Edit history

The Songbirds Project facilitates song-writing, theatre and arts workshops in NSW prisons. A project of the Community Restorative Centre in NSW, and inspired by successful overseas prison-arts programs such as Jail Guitar Doors, Bread and Roses (US and UK) and Vox Liminis (Scotland) Songbirds imports successful contemporary songwriters/ performers into the prison environment in order to share their skills, mentor incarcerated songwriters, and allow the creative talent that is locked up inside prisons an opportunity to grow. Songs are conceived, written and recorded inside prisons during the workshops, and then produced, mixed and mastered externally. Since its inception in 2017, the Songbirds Program has run numerous workshops in 10 prisons (from Long Bay to Broken Hill), supported hundreds of participants inside prisons to write songs, and released FIVE highly acclaimed albums. The songs from these albums, and the remarkable success of the project itself have received regular media attention, including national TV (Studio 10) and radio airplay across Australia including on Radio National, ABC local radio (Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, Brisbane) Koori Radio, 2SER and multiple other community stations. Corrective Services have purchased 100 of the CDs to be distributed to every prison library throughout NSW. The program and music have received glowing reviews and profile articles in prestigious industry publications such as Rolling Stone, Rhythms, and The Beast. There has been great demand for the Songbirds Program inside NSW prisons. CRC Songbirds Coordinator Murray Cook has seen firsthand not just the transformative power of music, but also the subsequent educational and vocational opportunities that participation in such programs can have. He is long acquainted with the high level of creativity and musical talent within the walls of NSW Prisons having taught music, songwriting and recording at Long Bay and other Correctional Centres for 21 years. Murray's work in this space has received regular recognition including being a finalist in the NSW Premiers Awards for Public Service and receiving multiple nominations for ARIA Music Teacher of the Year. However, aside from his achievements as an educator, Murray Cook has also had a long career himself as a successful musician. He has performed, written and produced songs with Midnight Oil, Mental as Anything, Warumpi Band, Mixed Relations, Leah Purcell and Marlene Cummins. As a result of 40 years touring locally and internationally, he has a wide circle of accomplished and successful songwriters, producers and promoters at his fingertips. He was invited as a keynote speaker at the International Conference of Arts in Mental Health in 2018, and as a speaker/performer at the Addi Road Writer’s festival in 2021 and 2023, and an ACEA Webinar in 2023. He was a speaker at the International EPEA Conference on Arts in Prison in Oslo, Norway in June 2023, the ARTA national conference in August 2023, ACEA podcast/webinar and the BAD Crime writer’s Festival in November 22023