Why we go inside: outreach and the Koestler Awards 

Our Director of Development (maternity cover) Simon Scott, who joined last month, wrote about a recent prison visit he undertook, and the importance of prison visits to our work.

I joined Koestler Arts as Director of Development last month. Last week I accompanied Sarah, our Director of Outreach, on a visit to HMP Thameside in South East London. It was my first prison visit with Koestler, and I was struck by the level of interest from the men we met, particularly as almost all of them said they had never heard of Koestler or the Awards before.

Once we explained what the Awards are and had showed images of some of the 2025 entries and award winners, the mood shifted quickly. People began plotting which categories they might enter, and how many times – or debating the merits of a work in acrylics against a pencil sketch or discussing how long a poem took to write. The £100 top prize in each category did not go unnoticed, but the energy in the room was about more than money. Men were asking where to get entry forms and who could support them. Staff from the library and our friends from the Shannon Trust were thankfully on hand with the practical answers.

A few men brought work to show us. More than one apologised that it “needed improving” before submission, while holding out a beautifully realised pen drawing or a meticulously constructed graphic novel created in a cell. That mixture of modesty and ambition felt familiar. I entered the Koestler Awards in 2008 after a friend encouraged me to submit a play I’d written. I did not think of myself as creative at the time. Winning did not magically change that, but it made it harder to dismiss.

Prison is, by design, insular. It is difficult to see beyond it or to feel connected to the wider cultural world. Many people don’t describe themselves as creative, even when the evidence is in their hands. We go into prisons to make something very clear: work created inside is seen and valued outside. It is viewed by thousands of visitors to our exhibitions, by our staff and volunteers, by judges and supporters. When we tell people in prison that our National Exhibition is held at the Southbank Centre and attracts around 7,000 visitors each year, it tends to land. The audience is real.

Time in prison can be used in many ways. Choosing to turn it towards creation can be a defining act of self-expression.

[Artwork: Wings of Hope, HM Prison Thameside, Themed Category: Wings, 2025 | Monochrome Mosque Blue, HM Prison Thameside, Painting, 2025 | Lolly Colours, HM Prison Thameside, Painting, 2025 | The Place I Like, HM Prison Thameside, Painting, 2025]