Award winning educational projects for socially excluded

One Spirit

The One Spirit projects are rehabilitative music education workshops for young offenders. Using poetry and writings produced by inmates facing the death sentence as a stimulus, the projects provide a range of learning opportunities using creativity, various musical genres, drama and dance, IT vocal technique, filming and lyric creation based around themes generated by the participants.

The projects work closely with Youth Offending Teams and a mix of private and public partners with each project participant being provided with an individual learning and development plan. There is overwhelmimg evidence that conventional learning methods do not work for young offenders since these are not relevant to their lives on the outside and they have few opportunities to apply what they learn. Projects like One Spirit address this issue by providing offenders with a platform to make more informed and effective choices about all aspects of their lives. One Spirit is a proven success and in 2009 we hope to run our first project at Feltham Youth Offending Institute.

One Jam

The One Jam projects are totally unique developmental music education workshops for children and young people in local authority care. The aim is to encourage healing and expression of how it feels to be in care. One Jam culminates in a showcase designed, organised and delivered by the young people. Post project, a range of development opportunities are provided ranging from mentoring to work experience to contributing to community groups.The projects work closely with Social Services and a mix of private and public partners with each participant being provided with an individual development plan tied to their case.

One Jam's initial pilot operated through partnerships primarily within the Lincolnshire community including Lincolnshire Social Services and through a network of partners from the statutory, voluntary and commercial sectors. Expansion plans are now being prepared to bring the scheme to London and other areas nationally.

Adam Eisenberg, Director of HDMT says:

"These unique projects involving music skills development and rehabilitation are designed to change the lives of young offenders and those at risk of offending.Together, esp consulting and Hackney Music Development Trust have delivered the One Spirit project in Hackney and beyond, helping many young people at risk to break the cycle of offending, improve their life and work skills and inspire them to greater aspirations.

We are proud of this unique partnership, which has been forged out of years of collaborative work and mutual respect - allowing each organisation to bring their own expertise to the project, and focusing their strengths were they can be best deployed.

Linked with other organisations, such as Elevate and Point Blank Studios, One Spirit and One Jam is making a real difference to young people."