The Anne Peaker Centre for Arts and Criminal Justice (APC) will close at the end of this month after 20 years in operation, due to lack of funds. The Trustees considered “a number of alternative solutions to funding” but could find no viable way forward. Tim Robertson, Chief Executive of the prison arts charity the Koestler Trust, is also Chair of the Arts Alliance (AA), which brings together all the organisations working with arts in prisons under the auspices of APC. Speaking to AP, he said “I am sad to see a charity go that has done so much research, advocacy, co-ordination and professional training in our field,” but added that much of the advocacy and co-ordination work done by APC could be picked up by AA. He added “We are in negotiation with the Ministry of Justice to get the funding for the AA transferred to another charity, so that the work carries on.”
