REFERENCES & INSPIRATIONS FOR AN ANTI KNIFE CRIME CAMPAIGN

For PROJECT X I am going to have an initial creative workshop of melting down knives and creating and making rings and other forms of jewellery from the melted down knives. This is for various reasons but the biggest reason to do this specific creative process is to gain media traction and interest while delivering a very different form of creative outlet to teenagers and young adults that are involved or effected by knife crime and gang violence but want to do something positive and to change their ways.

For this to be as successful as possible I need to come up with a suitable campaign that runs along this creative workshop to push the ideology of PROJECT X, what the workshop is, where is it and how I will be gaining the interest of teenagers and young adults to come to the workshops and, hopefully, leave the 'road life' behind and replace it with creativity and prosperity.

in this blog I will be going through the various anti knife crime campaigns and chartities that I have found and will be analysing what I think I need to take and adapt and put into my PROJECT X campaign in hope to make it as effective as possible.

https://benkinsella.org.uk

The Ben Kinsella trust is an anti knife crime educational charity that was established after the death of Ben Kinsella due to a stabbing. The Ben Kinsella trust focuses on the education of young people about the danger of knife crime, how to prevent it and from this they hope to teach the individuals about respect, dealing with anger, peer pressure and many other scenarios in which young people have to deal with.

"We are a young person's charity and we believe in prevention through education. We adopt a universal and early intervention approach aimed at preventing young people from making the wrong choices and helping them to stay safe."

What I find important with the Ben Kinsella trust's work is that they tailor their anti knife crime campaigns to the various age groups that need to understand the severity of knife crime but on different levels as a child aged 12 needs to be told in a different way to a kid aged 16 for various reasons. This has also helped them to then get it integrated into the education system and has legitimised and increased the campaigns effectiveness.

The website is also very engaging and clear and supplies to viewer with extremely clear information and statistics on knife crime (see below).

I think that this is important and needed, knife crime is a huge problem and the statitsics need to be clear and updated so it constantly updates the public of the issue.

As well as this, The Ben Kinsella Trust also do online learning, which I think is a really good touch - Again the website is extremely easy, clear and nice to use which on a user design and user experience note, is important (see below).

Another example of excellent campaign work from The Ben Kinsella Trust is the 'collaboration' with Eastenders.

Brooke Kinsella (MBE), a family member of Ben Kinsella, also so a part of the Eastenders cast was able to sit down with the Eastenders directors and come up with a way of promoting the anti knife crime campaign messages into the Eastenders story line

"Soaps reflect real life and issues in society, so I commend them for highlighting something like this. I know they can be tough to watch, but I think it’s so important and necessary."

The story line adaptation was able to point out various points of which are important regarding knife crime, how it happens, how it comes about and from this, what needs to be done on various different levels to help solve this problem.

As well as this, The Ben Kinsella Trust created an exhibition in Finsbury path which outline 3 different roads in which an individual who carries a knife can take - Prison, death or the effect on which the individual has on the victim and the family if they use the knife. This exhibition had incredible success and at the time was receiving huge praise and has had well over 7000 children go through it and engage with the anti knife crime campaign.

What I think is the thing to take away from the Ben Kinsella Trust's campaign work is how official it is and how it is integrated into education - It is a huge message and has reached so many people, I think making PROJECT X into an official campaign/charity/business whatever you want to call it, PROJECT X needs to become a movement and it must become official in the sense of being able to get into the education system and collaborating with councils and the government to become as big and as effective as possible.

Also, the website and information that is laid out nicely and easily digestible is a really good aspect of this trust and campaign.

https://www.knifefree.co.uk

Knifefree is a very large and successful anti knife crime campaign that has been at the forefront of this message for a long time. Knifefree has been endorsed by many large businesses and focuses on telling the 'real stories' of young individuals who have chosen to drop the knife and live knife free, telling their stories of what stopped them wanting to carry a knife and the journey that that put them on.

The simplicity of the message knife free pushes has grown it massively, which is important for a campaign with such a strong message - Knife crime is a very deep issue with various factors that can cause confusion, having such a simple, clear message of knife free helps people understand and engage with the campaign.

Focusing on the real stories of individuals is a really poignant angle as the statistics of knife crime are quite daunting and hollow - Putting individuals down to numbers is never a good thing, so focusing on the story of people effected by knife crime is important and works really nicely.

I really want to incorporate the story telling from individuals involved or effected by knife crime and gang violent into PROJECT X - I want to focus on influencers and artists effected by this issue and let them tell the story of the struggle of knife crime and gang violence, what comes with that and how it held them back from being successful in their creative field.

However, on a more negative note, Knifefree released a knife free campaign which revolved around spreading the message through the means of CHICKEN SHOP PACKAGING...

An extremely tasteless and out of touch idea which resulted in huge backlash and the public labelling knife free again, out of touch, racist and spending money stupidly when it could go to the community or charities that are fighting the roots of the issues around knife crime and gang violence.

I feel as though this is an important factor to make sure my PROJECT X campaign takes into account, PROJECT X needs to make sure to talk to the demographic in a way that engages them and attracts them to take part or at least listen to the message. This brings up the question, what does this certain demographic of 16-24 year olds in the poorer communities in society listen to, look up to and believe in?

"PWR youth's mission is to work with communities to engage, inspire and educate young people; empowering them through leadership development, improving communication and creating a network of support, assisting them in becoming innovative and integrative leaders and to affect positive change in their local communities."

A lot like what PROJECT X revolves around, PWR focuses on investing in young people and pushing them to become successful in various different ways. PWR wants to grow the youth of today into better invidiuals in hope that this creates a positive change in society.

"Academics consistently advocate solutions that put children and young people first. Here are some proposed solutions for the UK government:

• Stop stigmatising young people – listen to them instead

• Divert children and young people away from toxic environments and into positive, nurturing ones that meet their basic needs

• Invest in youth services, social care and extracurricular activities

• Provide educational support to reduce school exclusions and improve outcomes

• Work with families and communities to support, educate and rehabilitate young people

• Invest in community-based policing to restore trusting relations

• Create opportunities for training and employment to improve young people’s chances finding work and building professional relationships"

PWR youth focus on various different outlets for the participants to engage with, from creating a magazine to blogs and to various other campaigns, PWR youth has a really good network of creative outcomes that push the message of the charity and promote prosperity and creativity.

PWR youth believe a lot in what I believe in, increased police funds and backing to ensure more stop and searches, raids, arrests etc. will NOT make this problem better, but by investing in communities and young people, listening to them and understanding the issues - This is the way forward to ensuring our society tackles this public health issue, in the form of knife crime and gang violence, properly.

"PWR Magazine is a youth culture and lifestyle magazine that features music, fashion, sport, gaming, film, technology, news, interviews as well as social topical issues affecting the youth.

It is released quarterly as print and digital, distributing copies to colleges, universities, youth hubs, independent stores, as well as the general public via individual volunteer distros.

PWR Magazine also provides a platform for young people to demonstrate, develop and present their writing, photography and journalistic abilities through workshops and training programmes in media, business, and life skills organised by YOUTH PWR INT'L, an organisation set up to engage, inspire and educate young people, in order to develop their employability prospects. Following their media workshops, interested young people can practice what they've learnt by contributing to the creation of the publication."

This is a really good reference for PROJECT X as I believe PWR youth are doing exactly what is needed, investment and belief in the youth to create projects of high quality and giving opportunities to individuals, which in turn will help reduce knife crime and gang violence.

Creative Youth is a charity based in Kington that delivers creative youth worksop's in hope to kick start young artists careers and give them the best possible chance in having a good career within the arts industry.

"Artists and participants are encouraged to take initiatives, risks and push boundaries within their own work. In close collaboration with key partners, Creative Youth aspires to mentor young individuals, entrepreneurs and organisations by providing artistic business and strategic support, allowing the next generation of artists to flourish."

As Creative Youth is very close to what PROJECT X is wanting to become I think it is important to take note of this charity and see what they are doing well and what I should be taking note of, but also tailoring that to PROJECT X and the specific problems it is trying to help solve.

Creative Youth have done very well in the projects in which they've achieved and the outcomes from this. They have an 'international youth arts festival' which runs yearly and comes highly recommended. Hosting the best up and coming artists, their charity has branched out and is now the makers of one of the best young artist festivals.

This is really good to see as it shows how far this can go, by creating a charity that has an important meaning it can be grown into something larger. For PROJECT X I think that this is exactly how things will go, I believe PROJECT X will become a movement and business, not just a charity fighting a cause, PROJECT X will become a desirable brand that simply helps and pushes young people in certain demographics to become successful in the creative arts, wether thats jewellery design or rapping, PROJECT X will be hosting these various creative workshops and getting many individuals involved in a wide array creative fields.

Looking at the anti knife crime campaigns, like the examples above, i feel as though they are pointing out all the negative points and providing no solutions. We know that knife crime is terrible and carrying a knife is Acrime, we know that knives costs lives - But where's the help? What does the person holding the knife do instead? Hand the knife in and get arrested? Stop carrying a knife but still live the exact same life as he/she did before?

The point I am trying to make is that these campaigns are not working well enough and are only spreading the PROBLEM and not the SOLUTION. In most of these anti knife campaigns they move towards the criminalisation theme instead of the 'investing in community' or 'helping the individuals' (the root causes) which doesn't sit well with me. It seems as though the government want to push this negative, crime story when in regards to knife crime and gang violence, instead of trying to help them.

For me I want to do the exact opposite, I want PROJECT X to come across as an appealing multi media business that allows for these individuals involved in knife crime and gang violence the opportunity to leave that life instantly and get involved in creative workshops and build their knowledge, skills and portfolios to a high standard allowing them to move on with their life in a positive way.

I do not want it to look like a charity that screams out 'the people who use this charity are poor or criminals that need a second chance'

I do not want it to look like an incriminating, scare mongering campaign that doesnt even appeal to the individuals who are involved and only alienates them further and scares the general public by using bloody posters of stab wounds or knives.

I normally love using the colours of red and black but for me, using it in this project for PROJECT X is the complete wrong angle and idea, I think that the use of blood and anger and the weapons takes away the story of the person behind the knife and paints a picture which the main stream media want - Which is violent criminals who LOVE violence.

PROJECT X needs to come across as a club or studio agency type thing that appeals to the individuals involved because it is better than what they are doing, not because they will get arrested for it. Allocating the recourses and equipment to these people and let them know that this path is sitting right there ready for them to take it is what I want, and I believe this will work.

Next step is to build my PROJECT X campaign which involves the message of dropping the knives and joining PROJECT X as well as the first PROJECT X workshop of melting the knives down and making them into jewelry (jewelry design).