PEETA stands for(Personal Effectiveness and Employability Through the Arts). #
The program concentrates on the skills a non-artist can acquire through art education.
After the activities, skills are evaluated and, if they meet certain criteria, participants are entitled to a so-called SEPE certificate (Supporting Employability and Personal Effectiveness), which is a diploma that can help them get employed. This project has been piloted in six different European countries. The PEETA projects have been significantly different from previous prison theater projects in Anglo-Saxon countries. Shakespeare Behind Bars, for example, takes an existing text (The Tempest) as basis for the performance.
By contrast, the Dutch PEETA project Rob in da Hood allows a lot more creative freedom to the participants and has a different goal. The PEETA method and with it the SEPE certificate are applied to several prison education projects in Europe, according to the promoters with great success. However, the project does not have tangible, recorded results so far, and internal reports are vague in showing an actual, positive outcome.
This is the reason I will try to specify what the PEETA project and the SEPE certificate are and how the Dutch Rob in da Hood project benefits from this. Subsequently I will evaluate the available information about the Dutch project, revealing possibilities for further improvement of the Dutch project and European project in general
