Why W+K London Is Going Back to School

The UK creative industries are worth £71.4 billion per year, or £8 million every hour to the UK economy. With growth of 10 per cent in 2012 it outperformed all other sectors of UK industry and accounts for 5.6 per cent of UK jobs. Which makes it all the more startling that in most UK inner-city state schools, just 30 minutes per week are dedicated to kids’ creativity. 

Wieden+Kennedy London is looking to help school kids flourish with the launch of Forever Curious, a ‘social good’ platform that sees agency employees in one-on-one situations with the youngsters. Forever Curious Co-founder, and Director of Communications and Behavioural Planning at W+K London, Danni Mohammed, explained: “The intention of Forever Curious is to harness the curiosity and creativity in young people, and in exchange to bring this alive in adults. It has always been a Wiedenism [rules the agency lives by], but until this moment, we haven’t truly brought it to life. Doing this through the lens of children is one of the most powerful ways we can appreciate it, and more importantly, the children can learn to stay on their creative path as they get older and become less uninhibited.

“What’s most important is having one-on-one contact between the child and the W+K buddy, so that the adult can help nurture the creative path of that child.”

Last week saw the first ever Forever Curious project, My Creative Spark, showcased in London’s East End. The initiative is based around the simple question, ‘when do you feel most creative?’. The children were invited to illustrate their answers on specially made ‘Spark Cards’. “It could be a trigger of inspiration, the act of doing something, being with others, and more,” said Mohammed. “There are no right or wrongs, but what we’ve found trialling the project with children and W+K volunteers is that they are personal and true to the individual. We want to encourage children and adults to remember to surround themselves with it and to share it with others.”

The workshops involved children from three different age groups and two differing schools participate in activities that were derived from the basis of each creative spark. They included robot building with recycled materials, flower arranging and life-size superhero creation complete with special creativity power. “Some boys were happy playing with the parachute, but were also creative with flower arranging, putting their own ideas to it and creating a ‘flower monster’ for example,” mused Mohammed. “Overall, I was more surprised by the reactions of W+K volunteers that took part; how fulfilling it was for them to experience creativity through the eyes of a child.”

Creativity in schools has long been a hot topic of discussion in the UK, with former University of Warwick Professor of Arts Education, Sir Ken Robinson, extensively campaigning for its importance. And despite former Secretary of State Education - he was replaced just a few weeks ago in a cabinet reshuffle - Michael Gove’s apparent assertions of creativity’s importance, Mohammed feels that there’s still a lot of work to be done. “I think that creativity needs to be embraced by the government, acknowledging the personal needs and nature of children and appreciating the true effect of how the prolific instalment and self-empowerment of technology is reshaping our jobs. Children need to be given the option from the get-go and their own creative appetites needs to be protected and nurtured. This can only happen if children have the freedom and time to tune into their own creativity. This conflicts with the current structure in place and so establishing a new programme would need to be considered, with each subject having a fairer weighting.”

Upon seeing its effects first-hand during My Creative Spark, Mohammed also noted the importance of extra-curricular nurturing from creative professionals. “Children need to be given the option from the get-go and their own creative appetites needs to be protected and nurtured.  This can only happen if children have the freedom and time to tune into their own creativity.  This conflicts with the current structure in place and so establishing a new programme would need to be considered, with each subject having a fairer weighting.”