Celebrating 30 Years
In 2025 we reached the significant milestone of 30 years. Over this time we’ve supported thousands of people in prisons and the community to make positive life changes through the joyful process of creating original music – so we’re planning to celebrate in style!
We ran a series of special events and projects to showcase the impact of our work and talents of those we support, including PERFORMANCES, PODCASTS, an EXHIBITION and celebratory ZINE.
Thank you to Arts Council England for supporting our 30th Anniversary special projects.
30th Anniversary Show at Rich Mix, November 2025
This very special show at Rich Mix celebrated 30 years of the Irene Taylor Trust through exhilarating live music performances. The first half featured performances by our Sounding Out musicians, memories and reflections from 30 years of Music in Prisons and the Irene Taylor Trust. In the second half our Young Producers took over, curating invigorating music with young artists emerging from our Making Tracks projects and former prisoner support musicians from Sounding Out.
A packed out audience in Rich Mix responded very warmly. For those unable to join us a livestream was made available (recording below).
MORE THAN SOUND Podcast Series
Our new podcast series More Than Sound starts releasing weekly in October, marking 30 years of life-changing music projects from the Irene Taylor Trust in and outside prisons – find it on Apple, Spotify & YouTube. Hosted by Dean Statham (artist, prison leaver & Sounding Out programme participant), each episode uncovers the stories and sounds that shape this creative community
Producer: Marie Horner
Assistant Producer: Kitya Mark
SOLIDARITY TRACKS Radio Show
On Monday 29th September our radio show Solidarity Tracks was broadcast for the first time on Voices Radio.
Solidarity Tracks brings together music made in prisons around the world, with songs and interviews with the people who helped shape these tracks, including contributors from India, Norway, New Zealand, USA and Italy.
Listen back to the programme on Mixcloud here.
Zine – ‘Focused on the Sky: 30 Years of Making Music in Prisons’
Beautifully curated by our Creative Engagement & Progression Manager Kitya Mark, this zine gathers together accounts from participants, facilitators and office staff who make-up a small part of ITT’s community. Interspersed with scanned clippings from the archive, Focused on the Sky documents the impact of making music behind bars, and the challenges of navigating the prison system.
A limited print run was produced and the zine is also available to read online now as a flipbook:
Music from the Criminal Justice System – event with Koestler Arts
Music brings escape in an evening of performances and conversation celebrating work created by people with lived experience in the criminal justice system.
Presented by Koestler Arts and the Irene Taylor Trust, this event features a mixture of live and recorded performances and a Q&A panel discussion, drawing inspiration from the Koestler Arts’ exhibition Night Owls and Abstractions, curated by poet and playwright Inua Ellams.
Marcus Joseph, jazz saxophonist and composer, has worked with the Irene Taylor Trust and the Royal Academy of Music to produce and perform a new piece of music created by people with lived experience of the criminal justice system.
This new creation is directly inspired by some of the artworks on display in the exhibition and is performed live with a string quartet and performers, with images of the artworks shown in the background.
This process of creation reflects Ellams’ desire for people to connect with the exhibition and be creatively inspired by it, the artworks and their stories, beyond its run.
The Irene Taylor Trust is celebrating 30 years of innovative music projects in prisons and beyond, and this new piece of music showcases our mission to support positive change.
Koestler Arts: Night Owls and Abstractions is a free exhibition that features a selection of music, writing, fine art, craft and design by individuals in secure settings. The artworks on display were entered into the 2025 Koestler Awards, the only annual UK-wide arts competition for people in the UK’s criminal justice system. It runs from Friday 31 October until Sunday 14 December in the Spirit Level, Level 1, Royal Festival Hall.
Date: Sunday 30th November 2025
Performance Time: 7pm-9pm
Venue: The Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London, SE1 8XX
Booking info: Tickets from £12+booking fee – book here
30th Anniversary Exhibition, September 2025
As part of our 30th Anniversary Celebrations, we teamed up with long-time artistic collaborator Lizzie Coombes, to create a special exhibition of portraits of people connected with the Irene Taylor Trust.
Dates: 1st-18th September
Venue: Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA (closest station is Shoreditch High Street), in ‘The Lab’ (to the left of the Cinema Bar)
Entry cost: FREE (but if you’d like to, you’re welcome to make a donation)
Lullaby Project showcase, May 2025
In May 2025 we began the ‘soft launch’ of our 30th Anniversary Celebrations with a special showcase for the Lullaby Project partnership with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Rich Mix, with performances of lullabies written with parents from Clean Break and Sounding Out.
This project was made possible with support from Arts Council England, Cockayne Grants for the Arts (a Donor Advised Fund, held at The Prism Charitable Trust), the Fishmongers Company’s Charitable Trust, the Garrick Charitable Trust and the RCB Foundation.
You can now listen to the songs here:
The Rich Mix performance was also livestreamed – you can view the recording on our YouTube channel.
Feedback from the audience included:
“I loved the performance so, so much! The songs were beautifully composed and performed. Such an amazing opportunity for people to perform with the RPO and to hear people’s stories. So uplifting.”
“A wonderful, moving and joyful experience. The songs were so lovely and so brilliantly performed.”
“Everyone was incredible and truly inspiring. The love you could feel radiating from the stage and throughout the room.”
“Every one of the performers should be extremely proud.”
“It was so beautiful! thank you so much for sharing your stories and families – it touched me so deeply. I have suffered the loss of my baby brother and the story of the child that died really was like a gift to all of us who have suffered in that way. So much love and gratitude.”
Thanks to Tracey Kirby for these beautiful photographs from the performance at Rich Mix.
SUPPORT OUR WORK
If you like what we do and would like to help us keep going at these challenging times, info about how you can support us in a way that is affordable to you is here. We’re very grateful to all those who contribute!
