Did you know that Pictora now has its own print works, thanks to support from the Big Lottery, allowing volunteers and learners to develop a wide range of new employability skills?
Pictora can now prints Mugs, T-Shirts, Sweatshirts, canvas bags and many more items, in-house!
You can have your favourite Pictora art work, personal photos or slogans/names printed on a wide range of items.
In 2011 Pictora received support from the Big Lottery to run the Pictora Works Project, developing the employability and business skills of offenders and ex-offenders by engaging them in printing merchandise in-house. The project has engaged offenders who are serving a custodial sentence in prison and are released on Temporary Licence, offenders on community sentences and/or ex-offenders who have been released and want to fill their time with meaningful activity which develops their employability skills.
Pictora Works develops offenders'/ex-offenders' employability skills and IT skills through setting offender art up to be printed, technical skills in printing, learning more about marketing approaches and strategies. The Pictora Works Project provides voluntary work experience and references provided by Pictora helping them in the future when applying for paid employment and/or other voluntary work. Whilst they are gaining these skills, Pictora staff support them with confidence-building/motivation sessions.
Evidence for the Pictora Works Project is highlighted in the Coalition Government's Green Paper – Breaking the Cycle – December 2010,
• 13% of offenders have never had a paid job
• health and wellbeing of offenders/ex-offenders must be addressed
• education should be geared primarily to providing skills to perform work effectively. This will, as far as possible give prisoners skills which will increase their ability to get a job. RSA Transitions: The 21st century prison – March 2011 highlights benefits for prisoners moving from prison to the community via the different social enterprise activity.
Offenders/exoffenders participating in the Pictora Works project will undertake an initial induction/training session and will be actively involved in the Pictora though participation in the social enterprise operation and management.
Funding for the project from the Big Lottery ceased in 2012, but using income from the operation of Pictora sales work of the project continues, supporting offenders “through the gate” as they come up to release from prison, as well as deliver training in prisons around enterprise and entrepreneurship, which motivates prisoners to start thinking about resettlement, goals and aspirations for the future.
