Art Against Knives

Art Against Knives intervenes early to prevent young people from becoming victims or perpetrators of violent crime.

We embed creative spaces in London’s most isolated communities, co-designed with young people, that build on their strengths and create opportunity.

These award winning spaces include a music studio and multiple nail bars, all open 48 weeks of the year. In these spaces our team of creative, highly skilled professionals provide skills training, mentoring and specialist support.

Our spaces have become highly effective reporting mechanisms, enabling young people to come forward about major problems they experience, and access the support they need - putting them in the lead in safe and trusted environments and connecting them with multi-agency support.

What makes our approach special is that we are fully rooted in communities and at the same connected with industry and specialist support. We work with participants long-term as their needs cannot be met through short-term, one-off interventions; we always co-produce our programmes and enable young people to shape the support they need. We build trusted relationships, resulting in participants’ active engagement: they seek our support when they face significant risks and challenges.