Folkestone Collective Community Interest Company is a social enterprise that supports ex-offenders in the community. Collette Windsor from FC has teamed up with Tim Smithen, a local tattoo artist and creative soul at BRB tattoo studio on the Triennial project “Wall of Hope”. This is a collaborative street art project which will be designed by the marginalised youth of Folkestone. Young ex-offenders and other local young people will have the opportunity to attend up to 12 sessions over the summer to create their individual artistic interpretation of what hope means to them. Each piece will be on a 0.5 x 0.5 m square of MDF which will be mounted on a wall in the town alongside the creative work of their peers to create a street art mosaic of hope from Folkestone’s troubled youth. We are hoping to get enough participants to complete between 20 - 40 pieces. During the development of the ‘wall of hope’ squares, young people (aged 13 – 25) will receive advice and guidance from street artists, tattooists and peer mentors who are ex-offenders themselves. The project is designed to create a striking collaborative piece of art from Folkestone’s marginalised youth whilst at the same time providing them with a positive and constructive use of their time over the summer, giving them the opportunity to create something they’re proud of, supporting them to channel creativity in a positive way, receiving mentoring to divert them away from crime and giving them a safe space to discuss trauma and problematic lifestyles.
