Journey to Justice all over the land
We’re delighted at the level of interest shown in our travelling exhibition programme. The need is growing everywhere. Here’s a summary of where we’ve been and are going:
Teesside University, Middlesbrough: October 3rd – 19th 2016
We took part of our exhibition to Teesside University’s International Women’s Day in March 2016 where Carrie Supple, JtoJ’s director was a keynote speaker. There was plenty of interest in our work from local social justice organisations. Margaret Younger, Equality and Diversity Adviser at Teesside University was so affected by the stories we tell in our work, that she booked the whole exhibition for Black History Month. It was in Brittan Hall, making it easy for public viewing, with a private view on October 6th where Curtis Fleming footballer and anti-racist campaigner spoke. Volunteers from the University and local community welcomed visitors and were on hand to answer any questions at the exhibition and we had positive visits from Middlesbrough FE College, Drama students and newly arrived child refugees. Students will identify films to screen at the exhibition from local archives which illustrate Teesside’s mighty history.
https://journeytojustice.org.uk/projects/middlesbrough/
Sunderland: October 22nd – November 17th 2016
Thanks to our superb taster day in January 2016 co-organised by colleagues at the University of Sunderland, JtoJ got off to a flying start and a strong steering group was formed by the local community with active sub groups for fundraising, education and PR. Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens generously hosted our exhibition in the beautiful Pottery Gallery where we told Hidden Stories of the city through oral history and art in partnership with MBC Ceramics. Schools, youth and community groups were involved in planning and hosted a workshop for young people led by Jean Stallings who was active in the National Welfare Rights Organisation and the US civil rights movement. The launch event on October 23rd was superb and 100s of people visited the exhibition which was staffed by local volunteers. See this link for details:
https://journeytojustice.org.uk/projects/sunderland
With many thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund and Celebrate, the Big Lottery who funded this project
Jackie Nixon, Chair of Sunderland JtoJ
Tower Hamlets: December 3rd – January 1st 2017
JtoJ chose Tower Hamlets as our first London site because of its extraordinary history and ongoing association with immigration and struggles for economic and social justice. We are very grateful to the thriving Rich Mix Cultural Foundation for hosting our exhibition. We were welcomed to the borough by schools and arts, youth and community groups whose aims we share. With Girlz United we ran a successful residential weekend and they created a display of local human rights history. We also ran training days for teachers, youth and community workers and young people. Our exhibition told some of the many untold stories of resistance to injustice , including by women activists, thanks to Share UK (share-uk.org) and we held a spectacular celebration launch event on December 10th Human Rights Day. JtoJ was delighted to welcome Jean Stallings, veteran civil rights and anti-poverty campaigner to join us in Tower Hamlets and Sunderland with her grand daughter Brianna.
See here for information about our training, launch event and for details of the project:
https://journeytojustice.org.uk/projects/towerhamlets
Morley Gallery, Lambeth/Southwark: January 9th – February 3rd 2017
After Tower Hamlets, we moved south of the river to beautiful Morley Gallery https://www.morleycollege.ac.uk/facilities/the-gallery part of Morley College London– straddling Lambeth and Southwark. Our main aim was to involve the adult students and staff from across a rich arts and humanities curriculum drawing on the college’s long tradition of welcoming migrants and working with schools and community groups. Our launch event was held on Martin Luther King Day January 16th 2017 and we held events for the public focused on the power of art and sport and hosting local campaigners: https://journeytojustice.org.uk/projects/lambeth
Nottingham: April – June 19th
While our exhibition was at Discovery Museum in Newcastle, Rose Pearce visited on behalf of The Centre for Research in Race and Rights (C3R) at the University of Nottingham and reported back to Professor Sharon Monteith, Founding Co-Director of C3R, who invited JtoJ to partner with C3R. The award-winning Galleries of Justice offered its Special Exhibitions Gallery which is an ideal venue for the exhibition right in the city centre. The Midlands3Cities Doctoral Training Partnership across six universities in the region also came on board as the third partner. We held an exciting taster day at the Galleries of Justice on June 20th attended by a great mix of representatives from community organisations, the city council, museums services, colleges and local arts and history groups and organisations. Participants generated a most rich range of ideas for JtoJ Nottingham to consider including focus on the city’s connection with refugees, anti-racism and community action for justice. A large steering group met regularly and planned vivid local stories and a programme of events. JtoJ Nottingham launched in April 2017 with a splendid march through the city stopping at sites connected to social justice, with great speeches and music:
https://journeytojustice.org.uk/projects/nottingham
Nottingham JtoJ taster day, June 20th 2016
Bristol: October 2017
JtoJ trustee Dr Madge Dresser co-ordinated plans to bring JtoJ to Bristol with an impressive local steering group created after Parul& Martin led a powerful taster day with her in October 2016. We were very grateful to our local partners including UWE (the University of the West of England), Bristol University, Bristol City Hall and Bristol cathedral for its offer of the stunning Chapter Room where our exhibition was displayed. Some of Bristol’s many community and arts groups and schools were involved and the exhibition highlighted less told stories of the city’s famous history which though more well known for its involvement in slavery also has a lesser known activist counterculture committed to social justice. Over the past two centuries, Bristolians have organised anti-slavery campaigns, rioted for political rights, propagandised for prison reform, marched for women’s suffrage, demonstrated against fascism, boycotted against racism, and organised variety of innovative struggles for housing, sustainable development and against domestic violence and homophobia. The steering group planned a fantastic range of local events. See link to www.journeytojustice.org.uk/projects/bristol
For more information contact: Dr Madge Dresser madge.dresser@uwe.ac.uk
We are very grateful to Dr Paul Stephenson OBE the renowned civil rights campaigner and JtoJ trustee.
Madge Dresser (in red) with JtoJ patron Dr Paul Stephenson OBE, Lilleith Morrison, Rob Mitchell & Roger Griffith
Newham: March and April 2018
JtoJ worked with Living Song CIC www.livingsong.org and we were delighted the exhibition was at Beckton Globe Library and we ran a full education and art programme exploring social change with and for people across Newham, telling local stories of struggles for freedom and justice by ‘ordinary’ people. Our launch on March 3rd was packed and stunning, full of music and activists.
Living Song CIC is an East London based company working locally and nationally to help young people shine and develop through musical activity, in particular singing and creative vocal work. They work with a wide team of highly skilled and experienced artists who are in turn supported by a diverse community of young apprentices offering a model of lifelong learning.
See 5 minute film of NewYVC at the Royal Festival Hall
Solid Harmony is a young people’s vocal collective based at NewVIc, Newham and directed by Naveen Arles. A committee of dedicated volunteers and associates supports it. www.solidharmony.co.uk
See: https://journeytojustice.org.uk/projects/newham
For more information email: Jane Wheeler, Director of Living Song CIC jane.wheeler@livingsong.org
Living Song CIC at Stratford Circus
Shire Hall, Dorchester: Summer 2018
In January 2016 we were delighted to receive an email from Anna Bright, General Manager of Shire Hall, Dorchester where the Tolpuddle Martyrs were tried and sentenced to 7 years transportation in 1834 for taking an oath of secrecy after forming a friendly society, or Union. With HLF and West Dorset District Council funding, Shire Hall will open in Summer 2018 as a justice themed heritage centre with permanent exhibition space. Anna and her team have invited local community and heritage groups to get involved and Pat Boyer and Martin Spafford ran a successsful taster day with them in January 2017.
For more information, contact: Harriet Still harriet.still@shirehalldorset.org
Shire Hall Dorset: Courtroom taken in the late 1950s. This is the original late 18th century courtroom where the Tolpuddle Martyrs were tried and sentenced to 7 years transportation in 1834. Thomas Hardy later served here as a Magistrate.
It finally closed in 1955.
International Slavery Museum, Liverpool October 2018-March 2019
Resource for London, Islington, London April – June 2019
Birmingham July-September 2019
Leicester: October 2019
Dr. George Lewis, Head of the School of History, Politics & International Relations at the University of Leicester is our lead partner for and is planning to bring the exhibition programme to the Attenborough Arts Centre in autumn 2019. In October 2015 Carrie Supple, JtoJ director attended a conference, ‘Remembering Rosa Parks: Understanding the US Civil Rights Movement’ organised by George and colleagues for local school students and spent three days meeting potential partners from the city. There is plenty of need and interest and we’ll plan a taster day there soon. For more information and if you’d like to get involved, please contact: Dr George Lewis gdgl1@le.ac.uk or on 0116 252 5370
Edinburgh JtoJ Taster Day: May 16th 2016
In December 2015 Carrie Supple ran a lunchtime workshop about JtoJ and teaching for social justice at the University of Edinburgh for staff and students. There was enthusiastic interest from practitioners and with RSA Scotland as our partner, Parul Motin, Katie McSherry and Carrie ran a taster day at the Quaker Meeting House, Edinburgh in May 2016. Over 40 participants signed up to attend from Article 12, Roma, women’s, heritage, theatre and media organisations, social workers, staff and students from the Schools of Education and Law at the University of Edinburgh and the Children and Young People’s Commissioner’s office. We were delighted to work with Stuart Moir from Moray House School of Education who spoke about ‘The Struggle for Democracy in Scotland’ via a brief virtual tour of some of the city’s sites and Hollie Ruddick who talked about local Amnesty International activity. We outlined JtoJ’s approach and discussed how it might complement work needed in Edinburgh. The response from many attendees was positive and we hope it will lead to a partnership in the future. For more information, contact: carriesupple1@gmail.com
With many thanks to Jamie Cooke, Head of RSA Scotland for his support.
Taster Day workshop, ‘Why are you involved in social justice work? What makes you angry?’
Hull: 2018
In 2015 we began to discuss bringing our travelling exhibition to Hull in partnership with the University of Hull American Studies programme and WISE (Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation) in 2015. ‘Freedom is a platform for people to create, debate, reflect and re-imagine. Hull has always attracted creative risk takers and rule breakers. It is a place that seems to inspire rebellion and freedom of thought, not bound by the conventions of others’ (quoted on www.Hull2017.co.uk) We hope one day to work with community groups and organisations and there is interest from the William Wilberforce Monument Fund who continue to work to raise awareness of the Wilberforce legacy through initiatives that invite individuals to re-examine the concept of freedom and equality (see their African Stories Project: http://www.africansinyorkshireproject.com/) We ran a taster day there on 18th November 2016 in order to attract interest and involvement which went very well.
Lillian Bilocca, the Hull woman who battled to improve safety for workers at North Atlantic fisheries.
Leeds and Bradford
We’ve had expressions of interest in booking our exhibition for Leeds and Bradford and are in discussion with potential partners there about when and how. We’re looking forward to making it happen and if you’re interested in either place or in bringing it to wherever you live, please email: info@journeytojustice.org.uk
