Museumand: The National Caribbean Heritage Museum is a group that celebrates the contribution of

British African-Caribbean people British African-Caribbean people or British Afro-Caribbean people are an ethnic group in the United Kingdom. They are British citizens or residents of recent Caribbean heritage who further trace much of their ancestry to West Africa, West and Ce ...

to life in the United Kingdom. The group is a "museum without walls" based in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, and who work with communities there and elsewhere, including mounting exhibitions in museums, universities and other places. It was founded in 2015 by Catherine Ross as the SKN (Skills Knowledge and Networks) cultural museum, and Museumand is a subsidiary of the SKN Heritage Museum

Community interest company A community interest company (CIC, pronounced "see-eye-see", or colloquially, "kick") is a form of social enterprise in the United Kingdom intended "for people wishing to establish businesses which trade with a social purpose..., or to carry on ...

. In 2016, Museumand was invited to be part of the

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's Oxford and Colonialism Working Group. In July 2016, as SKN Heritage Museum, they launched an exhibition ''52 Genres and Counting'' at the

Splendour in Nottingham Splendour in Nottingham (more commonly known as Splendour or Splendour Festival) is an annual, mostly one-day music festival held in Nottingham, England since 2008. Organised by Nottingham City Council and DHP Family Ltd, the event is held withi ...

festival. The exhibition celebrated Black British music since 1947, and toured to the Bass Festival in Birmingham and Soul Fest in Liverpool. In 2017 and 2018, Museumand collaborated in the

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

Centre for New Writing's "Caribbean Journeys" project, resulting in a book ''Caribbean Journeys'' (2018, ), an anthology of the writings of Caribbean elders recording their life experiences. In 2017, Museumand hosted ''Caribbean Conversations'', a series of 8 programmes on local television station

Notts TV Notts TV is a soon-to-be-defunct British commercial local television channel which broadcasts to the city of Nottingham and the surrounding areas. The channel broadcasts on Freeview on channel 7 from the Nottingham relay TV transmitter which is ...

. In 2018, the National Trust Museum of Childhood at Sudbury Hall, Derbyshire, hosted an exhibition of "Black Dolls: The Power of Representation" in conjunction with Museumand. In 2019, Museumand's film ''White Gold; the story of sugar, slavery and settlement in the Caribbean'' was published in ''Feast'' online magazine, in issue #1 on the theme of sugar. In 2021, Museumand partnered with the

University of Lincoln The University of Lincoln is a public university, public research university in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England, with origins dating back to 1861. It gained university status in 1992 and its present name in 2001. The main campus is in the hea ...

's "Reimagining Lincolnshire" project to produce a four-day event in Lincoln including a performance "Hidden Stories: From the Caribbean to Great Britain". ''70 Objeks & Tings'' is an exhibition and book which tell the story of the "Windrush generation" through their familiar objects and other aspects of their daily lives. ''Includes online access to "Caribbean Food" chapter'' ''Includes online access to "Caribbean Hair, Beauty & Dress" chapter'' The book ''Objeks & Tings'' was launched on Windrush Day in 2020, with online publication of its first section, on food, although

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

had prevented the planned programme of workshops to gather and develop material for the book. The exhibition was on display at the Streetlife Museum in

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

in 2021 during

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, and at

Nottingham Castle Nottingham Castle is a Stuart Restoration-era ducal mansion in Nottingham, England, built on the site of a Normans, Norman castle built starting in 1068, and added to extensively through the medieval period, when it was an important royal fortr ...

when it reopened in 2023, and the book of the same title was available for sale there. Twelve episodes of an associated podcast ''Objeks & Tings'' were produced in June-September 2023 and were chosen by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' as one of its "podcasts of the week". Museumand's exhibition ''Pardner Hand: A Caribbean answer to British banking exclusion'' was displayed at the

Bank of England Museum The Bank of England Museum, located within the Bank of England in the City of London, is home to a collection of diverse items relating to the history of the Bank and the UK economy from the Bank's foundation in 1694 to the present day. The mus ...

, London in 2023 and 2024, opening on Windrush Day in June 2023, and the museum published a series of blogs by Museumand's founders to accompany the exhibition.

The group's founder, Catherine Ross, who came to the UK in 1958 from

Saint Kitts Saint Kitts, officially Saint Christopher, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis constitute one ...

at the age of seven, is its director and her daughter Lynda-Louise Burrell is its creative director.

References

External links

Archived version, 25 September 2023
* * {{cite book , last1=Ross , first1=Catherine , last2=Burrell , first2=Lynda , title=70 Objeks & Tings: Celebrating 70 years of Caribbeans in the UK , publisher=Museumand , url=http://museumand.org/objeksandtings/index.html , access-date=15 February 2024 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819145503/http://museumand.org/objeksandtings/index.html , archive-date=19 August 2022 ''Full text of 148-page book via

issuu Issuu, Inc. (pronounced "issue") is a Danish-founded American electronic publishing platform based in Palo Alto, California, United States. The company's software converts PDFs into customizable digital publications that can be shared via links ...

: may be slow to download'' Caribbean diaspora in the United Kingdom Ethnic museums in the United Kingdom Museums in Nottingham Community interest companies Museums of human migration