Village Raw - ISSUE 1

PROFILE
CREATIVITY
“I feel that the boys on the block, in the hood, could
facilitate their conversations better... My job on planet earth
is to create spaces that enable people to think.”
IS
Words and photo by David Reeve
POWER
It’s taken us two weeks to get this interview with Rickardo Stewart
and he arrives at Hornsey Town Hall on time, which is great
because every minute of his day is scheduled. His phone hasn’t
stopped ringing since March, when he won Youth Professional
of the Year at the London Youth Awards. “It’s not so much about
me,” he says. “It’s about the work that’s being recognised.”
Rickardo is the Serious Youth Violence lead for Art Against
Knives, a charity set up in 2008 after the unprovoked stabbing
of Central Saint Martins student Oliver Hemsley. Since its inception,
the charity has helped over 1,000 people through a series
of creative personal development programmes. Rickardo’s past
means he understands the needs and the gaps in youth provision.
“I grew up on the Grange Estate in East Finchley,” he says.
“Unfortunately, 11 years ago my friends murdered somebody.
Around the same time I got diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. The
day my friend killed this guy I was in hospital getting the first
medication for my Crohn’s.”
Rickardo’s time in hospital allowed him to reflect on his situation,
and he made a decision “to provide positive opportunities
for children and young people that came from the same environments
that I came from. I wanted to see good.”
It was after he started volunteering in an East Finchley youth
club and began training in youth provision that he was introduced
to Katy Dawe, who co-founded Art Against Knives. “She’s
a powerhouse,” he says. “We just put our heads together and
co-designed, with the community, a nail bar called Dollis Dolls
that engages with local female participants. I think females
make the world go round.”
Since 2012 they’ve supported the personal and professional
development of over 580 young women through the scheme,
while other projects and collaborations have included pop-up
music studio The Lab, Design+Make with London College of
Fashion, and a weekly martial arts and fitness training session
called Studio N2.
As a part of his outreach Rickardo is always looking out for
the right “tools, props, people and places” to allow participants
to self-direct their own learning. “I feel that the boys on the
block, in the hood, need to facilitate their conversations a lot
better,” he says. “My job on planet earth is to create spaces that
enable people to think.”
It’s all about making the projects appropriate and accessible
and Rickardo’s background gives him the understanding to do
that. “Let’s be creative and let’s see a way where we can reach
these people,” he says. “We built it with these people so they
have ownership of it. And they have the opportunity to steer it
in the right direction. And if you give people the right platform to
design their own thing it’s going to come out great.”
He cites himself as an example: “I have no GCSEs you know,
and I get to sit with people from government thinktanks and influential
leaders in London, and be included in some amazing exchanges.
And I’m not academic. All from self-education. Picking
up the right books and having the right conversations.”
Rickardo founded the social enterprise Community Souls
Cleaning Company as a further platform for people from disadvantaged
areas to get on to the employment ladder. “We deliver
commercial cleaning,” he says. “Our staff all have a personal development
plan. It’s about supporting our staff - setting goals.”
In an era of continued austerity and cuts he is looking to develop
self-reliant and self-sustainable models and while Community
Souls is not-for-profit, it’s generating just enough money
to stay afloat. To date the company has employed 18 people and
just two minutes after our interview ends Rickardo is already in
a meeting around the corner discussing a further contract. •
To find out more about the work of Community Souls and Art Against Knives visit:
www.communitysouls.co.uk
www.artagainstknives.com
12 13