Art Against Knives: Turning Creativity Into a Force Against Youth Violence
In 2008, Oliver Hemsley, a 21-year-old student at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, was stabbed in an unprovoked attack that left him using a wheelchair.
In 2008, Oliver Hemsley, a 21-year-old student at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, was stabbed in an unprovoked attack that left him using a wheelchair. A year later, his friends and fellow students responded the way art students know best: they put on an exhibition. The show raised money and awareness and drew support from some of the most celebrated names in art and fashion, with Antony Gormley, Banksy, Rankin, Tracey Emin and Wolfgang Tillmans among those who donated work. That exhibition became the starting point for Art Against Knives. Rather than let the momentum fade, the organisers set out to turn it into lasting action aimed at the root causes of knife crime. In 2011, the group registered as a charity and began running creative community projects that invite young people to design solutions to the problems they face. Since then, the organisation has engaged and supported more than 2,000 young people at risk of violent crime in London.
Starting with young people, not the problem
What sets Art Against Knives apart is its insistence that young people lead. Working alongside them and their communities, the charity has built safe, creative spaces where participants can shape their own hopeful futures. Inside those spaces, a team of skilled creative professionals offers training, mentoring and specialist support, moving at a pace and in a setting that suit each individual.
The charity concentrates on those most at risk of violence, abuse and exploitation. Alongside direct support, it helps young people imagine the change they want to see and makes sure their voices reach the systems that shape their lives. Over the years, it has become one of London's pioneering youth organisations, helping thousands of young people redesign local services and influence national change.
Spaces designed by the people who use them
The Lab, the charity's music studio, was co-designed with local young people in 2015. Every Wednesday, the charity's flagship space in north London becomes a pop-up studio where young people write, record and produce their own music. Its staff are both creative professionals and specialists in youth violence, helping young people manage conflict, plan for their safety and reach specialist services. In its 10th year, The Lab won Youth Music's Social Action Award.
Elevate began in 2014 as Vales Nails, a nail bar on East Finchley's Strawberry Vale estate, and now runs from a shop unit in North Finchley, where it has supported more than 240 young women. Visitors can get their nails done for free and learn new skills, while specialist staff, including domestic violence and young people's violence advisers, open up conversations about abuse and safety. The Design Studio, launched in March 2024, grows out of NW9 Nails on the Grahame Park estate, offering young women, girls, trans and non-binary people in Colindale mentoring, domestic abuse support and practical help with housing, benefits, school and mental health.
Projects that meet young people where they are The charity also runs targeted projects. Herstory+ is a 12-week therapeutic group, co-created by young Black and mixed-heritage women from Barnet, that helps participants explore identity and healing. Grind Szn offers workshops and one-to-one help with school, CVs, interviews and business ideas for 11- to 25-year-olds in Barnet, and Sound Lives, run with the charity Live Unlimited, spends five days helping care leavers write, produce and perform their own music. Partnerships for wider change Partnerships extend the organisation's reach. MAC UK places mental health professionals within the charity's creative spaces, and a peer-mentoring programme with Barnet Young Carers supports 250 young carers aged 10 to 24. With Liberty, Art Against Knives co-authored Holding Our Own, a report calling for non-policing approaches to serious youth violence and better-funded youth services. It has also produced first-aid animations with the British Red Cross, based on the real stories of three young Londoners, and been named a grassroots partner in Gucci's Changemakers London programme, which aims to open up the creative industries to young people from marginalised communities. Art that keeps the doors open True to its origins, the charity still raises money through art. Its online gallery sells work by young people and the wider creative community, including its Change collection, with sales funding the safe community spaces that support more than 400 young people in Barnet every year. Part of the Percent For Good portfolio Art Against Knives is also one of five charities in Percent For Good's Education and Arts Cause Portfolio. Founded by former fund manager Mark Lyttleton, Percent For Good is a UK charity on a mission to increase giving, particularly among busy professionals who want their donations to make a difference, but lack the time to research causes. Its cause portfolios allow a single regular donation to be shared among several carefully selected, high-impact organisations. In the Education and Arts portfolio, Art Against Knives sits alongside Bookmark, Create Arts, Moneyready and the Music in Secondary Schools Trust.
Mark Lyttleton
Angel investor, business mentor and speaker. He works with and invests in multiple early stage and growing companies.