Koestler Trust

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The Koestler Trust or award scheme, is a charity (Registered charity number 1105759 [1]) which helps prison inmates and detained psychiatric patients in the UK to express themselves creatively. The trust promotes the arts in special institutions, encouraging creativity and the acquisition of new skills as a means to rehabilitation. It was founded in 1962, by a bequest by the British-Hungarian author, Arthur Koestler.[2]

Koestler's Prison Experience

Koestler had been detained in three jails in separate countries. In Spain, he was sentenced to death in 1936 for espionage under Francisco Franco's regime.[3] Here, he witnessed many executions, and was held in solitary confinement.[4] He was arrested in France a few years later and held in the Le Vernet Internment Camp for subversion.[5] Koestler was released and fled to England, where he was held at Pentonville as a suspected alien.[6]

Creation of the Koestler Trust

His experiences in prison led him to write Darkness at Noon and newspaper articles campaigning for the abolition of capital punishment in the 1950s.[7] He also attempted to change the experience of incarceration, stating that in prison, "the main problem is apathy, depression and gradual dehumanisation. The spark dies."[8] Koestler spoke of being intellectually under-stimulated[9] and terrorized in prison,[10] and wanted to provide "an imaginative and exciting way to stimulate as far as possible and in many cases as possible the mind and spirit of the prisoner."[11]

In 1962, Koestler arranged the Arthur Koestler Award (now Koestler Trust) through the Home Office of the United Kingdom, to award monetary prizes for artistic achievement to prisoners, detainees, and psychiatric patients.[12] Artwork is submitted before a panel of judges in an annual gallery show,[13] and prizes awarded in multiple categories.[14] The prizes were initially paid by Koestler himself, but the award was reorganized into a charitable trust in 1969, as more sources of funding became necessary.[15] Today, prisoner's artwork is available for sale direct to the public through the trust.[16]

References

  1. ↑ charity profileJust Giving
  2. ↑ "History of the Koestler Trust". Koestler Trust. Retrieved 9 March 2013. 
  3. ↑ "Arthur Koestler 1905-1983". Koestler Trust. Retrieved 9 March 2013. 
  4. ↑ Menand, Louis (21 December 2009). "Road Warrior: Arthur Koestler and his century". The New Yorker. Retrieved 9 March 2013. 
  5. ↑ "Arthur Koestler 1905-1983". Koestler Trust. Retrieved 9 March 2013. 
  6. ↑ "Arthur Koestler 1905-1983". Koestler Trust. Retrieved 9 March 2013. 
  7. ↑ "History of the Koestler Trust". Koestler Trust. Retrieved 9 March 2013. 
  8. ↑ Chesshyre, Robert (16 September 2006). "The Fine Art of Starting Over". The Observer. Retrieved 9 March 2013. 
  9. ↑ Chesshyre, Robert (16 September 2006). "The Fine Art of Starting Over". The Observer. Retrieved 9 March 2013. 
  10. ↑ Menand, Louis (21 December 2009). "Road Warrior: Arthur Koestler and his century". The New Yorker. Retrieved 9 March 2013. 
  11. ↑ "History of the Koestler Trust". Koestler Trust. Retrieved 9 March 2013. 
  12. ↑ Chesshyre, Robert (16 September 2006). "The Fine Art of Starting Over". The Observer. Retrieved 9 March 2013. 
  13. ↑ "History of the Koestler Trust". Koestler Trust. Retrieved 9 March 2013. 
  14. ↑ "Artforms". Koestler Trust. Retrieved 9 March 2013. 
  15. ↑ "History of the Koestler Trust". Koestler Trust. Retrieved 9 March 2013. 
  16. ↑ "Art Sales". Koestler Trust. Retrieved 9 March 2013. 


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