A voice for the voiceless

Hear Me Out takes music-making into UK immigration detention centres to release the words, music and life stories of people held inside.

The music of people who need to be heard

We help people inside immigration detention centres to express their humanity through music – to air their losses and fears, their hopes and their dreams. And we help everyone outside to hear the music and understand the lives of people trapped inside. We’re working for the day when all migrants are treated with dignity.

26,436

Workshop participants

642

Songs recorded

95%

Feel better afterwards

Prefer not to say

Person in detention

"You totally forget all about your troubles. You get in here and before you know it you’ve almost forgotten your issues and you’re calm for a few hours"

Pressure

Oliver

Shammi

Lead Artist

“The energy here was great, the band loved it and so did the audience. People were laughing, smiling and dancing”

Smile

Shammi

How we work

We have an incredibly talented team of musicians from all over the world who are trained to work with people held within the closed detention system.

Music-making in immigration detention centres

Our artists lead 120 workshops a year with a range of instruments from different cultures and recording equipment, with one aim: to empower people of all abilities and backgrounds in detention centres to create music. We also develop workshops around multiple new art forms including dance, theatre and multi-media.

Musician residencies

We also work in immigration detention centres on more long-term projects, where the same musician will lead regular sessions. This enables everyone involved to build confidence, to find strength and to grow their musicianship, resulting in an even higher quality of music and bigger, longer-lasting changes to their wellbeing.

Community exchanges

We link up people who are held inside immigration detention centres with community groups who may find themselves shut off and stigmatised by society, such as mental health settings and youth groups, Unable to meet in person, they connect through music. Walls are broken down as both groups use music as a channel to understand each other better, and together create an original album of their own music.

Special projects and events

We hold special performances and projects across the year, bringing people who are currently detained and those who are now free together with communities, choirs and musicians. We bring their incredible music, made in extraordinary circumstances, to a wider audience, encouraging people to talk about the issues of immigration detention. During COVID we are developing new ways of delivering our work in detention centres, which include specially commissioned arts activity packs and DIY radio.

Where we work

We work with people all over the UK, especially inside the seven immigration detention centres and the wider communities around them.

Join a chorus of music-lovers bringing refuge and release to immigration detainees

If you love music, you know the power it has. When you’re held in UK immigration detention with no end in sight, music can be the difference between keeping or losing your sanity. By giving the joy of playing and writing music, you help those taken away find refuge, strength and release. An escape from the daily mental torture of being locked up inside. That’s the power of music.

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