Black heritage project awarded £1.25m lottery grant

A project that aims to retell stories of black identity and belonging has been awarded £1.25m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Named the UnMuseum, the project will have a number of strands including events exploring black identity, "collecting days" to gather photos and stories, and a festival in 2027 showcasing performances and exhibitions.

The project, which is being run by the Black South West Network (BSWN), aims to preserve and share the cultural heritage of black and racial minority communities over the next three years.

"This funding marks a transformative moment for black cultural heritage in the South West," said BSWN's director, Sado Jirde.

Ms Jirde said BSWN had already spent 18 months developing the project, by talking to people in places including Bristol, Gloucester, Bath, Plymouth and Bournemouth, to learn about the "diversity and richness" of their heritage.

"For far too long, our stories have been marginalised, misrepresented, or left out entirely," she said.

She said the project was about "communities defining their own narratives, on their own terms".

Part of the work will involve creating a digital archive of oral histories, particularly those at risk of being lost.

BSWN will use its Coach House venue in St Paul's, Bristol, which it leases from Bristol City Council, to provide a space for events and exhibitions.

Ms Jirde said the venue "will be a very special asset for the community; we are developing exciting plans to refurbish the building and transform it into a unique and dynamic social innovation hub".

She continued: "This project will create a lasting legacy, not in a glass case, but in the lives, voices and creative expressions of the people who carry this heritage every day."

She said that, in BSWN's conversations with people around the South West, the issues of access to cultural heritage spaces, and telling stories from different perspectives, often came up.

"The UnMuseum is actually rebalancing that and giving power to communities – to be able to tell the stories that they want to hear, that mean something to them."

Ms Jirde added: "But most crucially for me, what came through was the idea around preservation – how we capture stories from the older generation and how we share those stories of culture and heritage with the younger generation."

According to BSWN, there are more than 650,000 people from black and racial minorities living in the South West, with 107 nationalities and more than 90 languages.

The project will culminate in 2027 in a festival of black identity and belonging to "celebrate and honour the cultural heritage of black communities across the South West".

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