The Irene Taylor Trust

What The Irene Taylor Trust does

The Irene Taylor Trust ('ITT') is a UK-registered charity (no.1073105) and company limited by guarantee (no.3637201), founded in November 1995 in memory of Irene Taylor, wife of the late Lord Chief Justice Peter Taylor. It designs and delivers music-making programmes for prisoners, former prisoners, and young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), with a flagship methodology of intensive five-day projects in which participants collaboratively write original songs, form a band, perform live and record an album. Its core product portfolio comprises Music in Prisons (including Musicians in Residence weekly placements in six prisons and an In-Cell Learning Resource), Sounding Out (through-the-gate resettlement support with paid Support Musician placements), and Making Tracks (NEET youth programming with Young Producers and Young Workshop Leader Training sub-products), supported by Special Projects such as the Lullaby Project, Notes for Peace, and an annual collaboration with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The underlying 'technology' is a proprietary project model rather than a software platform: it pairs professional working musicians (e.g., Rex Horan, Charles Stuart, Nick Hayes) under Artistic Director Sara Lee with participants, with content catalogues including children's songbooks and a 12.5-hour DVD learning resource.

Name

The Irene Taylor Trust

Legal name

The Irene Taylor Trust

Website

https://irenetaylortrust.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Irene Taylor Trust is a London-based charity, founded in 1995, that runs intensive music-making programmes with prisoners, former prisoners and NEET young people in UK prisons and communities, with additional annual delivery in Chicago through the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Music Rehabilitation & Arts Education Charity

NAICS

Educational Services (611)

akta.pro primary industry

Reentry, Rehabilitation & Reintegration Programs (Education, Vocational, Case Management) (BPAKANAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Adult Corrections (Prisons & Jails) (BPAIAFAD), Music Therapy (Educational/Developmental Programs) (EDAMANAK)

Keywords

• Music in prisons
• Youth music programs
• Prison rehabilitation
• Community music projects
• Arts education charity

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Charitable Donations & Gifts: Individual donations through the website,Become a Friend monthly giving program, major gifts, and legacy giving. The charity receives support from individuals who believe in the mission of transforming lives through music.
2. Corporate Support: Corporate partnerships and sponsorship opportunities for businesses looking to support the charity's work with marginalized populations.
3. Trust and Foundation Grants: Funding from charitable trusts and foundations including Youth Music, Charles Hayward Foundation, Field Family Trust, Sheldon Trust, St James's Place Foundation, Swire Trust, City Bridge Foundation, Julia Rausing Trust, and others.
4. Public Funding: Support from government-funded bodies including Arts Council England for specific projects and programs.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Irene Taylor Trust is a UK-registered music charity that delivers intensive songwriting, band-formation, and live music programs inside prisons, for former prisoners rebuilding their lives in the community, and for NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) young people. Its portfolio includes the flagship Music in Prisons intensive 5-day projects, ongoing Musician in Residence placements, the through-the-gate Sounding Out programme, and Making Tracks youth programmes, all of which culminate in live performances and original music recordings created with professional musicians.

Product overview

The Irene Taylor Trust is a UK-based music charity offering a portfolio of interconnected programs centered on creating original music with marginalized individuals. Its core programs include Music in Prisons (prison-based songwriting and band projects), Sounding Out (through-the-gate support for former prisoners), and Making Tracks (youth-focused music programs for NEET young people). These are supported by progression pathways including Young Producers, Young Workshop Leader Training, and Musicians in Residence placements. The Trust also runs Special Projects including the Lullaby Project, Notes for Peace, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra partnerships. The portfolio is unified by a shared methodology: intensive creative music-making culminating in live performances and recordings. ITT provides a physical resource product (Music in Prisons in Cell Learning Resource) as a DVD/handbook for in-cell learning.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Music in Prisons Intensive 5-day in-prison projects in which groups of prisoners collaboratively write original songs, form a band, perform live, and record an album with professional musicians. Delivered in prisons across the UK for men, women, and young offenders.
• Musicians in Residence Ongoing weekly music sessions (typically one day per week) delivered in prisons by professional musicians, providing sustained instrument learning, songwriting, band work, music appreciation, and performance opportunities for prisoners.
• Sounding Out A through-the-gate programme for former prisoners that provides musical training, performance opportunities, and paid work placements as Support Musicians on Making Tracks projects, designed to support resettlement and reduce reoffending.
• Making Tracks Programme for NEET young people aged 16-25 featuring intensive workshop weeks with live performances, ongoing music sessions, and progression pathways. Delivered in London, Bristol, Kent, Manchester and Newcastle, with 57+ projects delivered to date.
• Young Producers Paid training pathway for talented young people from Making Tracks who want to develop a career in music industry events production, providing hands-on experience organising professional music events.
• Young Workshop Leader Training Paid development opportunity for promising young musicians from Making Tracks interested in becoming facilitators, including intensive training and co-delivery of Making Tracks projects with feedback from professional musicians.
• Lullaby Project Partnership with Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Resound in which parents in prison and migrant/refugee mothers in the community work with professional musicians to write personal lullabies for their children, strengthening parent-child bonds through creative arts.
• Notes for Peace Musical collaboration with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Negaunee Institute supporting people who have lost loved ones to gun violence in creating tribute songs.
• Music in Prisons in-Cell Learning Resource DVD and handbook resource containing 25 in-cell music lessons covering music theory, songwriting, guitar, keyboard, and soloing/improvisation, providing approximately 12.5 hours of self-directed learning content for prisoners to use independently in their cells.

Quantifiable outcome

• Social return on investment of £4.85 for every £1 invested in the Sounding Out programme
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Drake MusiccoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Two-year partnership on the Emerging Artists pilot program, supporting talented alumni from Making Tracks and Sounding Out to develop as artists and music facilitators, with individual mentoring and collaborative opportunities.
• Kestrel TheatresupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Collaboration on original pantomimes with live music created with men in prison to perform to their families, delivered in 2018, 2019, and 2022.
• Royal Philharmonic Orchestra ResoundcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Collaboration on the Lullaby Project in the UK, working with parents in prison and refugee/migrant mothers in the community to create personal lullabies. Partnership expanded through three phases with Arts Council England support.
• Praxis Community ProjectssupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Partnership for Lullaby Project with migrant and refugee mothers from the WINGS group, creating lullabies for their children.
• Clean BreaksupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Partnership for Lullaby Project with women who have experience of the criminal justice system.
• Barbican & GuildhallsupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Collaboration with undergraduate music students from their Performance and Creative Enterprise course on ITT projects.
• Synergy TheatresupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016Collaboration on theatre productions with live musical scores at HMP Thameside (A Raisin in the Sun, 2016) and HMP Brixton (Fallout, 2009), combining theatrical performances with original music.
• Chicago Symphony OrchestracoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2013Annual collaboration since 2013 where ITT shares expertise in working with prisoners. Sara Lee and Nick Hayes train CSO musicians, and together they deliver projects at Cook County Juvenile Detention Centre. Also includes collaboration on Notes for Peace (gun crime tributes) and Lullaby Project through Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute.
• Carnegie Hall Weill Music InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2013Through CSO collaboration, ITT is involved in Carnegie Hall's Lullaby Project, facilitating projects in Chicago as part of the international program.
• Royal Academy of Music Open AcademysupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2012Music students from the Royal Academy of Music join Sounding Out projects as guest musicians, gaining valuable outreach experience while enhancing project productions with instruments like cello and double bass.
• The Prince's TrustsupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2012Partnership organization for Making Tracks NEET young people program, providing referrals and support for disadvantaged youth.
• Trinity LabansupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2012Partnership for Making Tracks projects, contributing musical expertise and facilities.
• Rideout (Creative Arts for Rehabilitation)supportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2011Collaboration on 'A Bigger Sound' (2011), a cross-arts project with adult men at HMP The Mount, involving Royal Philharmonic Orchestra musicians.
• National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance (NCJAA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2008Founding steering group member since 2008 and lead partner in research projects including Inspiring Futures. The NCJAA is a UK alliance of organizations using arts in criminal justice settings.
• Movable Barres (European Partnership)supportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2008Two-year European project (2008-2010) sharing effective practice techniques in music and dance across organizations from Bulgaria, Denmark, England, Greece, Italy, Northern Ireland, and Norway. Included delivery of a prototype project in Sonder Omme prison, Denmark.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Fine Cell Work: UK charity training prisoners in creative needlework with paid work and post-release pathways. Operates the same 'creative skill-building inside prison → paid work and progression outside' model that defines ITT's Music in Prisons → Sounding Out pipeline.
• Clean Break: Theatre company for women with experience of the criminal justice system, delivering creative programmes inside and outside prison. ITT partners with Clean Break on the Lullaby Project, and both organizations serve overlapping beneficiary populations (women affected by criminal justice).
• Koestler Arts: UK charity encouraging arts by prisoners through awards, exhibitions, and creative opportunities. Operates in the same prison-arts space as ITT with comparable beneficiary profile and UK criminal-justice funder ecosystem, though focuses on visual rather than performing arts.
• Synergy Theatre: UK theatre company working with prisoners and ex-prisoners, including inside-category and through-the-gate programmes. ITT lists Synergy as a direct partner on cross-arts projects at HMP Thameside and HMP Brixton, making it the closest operational peer in prison arts delivery.
• Geese Theatre Company: UK theatre company specializing in drama-based interventions in criminal justice settings (prisons, probation, young offender institutions). Comparable in delivery inside UK prisons with creative-arts methodology aimed at rehabilitation.
• Rideout (Creative Arts for Rehabilitation): UK charity using creative arts for rehabilitation in prisons, with whom ITT partnered on 'A Bigger Sound' (2011) involving Royal Philharmonic Orchestra musicians. Both organizations focus on music and multi-arts delivery for rehabilitation outcomes.
• Music in Detention: UK charity delivering music workshops in immigration detention centres, sharing ITT's delivery model of original music creation with marginalized populations in custodial settings and a similar small-charity funding base.
• Carnegie Hall Weill Music Institute (Lullaby Project): Originator of the Lullaby Project, which ITT now delivers in the UK as a partner. Shares the same parental-bond-through-songwriting methodology with vulnerable families and is the international parent programme for ITT's Lullaby work.

Broad incumbents

• Chicago Symphony Orchestra Negaunee Institute: CSO's community and education arm, with which ITT has collaborated annually since 2013 at Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Centre. A larger institutional player bringing music to underserved and justice-involved populations in Chicago; operates ITT's model as part of a broader portfolio.

Regional players

• Prison Arts Coalition: US-based network of artists, educators and administrators working in correctional settings. Operates in the same arts-in-criminal-justice space as ITT but focused on the US market, providing a regional peer view of comparable methodology.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/IreneTaylorTrust
• Facebookfacebook.com/MusicInPrisons
• Instagraminstagram.com/irenetaylortrustmusic
• Xx.com/MusicinPrisons

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Irene Taylor Trust