Hear Me Out

Who we are

Hear Me Out takes music-making into immigration detention centres and other places where migrants are confined, like asylum hotels and army barracks.  Our artists work with people in these places, supporting them to create, record and perform original music.  We create platforms for their music and stories, building support and understanding of a group that is being placed under increasing pressure by the UK’s ‘hostile environment’.  We are a national leader in this work with unparalleled experience in this complex territory. 

Previously known as Music In Detention, for nearly 20 years we have supported people in detention to recover their sense of wellbeing and resilience, and make their voices heard, by:

- Offering a creative, expressive outlet that supports self-confidence and agency

- Providing positive experiences to counter the psychological damage of detention

- Running creative collaborations that build solidarity with groups in local communities

- Building platforms to bring their creative work and life experience to a public audience

Our culture and values

Our values and ethics frame our work.  Hear Me Out should empower people, help them speak for themselves and take control of their lives.  We look to create artistic work of the highest quality.  We do not seek to impose a narrative but are curious about individual stories and experiences.  We’re independent, working with people going through the immigration system but not becoming part of it. We treat everyone we encounter with respect.  We’re committed to bringing co-creation into our organisation, and sharing power with the people Hear Me Out was set up to support.

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

Our values and ethics frame our work.  We acknowledge the structural inequalities around race in the immigration system and society as a whole.  Hear Me Out should empower people, help them speak for themselves and take control of their lives.  We look to create artistic work of the highest quality.  We do not seek to impose a narrative but are curious about individual stories and experiences.  We’re independent, working with people going through the immigration system but not becoming part of it. We treat everyone we encounter with respect. 

Our artistic method is participatory, and we keep working with our team of freelance artists to refine it.  Our artists lead when necessary, with the aim of getting participants to lead.  Using high level group skills and fantastic musicianship, they shape creative work that everyone owns and everyone can be proud of.  We’re now learning, with our artists’ help, how to transfer this practice ‘from the music room to the Board room’, that is to bring co-creation into our organisational structures.  This means finding ways to share power with the people Hear Me Out was set up to support, and changing the make-up and methods of our Board and staff team, so that lived experience weighs equally with professional know-how in our decision-making.

Our Ethics and Racial Equity Framework sets out ten values to guide everything we do in our work and our organisation:

- Voice as an agent of change

- Independence

- Active curiosity and listening

- Confidence with humility

- Sensitivity to diversity

- Co-operation and partnership

- Respect and trust

- Transparency and accountability

- Listening and learning

- Solidarity