Though it may have fallen out of popular conversation, knife crime is still a major issue in Nottingham, according to Oliver Sillito from the city’s Stone Soup Academy. That’s why the free school is throwing a creative showcase on Tuesday 19 July to open up conversation and challenge standing perceptions about young people and crime…
Oliver, you’ve been working with Stone Soup Academy for several years now. What is your role and what does the school specialise in?
I started at the academy in 2012 and am now Assistant Principal Leading on Behaviour for Learning at Stone Soup, which is a free school that works to ensure that students who fail to thrive in a mainstream school environment have a genuine educational alternative.
The school aims to facilitate open discussion about violence that involves young people. Do you think there is a knife crime problem in Nottingham and the UK?
Yes. You can check stats all day to see that knife crime is still an issue, and that’s why we’re doing our event in July. It is such a difficult topic to speak about for so many and that’s why we are bringing Nottingham creatives together on the night to show positive things happening in the city, as well as hearing from families and local charities trying to fight against knife crime. We will be creating opportunities, telling stories, changing minds, talking openly, hearing honest perspectives and helping to raise the issues and perceptions of knife crime in our shared communities.
Creativity equals inspiration and when young people are inspired they can set their own goals
That event is happening on Tuesday 19 July and is supported by lots of industry creatives. Who can we expect to see?
We have a whole host of guest speakers from families who have lost loved ones through knife crime, alongside local charities like Helping Kids Achieve. We also have a preview of a new short film directed by Luke Radford from Nottingham. The film was commissioned by Nottingham CYF, a charity which engages young people at risk of becoming involved in gang activity, and one of our own Stone Soup students has a starring role. As well as this, we have some of the best Nottingham talent performing, such as Lyvia, Janelle, Joel Baker and Jah Digga.
And there will also be some Stone Soup students performing. How important is it for them to be given creative outlets in Nottingham?
Massively important. There is a TED talk by Ken Robinson where he states, “Creativity is as important now in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.” What being creative means for our students is so important. It helps them to express themselves, to get some of their childhood traumas on a page, out in the open so that they can then start to heal. Creativity equals inspiration and when young people are inspired they can set their own goals.
Stone Soup’s Stand Up to Knife Crime event will be happening at Metronome on Tuesday 19 July, where they will be raising money for their cause
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