Guns to Goods, artefacts

The ‘Guns to Goods’ initiative started in 2008 and evolved into a social enterprises, established in August 2011, based in inner urban Manchester, UK. The motivating concept is to develop public art and new design products for manufacture using only recycled metal harvested from police-confiscated guns. The intended outcome is the generation of advocacy for community based campaigns and social action designed at reducing impacts from gun crime.

Artefacts produced to date include; public art in the form of; 'The Erinma Bell Portrait' sited in Manchester Town Hall, and 'Paving the Way to Peace', sited at Hulme Community Garden and the Claremont Community Centre. There have been a number of 'Fellowship Trophies' produced to support aligned activist campaigns such as the CARISMA (Campaign for Renewal in the Inner South Manchester Area) Peace Award, and the 'In Place of War' fellowship. In recent years, the gun metal has been processed into pigments and made into paint and printing media with the assistance of ColArts.

This practice project has evolved into a creative enterprise start-up partnership with a locally (Moss Side, Manchester) based charity. The impact sought is to build social cohesion and collective remedial action with and for communities affected negatively by weapons based crime. Initially supported by AHRC funding (ref: AH/G017115/1) ‘Guns to Goods’ is an evolving collaboration between researchers, artists, CARISMA (Community Alliance for Renewal, Inner South Manchester Area), Greater Manchester Police and the Mines Advisory Group International.

The initiative relates to continuing campaigns that seek to address gun ownership and proliferation. It has, so far, destroyed 220 long-barrel firearms, placing them beyond use by symbolically converting their metal into fresh artefacts of aesthetic and economic value. The narrative has brand value for the main charity partner and links to related endeavours offering crime solutions. Products offer a canvas for expression and gestures, adding to campaign resources through participatory design. The current focus is on public art outputs, utilising the metals sourced from recycling. The metal has been further developed into pigments for use in painting and printing with the assistance of ColArts and Newton and Windsor.

The project was shortlisted twice for Times Higher Education ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community’ Awards (2010 and 2011). It received a Manchester Beacons for Public Engagement award in 2010 and an Unlimited Potential Catalyst Award in 2011. It was presented at the 6th International Conference on the Arts in Society in 2011, and the 7th Conference of the European Research Network, Sociology of the Arts in 2012. It featured in national and international BBC news coverage.

Conference proceedings and dissemination:
Sept 2012 ‘The Art of Enterprise Activism’; Paper presentation with Samantha Ingleson. 7th Conference of the European Research Network,Sociology of the Arts. Institute for Music Sociology, Vienna, Austria.

May 2011: ‘Goods to Guns; Arming Social Enterprise with the Arts.’ Paper Presentation at the 6th International Conference on the Arts in Society. Theme: Social, Political and Community Agendas. Berlin. Germany.

2011 (September) Times Higher Education Awards, University of Salford, short-listed nomination for the ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community’, winner to be announced on 24th November 2011.

2010 (September) Times Higher Education Awards, University of Salford, short-listed for ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community’.

Poster Presentation: 2010 (September): Haywood, P & Ingleson, S (2010), ''Art, Activism, Enterprise'', Exhibited at: International Entrepreneurship Educators Conference 2010, Enterprise Educators UK and the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship, Cardiff University. 2010, UK, from 01/09/2010 To 03/09/2010.

• http://www.gunstogoods.org
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-man...
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-1...
• http://www.manchesterbeacon.org/events/v...
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/manchester/h...
• http://www.peaceweek.co.uk/2010/10/21/gu...
• https://www.greatermancunians.blog/dr-er...
• https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-m...