News
Huge Public Support for Britain's First Museum of Immigration and Diversity
‘queue for @19pst was totally worth it’ @HannahHudson1 and many more
‘Memories, diasporas, ghosts, ruins: most extraordinary building I've visited in London for years' @felicitycallard
‘Its focus on diversity is inclusive and contemporary' @Culturemogg
In a diverse queue of humans of all ages and backgrounds (including a 6 year old half child half Tiger), most frequent queue reading material? Robert Peston's How Do We Fix This Mess? 19 Princelet Street is truly a place where we are all in it together! Preserving 19 Princelet Street for future generations would be a great achievement for 2013.BBC Radio4 Today programme at 19 Princelet Street
Influential current affairs programme Today, guest edited by poet Benjamin Zephaniah, addressed key policy issues around immigration and identity through a visit to 19 Princelet Street, described on the programme as ‘an extraordinary museum’.
This shows, again, how our small museum is a vital place to explore big ideas. It is a space to engage with political and community issues, harnessing a beautiful historic site to encourage dialogue and debate around real human experiences, whether ugly or good.
Click here to listen to the programme.
BBC News Home Editor Mark Easton at 19 Princelet Street
Britain has never been a monoculture. So its cutting edge museum of immigration and diversity, 19 Princelet Street, was the perfect place for BBC Home Affairs Editor Mark Easton to examine how Britain’s multicultural past shapes Britain today.
In conversation with museum trustee Santosh Stride, Mark Easton explored issues of immigration and identity. In a city of many cultural references, does the mixed heritage of many Londoners impact upon their own sense of identity? Will immigration play as vital a part in Britain’s future as in its past?
19 Princelet Street has a key role to play: as a site of civic engagement, it provides space for dialogue and promotes debate.
Gloria Mills, UNISON Spokesperson on Equality Praises 19 Princelet Street
Despite the cold, a busy end of the year included groups from the Netherlands, Westminster and Whitechapel.
We were privileged to welcome a group from UNISON, including Gloria Mills, campaigner and champion for diversity issues and equal opportunities in the workplace regardless of race, gender, religion, age, disability or sexual orientation. The first ever Black woman to be elected President of the TUC, Gloria brought some stimulating perspectives from her international visits, and we hope she will be back to continue the conversation.
International Museums – three come along all at once
November was exceptionally busy, with visits from international business schools, Eastern European universities, and local primary schools.
We love it when other museums compliment us by bringing their staff and benefactors, and November brought not one but three all at once.
First, an international group of supporters of one of the world’s great museums, in the Middle East, made a private visit and were moved to make a kind donation. Then from North America, charming friends of Newark Museum, bringing news of delightful Ballantine House, a National Historic Landmark. The Museum of London ended the run, bringing a team of new recruits to discover more about their surrounding area.
Museum Star Dances into Strictly
Actor and film star Colin Salmon worked with us to create the museum’s pioneering Suitcases and Sanctuary exhibition, and is a passionate advocate and ambassador for 19 Princelet Street. In what must surely be a first for a museum-maker, Colin joined an exceptional year of talented celebrities, including Kimberley Walsh from Girls Aloud and Olympians Victoria Pendleton and Louis Smith, on the dance floor for Strictly Come Dancing.