Imagination and Luck: Capacity Building at Black Cultural Archives
Imagination
Back in 1981 when Len Garrison the principal founder of Black Cultural Archives and his colleagues lamented the impact that alienation from the majority culture and racism was having on young black Britons they believed that the creation of a museum that held all the stories of black presence in Britain was part of the answer. In his poem, “Where are our Heroes, Martyrs and Monuments?” Garrison reflected on the absence of buildings and monuments, statues and plaques that celebrated and marked the presence and contributions of black people historically and in the present. How much more richer our lives would be if only we knew the stories of our heroes and sheroes. Of the Ivory Bangle Lady or Septimius Severus, Seaman William Brown or Dido Elizabeth Belle. What if there were a monumental museum in which their stories were told?
For over 20 years, Len and his colleagues gathered and were given material that chronicled the political, social and cultural context in which black people in Britain were living. During this period the organisation existed on the precious support of volunteers, principally activists in the community. This dedication created the backbone of the archive which is now one of the most comprehensive collections documenting black life in Britain.
Luck
In 2003 after two decades in rented premises the director (on secondment from the local authority) saw an opportunity to create a permanent home for the archives and to concretise the significance of the archives to Brixton and Brixton as a site of historical significance to black people in Britain. A derelict long abandoned building was gifted to the archives on a peppercorn rent. The organisation was presented with the challenge of making the case for the financing of a building based culturally specific monument more modest in scale than Len Garrison’s vision but monumental in ambition none the less. The support of the local authority and a leap of faith by the Heritage Lottery Fund and other pioneering funders who had never funded a black led capital project on this scale in the UK. The dream of a monument was becoming real.
Models of funding
The model of funding in the UK is different to that in the United States. Most cultural organisations regardless of scale have traditionally existed on a mixed portfolio of public funding, trusts and foundations, individual giving and earned income. The past ten years has seen a steep decline in funding from the public purse making funding from trusts and foundations hugely competitive. All organisations are being strongly encouraged to increase levels of support from individual giving and earned income. For new organisations a history and track record of successful fundraising are vital to the sustainability and resilience of organisations.
Before the gift of the building, the archives had no history of fundraising however, it was a very lean organisation. There was a single paid member of staff, it occupied rented premises and none of the material was kept in a controlled environment. It went from one person to 15 full-time equivalents in 5 years. This growth was largely supported by one off fixed term funding taking it from less than £60k a year to £700k a year. There is no doubt that the archives could have continued in rented premises with a single member of staff supported by volunteers for another 20 years but, would we be talking about it today and would it have the same impact?
Having a building created opportunities for income generation that rented premises did not afford. There is a shop and a cafe both of which drive traffic to the building and will in time generate a return to support the charity. There is a dedicated learning centre which generates income from a schools programme and public programme. And, an exhibition space which engages visitors with archive material and content that would otherwise be locked away in the archive store. Each exhibition reaches 10k visitors on average which generates further income — not huge sums however a key challenge has been to develop a culture of paying whether that be for entry to an exhibition or an audio guide. Most exhibitions in the UK are free to enter. The major galleries charge for entry to “special” exhibitions but you can wander in and view the permanent collection free of charge. Growing all these income streams will not create sustainability but it will contribute towards creating a more resilient organisation.
Who is it for?
The Archives have clearly broken the mould at least in the UK. Traditionally, culturally specific spaces were created for culturally specific groups. When we started to refresh the vision and purpose of the organisation back in 2013, we deliberately created statements about our role in completing the national narrative — how can you write about British history without including our stories. Shifting the narrative from a community archive to a national archive has helped to position the work and its importance as a national asset for all rather than a marginal project for a specific community. This does not and has not led to a dilution of the work and what we have to say. If anything it has sharpened our thinking and approaches to engaging with others. And, the diversity of audience that we have attracted demonstrates that apparently culturally specific stories can have mainstream relevance and impact.
Impact: history + building + professional staff = credibility
Volunteer effort had kept the organisation alive for over twenty years however, it quickly became clear that valuable though volunteer effort remains, it would not have been possible to create and deliver the programmes, exhibitions and a capital project on voluntary effort. The scale of what we have been producing requires a level of expertise, skill and knowledge that the archive is working to develop in volunteers but it is not there yet. Making exhibitions of the quality that we have delivered and maintaining an industry standard storage conditions positions the Archive to collaborate on a more equal footing with other larger and more established institutions. For example, our opening exhibition “Re-imagine: Black women in Britain” included loans from the National Portrait Gallery and University College London amongst others and “Staying Power: Photographs of Black British Experience 1950s — 1990s” the second exhibition, was made entirely of loaned items which we worked with the V&A to purchase for its collection. Would we have had this level of influence without the history combined with the building and the professional staff?
I look forward to exploring these questions and more at the symposium Architecting Sustainable Futures: Exploring Funding Models in Community-Based Archives.
Doreen Foster is the former Deputy Director of Black Cultural Archives, Brixton, UK (2013–2018). She is the new Director of Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, UK.
