honours in the awards tonight: the Arts Access Corrections Māui Tikitiki a Taranga Award 2018 and the Arts Access Accolade 2018.

Bundy Waitai and Arrin Clarke, who also work at the Northern Corrections Facility, will receive Whai Tikanga Awards for their cultural programmes empowering prisoners to reconnect with their culture, gain a sense of identity and make positive change.

Te Putanga Toi Arts Access Awards 2018 will be hosted by Hon Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Disability Issues, in the Banquet Hall of Parliament.

The prestigious Arts Access Accolade was presented to Hill, programme leader for arts, self-directed learning and living skills at Northland Regional Corrections Facility, by Accolade patron Dame Rosie Horton.

Unlike the other award recipients, the Accolade is chosen by Arts Access Aotearoa's staff and board.

Executive director Richard Benge said that without Hill consistently pushing boundaries to ensure access to the arts at Northland Region Corrections Facility, Arts Access Aotearoa would not have developed its Arts in Corrections programme to the quality it is today.

Hill's programme set the benchmark for other rehabilitation and reintegration facilities in New Zealand, he said.

Benge said Hill had exceeded what the organisation thought was possible in providing access to the arts in a prison environment.

Hill joined the facility five years ago as a tutor before becoming fulltime 18 months later. One of her first initiatives was to introduce Shakespeare Behind Bars in collaboration with Jacqui Moyes, Arts Access Aotearoa, and Mark Lynds, from Department of Corrections.

The programme is now called Redemption Performing Arts to reflect its wider purpose and focus.

"The original name told a different story of what was actually happening in the group," Hill said.

"The participants are predominantly Māori and the programme is tikanga-based. Although the themes of Shakespeare are relevant to the men, it's vital they are able to tell their own stories from their own cultural perspective."

Tonight's Arts Access Awards also pays tribute to a dancer challenging perceptions about who can dance, a festival for the disabled and Deaf communities, a partnership project providing creativity for alienated youth and a creative space in Christchurch to help people's mental health and wellbeing.

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