Osmond: Navigating Life Choices through Board Game
Led by London Alumni Agent Osmond, part of The Agency London (produced by Battersea Arts Centre)
"The Agency has made me believe in taking an alternative route in life with the back-up of those around me having faith in my project. The Agency process was an interval of time where me and other young people were able to use kinaesthetic learning with our own topics as our main point of focus. I have met with prestigious people such as Lord Harris and Lord Salisbury. This has helped my project become what it is today." -Osmond
Osmond, from the Winstanley Estate, first came into contact with Battersea Arts Centre in August 2014. He was 14 when he first applied to The Agency. Although he was technically too young to join, the strength of his idea and his sheer enthusiasm won us over. Through The Agency, Osmond developed a board game called Life Is What U Make It, based on the Winstanley Estate. Having experienced pressure from gangs at a young age, both personally and through his older brother, Osmond was passionate about enabling other young children to have the chance to consider their actions before it is too late. The game allows people to "play out" the different moral and economic decisions young people have to make each day growing up on an estate.
It has been tested by professional gamers and in local schools the content was refined to create a compelling and engaging resource for PHSE and Citizenship for Key Stage 3. Osmond has tested his game at Harris Academy, Battersea, Providence House Girls Group, Future Skills Pupil Referral Unit and Francis Barbour Pupil Referral Unit to engage local young people in the game's development. The game has received a further £9,000 from BBC Children in Need and £2,700 from the Wandsworth Youth Opportunity Fund.
Impressed with the game, the creator of the Agencia, Marcus Faustini, invited Osmond to Rio to present his game at the NOW 2015 Festival to over 450 young people taking part in the programme. Faustini promised to fund any young person who was inspired by Life Is What U Make It to create their own version for their favela community.
Osmond himself had struggled in mainstream education, gaining only one C grade at GCSE. However, through The Agency saw himself as a success and a role model for other young people. In September 2016, Osmond returned to education to study Creative Media Levels 1 and 2, and to resit his Maths and English GCSEs.
Life Is What U Make It, continues to receive funding and was awarded an additional £25,000 in 2022, and is now BAC’s only school offer. Osmond has remained engaged with The Agency and continues to engage with BAC in a range of different programmes.
Advocacy and Achievements
Osmond has met leading cultural figures including Lord Harris, Sir Dan Moynihan, the Chief Executive of the Harris Academies, Lord Salisbury, and the American Ambassador to the United Kingdom
Osmond has had articles in the Wandsworth Guardian, The Telegraph & on the Brazilian TV show Globo (5th largest TV channel globally)
National Lottery Fund Young Hero of the Year (2023): Recognition for a project that turns lived experience into a practical tool for change.
Hear more about Osmond’s project on Inspire to Acheive: The Agency podcast.