THE STORY
In response to Newsweek’s article titled “Murder Town USA (aka Wilmington, Delaware),” a group of artists from The Creative Vision Factory, located in downtown Wilmington have taken steps to raise awareness and respond to a community in crisis. Soon after the article was published artists Chantal Matthews and Nancy Josephson started designing earrings made from bullet casings. Through the creation of earrings, we are transforming the bullet casing from an artifact of violence to a symbol of hope and transformation.
Money generated from the sales of Factory Designs earrings will compensate the artist and fund a series of social entrepreneurship workshops to be held at The Creative Vision Factory. The workshops will empower individuals to create similar interventions, and function as a means to train an expanded roster of artists who will earn money through the production of future Factory Designs jewelry designs.
PROJECTED OUTCOMES
The ultimate goal for Factory Designs is to equip a broad public with the entrepreneurial skills needed to direct resources back into neighborhoods. We recognize that structural inequality is predictive of physical violence, therefore, to combat physical violence we must reckon with structural inequality. As the project grows, we will bring the workshop to other community organizations, and encourage the creation of other social entrepreneurship models. The Factory Designs earrings will become a vehicle to illicit creative solutions to the many challenges presented by our social and economic conditions. The Creative Vision Factory recognizes the restorative potential of any creative practice. Simply having something to do, simply having a task, a dream, and a sense of purpose, plays a key role in the quality of an individual’s wellness. What takes the quality of this wellness to the next level is the ability to generate income. Factory Designs gives us this opportunity!
thecreativevisionfactory.org 