It's time to create not hate
Create Not Hate is the brainchild of Quiet Storm founder and ECD Trevor Robinson. Reflecting Trev's own journey from a disadvantaged and marginalised inner city childhood to being a leading light in UK advertising (but still one of the few people of colour), the purpose of CnH is to give kids from similar backgrounds an insight into the creative industries. It's about inspiring them to see this as a viable career option they haven't necessarily considered. But also about knocking down the barriers to this achieving this, that remain all too present as diversity figures show. Which benefits the industry itself by opening it up to these woefully under represented creative voices.
Create Not Hate originally ran as a one-off, self-funded programme back in 2007, a response to rising gun and knife crime in London. Working with Trev's old school in Lambeth, teenagers were encouraged to develop a creative response to this issue. Based on a poem written by two 15 year old boys, Jaron Williams and Alimur Raham, and co-directed by 18 year old ex-gang member Dennis Gyamfi (who has gone to achieve success in film production, most recently working with Idris Elba), A Mother's Tear still retains its potency 13 years on.
But 13 years on, the Black Lives Matter movement also shows how little has actually changed. Which is why, over recent months, QS has relaunched Create Not Hate. The objective remains the same: to unlock the suppressed creative potential of those from minority backgrounds. But this time we've taken things to another level. CnH has been reconfigured as an ongoing not-for-profit concern: a network of individuals and businesses from across the creative industries, working alongside media owners and a growing number of brands.
The first fruits of this new phase have just been rolled out, to coincide with what would have been the Notting Hill Festival. And the work is pretty outstanding.
Exploring different calls to Check Your Privilege, ideas from a number of young people have been brought to life in different media (all with the help of various CnH partners), with Trev acting as creative director across everything. And importantly, all of this is unfiltered. These are their ideas as they saw them, real and unconstrained.
First up, two powerful films, conceived by 17 year old Emmanual Areoye (who also co-directed with Trev), challenge negative racial stereotyping with the thought 'That's Not Me'.
Running along the route the Carnival would have taken in any other year, will be an equally compelling poster campaign, with executions exploring the idea of The Little Things Build Up designed by 16-year-olds Jaiden Chang, Raphael Azoba, Jennelle Fuller and Oshea Rumball (slideshow below).
Other creative ideas developed and brought to life over this first burst of Create Not Hate activity include t-shirts, print ads (both build around the check your privilege thought) and facemasks that remind us we are all the same the same under the skin (again with the help of a variety of partners). More work is planned for Black History Month in October. And if you would like to get involved in any way, do get in contact.