This year has been one for project culmination so far. As well as the Everything to Everybody project reaching conclusion, Wolverhampton Arts and Culture completed their Esme Fairbairn Foundation-funded Living with Difference project, and Tudor House Museum came to the end of their Covid-impacted, ACE funded Bedfellows project.
The latter was a textile-based project that brought together a team of volunteers from all walks of life to create a counterpane and set of curtains to dress the four-poster bed in the ‘Best Room’ in the museum. Led by an experienced textile artist, the project would explore 16th Century embroidery techniques and themes to design and hand stitch the appliques and base designs.
Seriously impacted by Covid and team changes, the team nonetheless managed to keep stitching, attracting new volunteers along the way. At every possible opportunity, the volunteers talked to visitors about the project and demonstrated their newly-acquired skills in the museum.
In March 2024, the counterpane and bed curtains were permanently installed in the museum, a testament to the hard work, dedication and thousands of hours of stitching of the volunteers.
Wolverhampton Art and Culture started a very ambitious project to decolonise their collection in 2021. Recruiting community engagement officer Aarifa, to lead, this was innovative and brave in how it engaged global majority communities with underused aspects of the collection. These were underused because they were contentious, potentially discriminatory and reinforced colonial attitudes.
Working closely with communities and creatives in Wolverhampton, Aarifa and the team have been able to subvert the narratives that surround the objects and to create profound lasting positive change within the organisation. The results will be used not only to inform displays and interpretation, but also the collections and documentation policies, and future community engagement.
It was clear during the evaluation process that the team at WAC have been sector-leaders in their approach to decolonisation, centring marginalised voices and breaking down perceived and invisible barriers.
The full reports can be read by clicking on the following links:
Wolverhampton Arts and Culture Living with Difference evaluation
The Collett Consultancy 