Northumbria Police and Community Partnerships

Orbis Community has worked on a number of creative projects connected with Northumbria Police and its partners, using design and making as a way to recognise people, encourage participation and bring different parts of the community together. One of the most memorable was the creation of a series of awards using reclaimed birch ply. Jonpaul Kirvan developed the original concept and worked alongside 13-year-old Police Cadet Verity and Dan Nixon of Maker Space to bring the design into physical form. The finished awards were laser cut and assembled through a collaborative process that brought together professional making skills, young people and members of the wider Orbis creative community. The response to them reinforced something that sits at the heart of our work: objects can carry far more meaning when the people receiving them can see the thought, time and community effort that has gone into their creation. One long-serving police sergeant, who had received many awards over the course of his career, commented that this one felt different because it had been made by the community, and said it was something he would proudly display at home.

That approach has continued through other projects, including smaller awards created for Project Shield and more recent work connected with Project Guardian. Orbis Community was commissioned to develop the Project Guardian identity for Northumbria Police and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, helping give a visual identity to a wider programme focused on preventing serious violence, early intervention, safeguarding and community engagement. As with many of the projects we become involved in, the creative work extends beyond a single finished object or design. Wherever possible, skills, materials and opportunities are shared with studio members, students, young people and local residents through workshops, mentoring and collaborative making.

For Orbis Community, these projects show how creative practice can contribute to public life in very practical ways. Whether creating an award from reclaimed material, developing a visual identity for a regional initiative, or involving a young cadet in the making process, the aim is the same: to use the skills within our creative community to support work that has a genuine benefit to the people and places around us.