The Irene Taylor Trust

Who we are

About the Irene Taylor Trust: Creating Music. Transforming Futures.

We believe that creating original music collaboratively can make a powerful impact on people's lives, breaking down barriers and helping people who have found themselves pushed to the fringes of society to become celebrated and valued members of the community.

We were established in 1995 in memory of Irene Taylor, wife of the late Lord Chief Justice Peter Taylor, in reaction to the move away from arts interventions in prisons. Irene had seen the vital impact music could have on rehabilitation and been part of the panel who awarded a music teacher at HMP Wormwood Scrubs a Butler Trust Award. The teacher in question, Sara Lee, was asked to set up the Trust, and has led the charity ever since.

 “Good teamwork can lift you up and together you can accomplish something that’s more than the sum of each individual. I was afraid to fail, was shy and could not open up. I now know that no matter how small my part was, I was part of a team and did matter.” Project Participant

Our projects are all about working together and creating something original. We work with aresome of the most disadvantaged and marginalised individuals in our society, having faced a range of issues, such as abuse, violence, substance misuse, mental health problems, exclusion from school and homelessness. We hope to help participants see beyond these negative experiences to a more positive future.

“You’re in a part of your life which is so negative, and then this project lets you get a positive experience out of a negative one.” Prison Project Participant

Our programmes ‘Making Tracks’, ‘Music in Prisons’ and ‘Sounding Out’ support NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) young people, people of all ages in prisons, and ex-prisoners rebuilding their lives on release.

Impact

Our projects are about more than simply creating music. The creative process is also a vehicle for substantial personal development and can act as the catalyst in helping participants to make positive changes in their lives.

“I gained a lot from the week. I learned more about music and I also learned things not associated with music such as communication, self-belief and confidence.” Prison Project Participant

Taking part in projects can:

- raise participants' levels of self-confidence and self-esteem 

- develop important transferable life-skills such as communication, team-working and perseverance

- increase motivation to engage in further education and training opportunities

- reduce incidences of offending behaviour while in prisons

- support ex-prisoner participants to resettle on release

- challenge negative perceptions of prisoners, ex-prisoners and NEET young people by publicly celebrating their talent

- provide an important platform for self-expression and to work positively with peers

See our website for details of academic evaluation of our impact and participants’ experiences of taking part in their own words.

Our ethos

We believe that given the right opportunities, people flourish. Our team is small and dedicated, allowing us all to be hands-on and involved in the work we deliver. This means we get to see the impact our work has first-hand.