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MID partners, trustees and staff |
© Matthew Andrews |
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About MID What is MID's view of immigration detention? MID was formed by a group of organisations and individuals inspired by a pilot programme in 2005 that took participatory music activities into four of the UK's Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs). This pilot found that the life-affirming experience of group music-making crossed cultural and language barriers and had a massive impact in relieving the stress suffered by detainees. Since mid-2005 MID has facilitated delivery of music workshops inside all 10 of the UK's IRCs. MID works in partnership with community music providers, Immigration Removal Centres and a variety of local community organisations. To read about our work in more detail, you can download an article written by MID's Director John Speyer for Music Education Zone (August 2008) here. Alternatively, go to: www.musiceducationzone.net/z17_music_in_detentiion MID works through music to give voice to immigration detainees and create channels of communication between them, immigration and detention staff, local communities and the wider public. MID's programme of activities is broad and varied, incorporating:
MID aims:
What is MID's view of immigration detention? Music In Detention is an independent charity. We do not condone or endorse the immigration detention system, but our central concern is the welfare of those detained in it, who we believe should enjoy fundamental human rights. By working independently within the system we aim to achieve tangible benefits for them, and change other people’s perceptions of them. “For me we are giving this workshop because being in here does not change the fact that you are a human being and you deserve to enjoy yourself; your life should not be reduced to thinking about your case and worrying about your situation.” “I think it lifts their self-esteem and makes them more confident. They believe in themselves again. They become more positive and concentrated on changing their situation rather than putting themselves down the whole time.” Don’t you think that by organising these activities you are supporting the existence of immigration detention and pacifying detainees without changing their situation? MID believes that the life-affirming experience of group music-making, the confirmation that a person can still feel joy despite what they may have suffered, and the knowledge that although they are locked-up and vilified in the mainstream press there are people in the UK who care about what they are going through, can go a long way to giving them strength. The strength to cope with their situation and the strength to change it. “I have spent a long time locked up. I’m in prison but when you see someone from the outside coming in, coming in to speak to us and do music with us, the hope to be outside is big. You find a way to feel positive. I think I will sleep well tonight.” Anger at the system occasionally results in protests against it. More often it results in individual depression, despair and self-harm. MID does not believe that misery can create lasting positive change or happiness. What is the point of a 'fluffy' project like MID, when detainees have so many other more pressing basic material needs? MID is made up essentially of idealists who see music as a human function that emphasises our common humanity, enables us to live beyond our current limitations and makes creators of us all. We believe that people in extreme situations need music more than ever, and we are not just whistling against the dark. The idea for the MID project emerged out of a recognition of the role of music in concentration camps and Chilean prisons – some of MID’s board members have family connections to those experiences. While we cannot equate with these situations, it is MID’s view that having the chance to make, enjoy and listen to music makes people into better human beings, better able to live their lives – however things turn out. Offering music is itself a statement that detainees have human rights. We would argue that regarding people as simply a collection of ‘basic material needs’ is part of the problem. MID works on the basis that people are – and are always going to be – so much more than that. It aims to speak to the part in all of us that looks for that potential. Anyone who has visited MID’s IRC workshops will have witnessed how powerful and ‘unfluffy’ the experience of participating in a MID activity really is for detainees. Music increases detainees’ ability to cope, whether inside or outside IRCs. It is as simple as that. By donating money so that every immigration detainee in the UK can have access to our workshops. Please contact us using the details below: From 10th June 2009: Music In Detention Tel: 020 7014 2810/2811 Email: info@musicindetention.org.uk OR If you have knowledge or experience of immigration detention or think you could contribute to the development of MID’s work, please get in touch. |
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Music In Detention Company number - 5943893; MID is registered in England and Wales; Registered Office - 6-8 Amwell Street, London EC1R 1UQ; Charity no.1119049 On 10th June we are moving to Kings Place Music Base, 90 York Way, London, N1 9AG. This will also be our registered office address. Last updated on: 01.06.09 |
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