Schools across the UK have been invited to get creative and imagine a future beyond discrimination as De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) looks towards the 30th anniversary of the tragic murder of Stephen Lawrence.
Organised by DMU’s Stephen Lawrence Research Centre (SLRC), the Hopeful Futures: SL30 Creative Challenge is inviting thousands of pupils across the UK to spark conversations around how they might imagine a time when love, care, change, friendship and acceptance of each other are the norm.
They are being invited to use their talents to express their vision of hope using a variety of mediums including performance, illustration and writing, to create a gallery or wall display in their school to mark Stephen Lawrence Day on 22 April 2023. Teachers can select a number of artworks to send to the SLRC and some of those will feature in a touring exhibition across UK cities, starting at DMU’s Leicester Gallery.
Pieces from this exhibition will then be added to the Stephen Lawrence Archive held at DMU to inform researchers about young people’s perceptions of a hopeful future in the context of Stephen’s legacy.
Stephen’s mother Baroness Doreen Lawrence - former Chancellor of DMU – said: “The most extraordinary thing about Stephen, and all that his legacy has come to represent, is how wonderfully ordinary he was.
“Like every young person today, he had a lifetime’s worth of untapped hope and potential that tragically he was not allowed to explore.
“Stephen aspired to become an architect, and whilst other young people may have different ambitions, each and every one of them will become architects of their own future.
“The SLRC Hopeful Futures: SL30 Creative Challenge invites young people to imagine a future in which discrimination does not exist.
“Imagination is one of the most powerful tools we can use to inspire meaningful societal change, and I cannot wait to see what ideas are born from this project.”
The SLRC, which overlooks DMU’s Hawthorn Square, was officially opened by Baroness Lawrence in 2019.
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It is working in partnership with Baroness Lawrence’s Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation to mark the 30th anniversary of Stephen’s death with further national commemorations planned to recognise his ongoing legacy.
Stephen was murdered by racists in South London in an unprovoked attack on 22 April, 1993, when he was just 18 years old.
It took the Lawrence family, and lawyer Imran Khan QC, 19 years to get a conviction against two of Stephen’s murderers.
A subsequent independent inquiry by former High Court judge Sir William Macpherson concluded the police investigation into the killing had been “marred by a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership”.
Since then Baroness Lawrence has used Stephen’s legacy to encourage young people to be inspired about what they can achieve in their own lives, create the kind of community they want to live in and have a strong voice in building a fairer and more inclusive society.
Part of that legacy exists through the creation of the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre at DMU.
Theresa May, when Prime Minister in 2018, announced that every 22 April will be National Stephen Lawrence Day.
Posted on Monday 19 December 2022