Music from the Criminal Justice System
Music brings escape in an evening of performances and conversation celebrating work created by people with lived experience in the criminal justice system.
Presented by Koestler Arts and the Irene Taylor Trust, this event features a mixture of live and recorded performances and a Q&A panel discussion led by poet and playwright Inua Ellams. The performances and discussion draw inspiration from Night Owls and Abstractions, the Koestler Arts exhibition curated by Ellams.
Inua Ellams is a Nigerian-born British poet, playwright and performer. Known for Barber Shop Chronicles and The Half-God of Rainfall, his work spans poetry, theatre, graphic art, and live events, and often explores identity, migration, and displacement – themes that strongly resonate with the work of Koestler Arts.
Marcus Joseph, jazz saxophonist and composer, has worked with the Irene Taylor Trust and the Woolf Quartet to produce and perform a new piece of music created by people with lived experience of the criminal justice system.
This new creation is directly inspired by some of the artworks on display in the exhibition and is performed live with a string quartet and performers, with images of the artworks shown in the background.
This process of creation reflects Ellams’ desire for people to connect with the exhibition and be creatively inspired by it, the artworks and their stories, beyond its run.
The Irene Taylor Trust is celebrating 30 years of innovative music projects in prisons and beyond, and this new piece of music showcases the organisation’s mission to support positive change.
Koestler Arts: Night Owls and Abstractions is a free exhibition that features a selection of music, writing, fine art, craft and design by individuals in secure settings. The artworks on display were entered into the 2025 Koestler Awards, the only annual UK-wide arts competition for people in the UK’s criminal justice system. It runs from Friday 31 October until Sunday 14 December in the Spirit Level, Level 1, Royal Festival Hall.
Need to know
Access
To book tickets for BSL interpretation, email [email protected] or call us on 020 3879 9555.
You can join our free Access Scheme through your online Southbank Centre account or via email.
Find out more about our Access Scheme
All our access information
For your visit
This event is held at the Purcell Room Southbank Centre
The Purcell Room is located in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, which is open from 90 minutes before events start until they finish. It’s closed at all other times.
Plan your visit
The Purcell Room is an auditorium located within our Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Getting here
Our address is Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX.
The nearest tube stations to us are Waterloo and Embankment; Waterloo is also the nearest train station. And more than 20 different London bus routes pass within 500 metres of our venues. More information on getting here by rail, road or river is available on our Getting here page.
We’re cash-free
Please note that we’re unable to accept cash payments across our venues.
Access
We’re working hard to remove barriers, so that our facilities and events can be accessible to as many people as possible.
All help points, toilets, performance and exhibition spaces at the Southbank Centre are accessible to all, as are the cafes, bars and restaurants. We also have excellent public transport links with step-free access.
All information about booking wheelchair spaces, step-free access, blue badge parking, access maps and guides and other help available whilst you’re here, including details about our Access Scheme, can be found on our Access page.
Food & drink
From coffee to cocktails, filling favourites to fine dining, plus some of London’s best street food – it’s all here at the Southbank Centre.