{{Short description|British artist, playwright and activist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Dean Stalham''' (born c. 1963)<ref name=closeddoors>{{cite news|author=Johnny McDevitt |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/sep/26/art.prisons.koestler |title=Prison art: Art from behind closed doors &#124; Art and design |newspaper=The Guardian |publisher=Theguardian.com |date= 26 September 2008|accessdate=2015-03-17}}</ref> is a British self-taught artist, playwright<ref name=WOS2010>{{cite web|url=http://www.whatsonstage.com/off-west-end-theatre/reviews/07-2010/god-dont-live-on-a-council-estate_12535.html |title=God Don't Live on a Council Estate - Reviews - 28 Jul 2010 |publisher=WhatsOnStage.com |date=2010-07-28 |accessdate=2015-03-17}}</ref> and community activist from North London. He has spent time in prison for handling stolen artworks.<ref name=chelseaflower>{{cite news|author=McDevitt, Johnny |title=Ex-thief is aiming to steal the Chelsea Flower Show |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/exthief-is-aiming-to-steal-the-chelsea-flower-show-6839441.html |work=Evening Standard|place=London |date=9 April 2009 |accessdate=2015-04-12}}</ref>

Stalham was born in north London and grew up in Cricklewood.<ref name=londonistinterview>{{cite web|author= |url=http://londonist.com/2010/04/interview_dean_stalham_art_saves_li.php |title=Interview: Dean Stalham, Art Saves Lives |publisher=Londonist.com |date=2010-04-19 |accessdate=2015-03-17}}</ref>

Mr Stalham's police charge sheet runs to several pages. In 1980, age 17, he was found guilty of stealing a car and fined £100. In 1984 he was arrested for assault; in 1986 for carrying a knife in a public place. Then in 1994, aged 31, he was jailed for two years for conspiring to defraud banks, after police smashed his fake credit card ring which stretched from Rotterdam to Lagos.<ref name=standard>{{cite web|author= |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/dispossessed/this-man-helped-me-put-down-the-gun-and-pick-up-the-camera-7306954.html |title=Interview: This man helped me put down the gun and pick up the camera |publisher=standard.co.uk |date=2012-04-20 |accessdate=2023-11-14}}</ref>

Whilst serving time in Wandsworth Prison he won a prize for his art from the Koestler Trust.<ref name=artsavedmylife>{{cite web|author=Nick Curtis |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/theatre/dean-stalham-art-saved-my-life-6497432.html |title=Dean Stalham: Art saved my life - Theatre |publisher=Standard.co.uk |date=2010-07-29 |accessdate=2015-03-17}}</ref>

He founded the Art Saves Lives community interest company<ref name=londonistinterview /> in 2009, which was dissolved in 2014.<ref name=gov.uk>{{cite web|author= |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07067188 |title=ART SAVES LIVES COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY |publisher=gov.uk |date=2009-11-05 |accessdate=2023-11-14}}</ref>

==Theatre== In 2010 Stalham wrote a play, ''God Don't Live on a Council Estate'', and staged it in an old council office building in New Cross.<ref name=crisisinarts>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2010/jul/22/crisis-arts-not-funding |title=The real crisis in the arts is not funding &#124; Stage |publisher=Theguardian.com |date=2014-08-20 |accessdate=2015-03-17}}</ref> WhatsonStage.com described it as "an emotionally gripping and riveting production",<ref name=WOS2010 /> while theguardian.com called it "different" and "of high quality".<ref name=crisisinarts />

His play, ''The Barred'', was performed in at London's Royal Court Theatre in February 2015 and at Croydon's Fairfield Halls in July 2015.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/magazine-32886237 |title=Can the arts prevent ex-prisoners from re-offending?|work=BBC News Magazine |date=2015-05-29 |accessdate=2024-07-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Bouquet, Tim |title=Not Shut Up charity offers prison inmates a path out of their cells and into the arts world |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/not-shut-up-charity-offers-prison-inmates-a-path-out-of-their-cells-and-into-the-arts-world-10163852.html|website=Independent.co.uk |date=10 April 2015 |accessdate=2024-07-14}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stalham, Dean}} Category:Living people Category:1960s births Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Artists from London Category:Founders of charities

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