Arts in Hospitals

The first in a new Miaaw series, in which we introduce and showcase other podcasts. In this episode the Irene Taylor Trust present Solidarity Tracks, a podcast about working with music in prisons. 
 
PARALLEL STREAMS | EPISODE 01
JANUARY 9 | 2026 
PARTICIPANTS
Sophie Hope | Sara Lee
COMMENTARY
The Irene Taylor Trust began in 1995 in memory of Irene Taylor who had a personal interest in both penal reform and music. While serving on the selection panel for the Butler Trust prison awards scheme, Irene had come across Sara Lee, who was at that time music co-ordinator at HMP Wormwood Scrubs. Following Irene’s, the Taylor family decided to set up a charity that would continue to do the work that she had been so in favour of, and invited Sara to set up the Irene Taylor Trust Music in Prisons programme.
Sara has led the trust’s music work ever since.
Sophie Hope recently met Sara Lee, and discovered that the Trust has produced a series of podcasts that describe work that fits directly into our areas of interest. Rather than interviewing Sara, Sophie decided to ask if we could republish one of their podcasts.
This has become the first in a new Miaaw series in which we invite you to listen to other podcasts we think you might enjoy; podcasts that complement, and in some cases extend, the range of actions and works we cover.
REFERENCES
The Irene Taylor Trust
Irene Taylor Trust Youtube channel
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Irene Taylor Trust
 
 

Sophie Hope and Owen Kelly talk to Su Jones about the reactions she has received to her paper Artists' lives: ecologies for resilience, and what she hopes happens next.
 Meanwhile in an Abandoned Warehouse | Episode 82
January 2nd | 2026
 
PARTICIPANTS
Sophie Hope | Su Jones | Owen Kelly
COMMENTARY
Last summer Su Jones finished writing <strong>Artists' lives: ecologies for resilience</strong>, a report formed around case studies of 14 visual artists from three English regions. She had been working on it for the last two years.
In this episode Sophie Hope and Owen Kelly talk to Su Jones about the reactions she has received, and her feelings about them. She discusses the position of an independent researcher and the influence she has, or doesn’t have. She talks about the precarious position that visual artists occupy in a country in which increasing numbers of people occupy precarious positions.
Should artists receive a basic incomes, as they have in Irish experiments, or does that simply amount to special pleading? Would a better proposal involve everyone receiving a universal basic income which artists can use to enable them to practice as artists, golfers can use to practice golf, and chess players can use to practice chess?
REFERENCES
Su Jones: Artists’ Lives: ecologies for resistance, an overview
Su Jones’ writings at Arts Professional
Su Jones’ article at Arts Professional (paywall)
Su Jones’ article at Arts Monthly (paywall)
Ireland: basic income for artists