ABOUT US
OUR STORY
Art Against Knives was created in response to the stabbing of Oliver Hemsley, a 21-year-old student from Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in 2008, leaving him in a wheelchair.
We’ve spent the past 15 years establishing ourselves as one of London’s pioneering Social Justice organisations - making it possible for thousands of the city’s most socially excluded young people to to design their own hopeful futures, re-design local services and influence national systems change.
We’ve spent most of this time embedded in London’s second largest borough, Barnet, having been invited in by the community who faced significant risk, had limited access to local support and were committed to driving change. We’ve invested in building trusted, long-term relationships with the borough's most vulnerable young people - listening and learning from them, co-designing safe, creative spaces, investing in their ideas, amplifying their voices and putting them in the lead of change.
Together we’ve created a highly effective community based model for reducing violence, abuse, exploitation and harm. Our approach is collaborative, creative and trauma informed and underpinned by co-production, contextual safeguarding and anti-oppressive practices.
OUR IMPACT
Our impact has been significant- we’ve transformed the lives of over 2000 socially excluded young people, changed local services and influenced best practice across the country. Critically, we’ve demonstrated what it takes to address the root causes of violence and harm, making it possible for a community of young people to heal and thrive.
In our 15 years of driving this work, it’s never felt more challenging. The harm faced by young people feels more severe than ever yet the funding landscape is disparate with funders constantly telling us they are oversubscribed. This is what drives us to do all we can to secure the vital funds we need to ensure we keep our doors open.
Thank you for helping us make this happen.