ABOUT
Home Ground is a collaborative creativity and wellbeing initiative for women who have experienced incarceration or are involved in the justice system.
Home Ground provides a space where women in the justice system can pause, nurture hope, inspire social change, and create better lives for themselves and future generations. In Home Ground projects, artists—both inside and outside of prison—collaborate to create works of art through dance, performance, photography, writing, painting, and music, addressing the challenges faced by women and whānau in the justice system.
Based in Omārōrō Newtown, Wellington, Home Ground delivers programmes and workshops within the Wellington community, Arohata Women’s Prison, and Christchurch Women’s Prison.
Home Ground projects use creative arts as a non-threatening, strengths-based approach to promote self-empowerment, community connection, and overall wellbeing.
Vision
Women in the justice system discover their value and purpose through the power of creativity.
Purpose
Women are empowered to activate social change and create better lives for themselves, their children and future generations.
Mission
Provide the space and opportunities women need to explore their artistic talent, engage in creative processes and access high-quality arts and artists, and support them to create healthy, happy homes.
Promise
To enable women to safely learn about themselves and their life stories through creativity.
Guiding principles
Creativity matters
Do no harm
Nothing about us without us
Honour the wisdom of lived experience
Strength through connectedness
Trust the process
Our team
The Home Ground practice model was created over four projects facilitated by creative director Jacqui Moyes and clinical director Anita Grafton.
Meet our team of facilitators who will be with you at your workshop.
Jacqui Moyes
Creative Director | Project Manager | Lead Facilitator
Jacqui co-founded Home ground in 2019. Her current work as the Creative Director has been focused on upskilling the wider Home Ground whānau, whilst securing contracts for other mahi that speaks to the Home Ground kaupapa.
Jacqui is a staunch advocate for the arts, and specialises in community development through creative collaboration. Jacqui has worked previously as the Arts in Corrections Advisor for Arts Access Aotearoa, and as an advisor to the Chief Censor of the Office of Film and Literature Classification. Jacqui has experience mentoring families engaged in social services, delivering and designing prison arts programmes, coordinating arts events and has a background in community performing arts.
Jacqui’s ability to collaborate with a range of incredible people allows her to do the work she does. She also has a firm belief in ‘do no harm’ and ‘nothing about us without us’. These guiding principles help to keep her projects safe when facing the challenges inherent in the justice system. Jacqui works hard to support creative opportunities and the benefits that come from them.
Kaizah Cootes
Tuakana / emerging Artist
Kaizah has been part of Home Ground since 2021, bringing her creativity, resilience, and compassion to every project she touches. A widowed mother of many, her lifelong passion for making and creating began with knitting, sewing, and crafting alongside her mum, later growing into a love for poetry and art, audio design, and weaving. Through sharing her creative skills with others, Kaizah has built strong connections within her community. She continues to inspire those around her through her resourcefulness, generosity, and commitment to giving back.
Pip
Visual Artist | Tuakana | Fellowship recipient
Ngāti Porou I Te Aitanga a Māhaki I Ngāti Hako
Pip has been with Home Ground since the very first project in 2019. As a visual artist, Pip can see, hear and feel an artwork through what others share with her. She has spent the last five years developing her art practice with the Home Ground collective. Pip was recently awarded the 2024 Whakahoa Kaitoi i Te Ara Poutama Arts in Corrections Artist Fellowship: to explore painting, using natural materials from Te Tairāwhiti and the Wellington area, reconnecting with whenua (land) while learning the kaupapa behind painting with whenua.
Rachel Vincent
Creative Advisor
Rachel has been with us since our very first prison project at Arohata Prison in 2019. Since then, she has contributed to more than five Home Ground projects—as a dancer, writer, performer, collaborator, cheerleader, and now as our Creative Advisor. Rachel is currently in her final year of a university degree in Sociology. She also serves as a board member for the Howard League for Penal Reform and sits on the Lived Experience Panel for the Youth Justice Coalition.
Narni
Tuakana / Emerging Artist
Ngāti Porou
Ko Hikurangi te maunga
Ko Waiapu te awa
Ko Horouta te waka
Ko Ngāti Porou tōku Iwi
Ko Rāhui tōku marae
Ko Sharn tōku ingoa
As a valued member of Home Ground since 2020, Narni leads by example, drawing on her mother’s artistry and her own skills in weaving, both with words and harakeke, to share knowledge and support Home Ground and other wāhine. As an emerging artist, Sharn combines dedication to her family with her growing creative practice in meaningful ways.
Tui Dunlop
Community Connector
Ngāpuhi
With deep roots in the Pōneke community, Tui has worked for a number of years as a community worker, and more recently as an addiction practitioner working with women experiencing homelessness. Tui is passionate about fostering healing spaces that are inclusive and empowering for all wāhine and their whānau. Tui strives to uplift wāhine and their whānau in a way that honours their inherent strength, dignity, and cultural identity.
Vane Vivas
Creative support | Co-facilitator in training | Art Therapist in training
Vanessa’s (Vane) eternal love connection with art led her to pursue a Bachelor in Fine Arts (Sculpture) which she completed in her hometown of Bogota, Colombia in 2015. After a few years of adventures in places far from the Andes, uncomfortable encounters with art, and lots of overthinking she realised that creativity is the biggest gift for self-care and self-exploration. A gift that she thinks needs to be re-discovered by as many people as possible.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, and hungry to dig deeper into creativity and it’s beautiful relationship with the self, she decided to start her studies in Art Therapy in Aotearoa. She is currently in her second year of the Masters degree in Creative Arts Therapies (Clinical) at Whitecliffe.
Vane’s journey with Home Ground began in 2023 as she reached out to volunteer while taking a break from Uni. Vane has now found a home with us, and is excited to join HG in 2024 as a Co-facilitator in training and Creative Support – hoping to apply her learnings and contribute to the community.
She firmly believes that Art and creativity can change lives.
Anita Grafton
Clinical Director | Mental Health & Addictions Specialist | Clinical Facilitator | Counsellor
Anita, our much-loved friend, colleague and inspiration passed away in October 2020.
Anita had a real commitment to incorporating creative approaches to rehabilitation and recovery. She was the Director and Principal Counsellor of Time to Talk, a therapeutic counselling company that provides counselling along with mental health consultancy.
Anita was a graduate of the University of Salford (UK), where she received a BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences, and had many years experience working within education, mental health and addiction services in England and New Zealand.
In 2013 Anita became clinical manager of the Drug Treatment Unit at Arohata Prison, and was responsible for streamlining and improving efficiency of services, as well as providing alcohol and other drug counselling support for over 100 prisoners. Anita led the team that received the Highly Commended award from Arts Access Aotearoa for creativity in prisons in 2016.
After leaving the Department in 2017, Anita went on to manage an addictions service within the Wellington community. In 2019 Anita graduated with a degree in social services with a major in counselling and received the distinguished alumni award for work in her field in 2020.
We miss you Anita.
