School of Art community engagement
Kingston School of Art does lots to keep our local community healthy and happy. Check out some of our collaborations and initiatives to see what we’ve been up to.
Community engagement at Kingston School of Art
Cracking down on loan sharks with Kingston Council
The Council wanted a hard-hitting poster campaign to launch its loan shark prevention initiative and warn people about the dangers of illegal money lenders.
Together with the Council, we ran a competition to find the right poster designer. The competition attracted strong entries from talented students at the School.
The winning entry
Art Fashion MA student, Garfield Kar C Li won the competition with a striking poster. He said: "I decided to enter because I feel this is such a good cause to support. I felt if I could bring attention or awareness to anyone about the information and help available it would definitely be worth the effort."
Garfield's poster was displayed on Kingston town centre notice boards, and became a key asset in strengthening the community and protecting vulnerable people.
Driving local community impact
Kingston School of Art brings jobs, students and wealth to the local community, which has a positive impact on the whole country. Being one of England's leading art schools means we attract some of the most talented students from across the country and around the world.
Showcasing our best work
In 2016, we organised an event to highlight our community work and showcase some of our creative projects. Here’s how it went down:
- We invited leading business people, borough councillors and community leaders to an event on campus
- We displayed creative works from our talented students
- Guests learnt more about the works, their creators and our wider community involvement
The culmination of hours spent thinking, making and manifesting thoughts and ideas into actual things – products, furniture, paintings, prints, sculptures, photographs, films, clothing, books and buildings.
An inspiring event and a wonderful way to bring together people from right across the borough.
Supporting the Lupane Women's Centre
We partnered with the Lupane Women’s Centre in rural Matabeleland, Zimbabwe, to help women present and sell their hand-woven baskets.
The baskets are an important source of income for the women and their families, and weaving them is a craft that’s been handed down orally for generations. But when we first started working together, none of the designs were catalogued, which made the making process inefficient.
Shared knowledge and problem solving
We joined forces with the Zimbabwean basket weavers to exchange knowledge and find new solutions. To help the community, our students explored new marketing, transportation and production processes, as well as studying basket weaving designs and methods.
Global recognition and growth
As a result, the London Design Festival and the National Gallery of Zimbabwe displayed the women’s work, and the hand-woven baskets are now succeeding commercially too. Not only are they popular with tourists in Southern Africa, but they’re also stocked in specialist shops in Europe and the United States.
The manager of the Lupane Women's Centre, Hildegard Mufukare, says her members are now much more confident.
Get in touch
Got an idea for a community based project or a way to engage locally and globally? We’d love to hear from you.
