• stretch charity

    2018 Tech4Good Finalist

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    "It’s like therapy because you get to talk to someone about your problems. Before I used to go back to my cell and feel upset all the time. But now, when I leave here, I’ll go back to my cell and I’ll feel alright “ Gary HMP Thameside

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    "Each one of Stretch's stories provide a validation to the essential truth that every life, every story, matters. And if you know that, the chances of you finding your way back to a full and productive life are that much greater.” Joe Lambert CEO Storycentre, Berkeley, CA

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    "The tutors were highly skilled and showed sympathy and empathy, helping me through my emotional state to the other side. I now feel more confident in my approach to life in prison” Nathan HMP Wandsworth

A CELEBRATION OF STRETCH DIGITAL: A LANDMARK THREE-YEAR PROJECT

Stretch has made digital story telling its specialist area for the last seven years, developing a honed methodology for using the practice in the most diverse of situations. There are many reasons why digital storytelling ‘works’ with our particular clientele – the need to re-biographise and the good it can do for the story teller is just one.
Over the years Stretch has had success and changed lives, we have been persistent at the ‘coal face’ and tried to embed our methodology – but it has been under the hardest of circumstances. The prison estate has become an increasingly hostile environment for a small charity to work in and the digital agenda has proved a controversial space to fill, with high level policy-making recommendations unable to chime with security on the ground. We have prepared a detailed report from our last three year project, that is interactive with many of the stories accessible on line. Our staff and our chair contribute and we feel it is a fitting legacy of our important work.

WHO WE ARE

We facilitate confidence and lifeskills through the creative arts, access to culture and new technology. Stretch delivers a variety of innovative and bespoke projects, enhancing the rehabilitation and education of marginalized communities. We strongly believe in the benefits of cultural education in engaging into society those that have suffered social exclusion and fallen through the welfare net.

WHO WE HELP

Stretch delivers arts projects with prisoners, ex-prisoners, homeless, mental health groups and young people in care, making the arts accessible to some of the most vulnerable people marginalised by society. Projects can cover visual arts, museums, photography, creative writing and media skills. We work with people to make their voice heard in order to dispel myths and stereotypes and create positive change.

SOAF DIGITAL 2018

SOAF Digital 2018 coming to the Creative Space, Darley Street Bradford, opens October 17th 2018

STRETCH DIGITAL

Stretch is currently delivering Stretch Digital, a nationwide Big Lottery funded project equipping prisoners with skills in new media to create digital stories about their personal experiences of the criminal justice system and the life that led them there. We aim to bridge the ever-growing digital divide and increase participants’ confidence and employability, while giving a voice to those who are so often left unheard.