Women’s Prison Art Materials Scheme

I’m collecting any art materials for the Mountjoy women’s prison Dóchas Centre. Your donations will go through the Befrienders Programne We all have art materials that we’ve abandoned for whatever reason. so please donate your old, unwanted paints, pads of paper, drawing sets, etc. to my studio and I’ll pass them on. Whatever you have is welcome. You can read little about the Centre and their work below. They’re reliant on the generosity of the community for the means to make their art. Perhaps in these women’s lives, there’s very little that they can control and art may be one of the very few areas that they can. My art class has already donated a lot of material of all kinds, so if you want to help, do get in contact and I can channel donations to the Centre. Thank you.   About the Dóchas Centre (from Wikipedia) Ethos The ethos of the centre is for inmates to live as close as possible to a life in ordinary accommodation. The prison operates with inmates expected to behave in the same way as one would manage their own home in relation to cleaning, cooking, laundering etc. The regimes within the centre is on training and development. These activities are structured like a normal working day. Staff are encouraged to wear civilian clothing rather than uniforms.

Education and training programmes

The centre offers training and education programmes to inmates. These include:- hairdressing, beauty therapy and photography as well as FETAC programmes and Leaving and Junior Cert courses. There is a gym which runs aerobic classes and a sport and fitness programme as well as an outdoor basketball court.