‘Migration is not a new story or a contemporary problem to be solved,’ say creators of new exhibition at London’s Migration Museum

“A NEW exhibition titled “All Our Stories” is set to open at the Migration Museum in London on September 12, 2024, offering a deep dive into how migration has shaped British society.”

“The Spitalfields Trust is developing connections with institutions such as the Migration Museum, established a decade ago to fill what was felt to be a long-standing gap in Britain’s cultural landscape. Currently based in Lewisham, the museum is raising funds for a permanent home in the City of London, not far from Spitalfields.” 

In light of the attacks on refugees and asylum seekers, the Migration Museum said in a post on LinkedIn: “As an organisation that explores how the movement of people to and from the UK across the ages has shaped who we are as individuals, families, communities, and as nations, we are deeply committed to standing up against division and hatred.

Our Trustee Robert Winder wrote an op-ed in the Guardian responding to the riots referencing the Migration Museum and our work.

Take a stroll through a shopping centre in South London and you might stumble across two surviving parts of the Berlin Wall. Situated at the Migration Museum in Lewisham Shopping Centre, they provide a powerful insight into the wall which divided Germany and Europe for almost three decades.

“England Without Immigration” ran during the football competition’s quarter-final and final. It showed the England line-up an hour before kick-off, with the names of players who would not have been there without migration crossed out post-match.

London’s Migration Museum has launched a campaign to highlight the fundamental contribution of immigration in propelling England to the final act of the tournament.

Historian, author, presenter and Migration Museum Trustee David Olusoga highlights our football engagament campaign around the 2024 men’s Euros as part of a discussion on the Today programme about what the England men’s team that made the final represents.

This out of home and social campaign challenges anti-immigration sentiment during the Euro 2024 football tournament.

Created for the Migration Museum, the stark campaign aims to tackle anti-immigration sentiment in the UK, which was prominent in the recent general election campaign.

“With more than 7000 visitors a month, the Migration Museum has made an impact and generated relevant cultural experiences among people from the neighbouring area and the regular visitors to the shopping centre. What happened? Well, the museum moved into a space that people already visited, and if we had to choose a popular space full of movement, variety and diversity, a shopping centre may well be just the spot.”

An AFP feature on the reliance of the NHS on immigrants in the run-up to the UK’s general election featured our Heart of the Nation exhibition, including an interview with the Migration Museum’s Matthew Plowright.

The City of London Corporation has won the national ‘Planning Permission of the Year’ at the prestigious Planning Awards 2024, recognising its decision to approve a mixed-use scheme at 65 Crutched Friars by Dominus which will include a new permanent home for the Migration Museum in the Square Mile.

Chris Hayward, the Policy Chairman of the City of London, highlights the Migration Museum as a key plank of the City’s new plans for the Square Mile.

Columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown cites our Heart of the Nation exhibition in an opinion piece for the i.

“Inside a shopping centre, a packed exhibition is celebrating the contribution of thousands of immigrants to building the National Health Service. To mark the NHS’s 75th birthday, the Migration Museum in South East London has gathered documents, photographs, memories, and objects from midwifery badges to nurses’ uniforms, to write migrant health-workers back into our national history.”

Our Artistic Director Aditi Anand and exhibition contributor Allyson Williams MBE were special guests on the Robert Elms show on BBC Radio London to talk about Heart of the Nation: Migration and the Making of the NHS 

“This multimedia exhibition at the Migration Museum in Lewisham delves into the history of the NHS, and to the many dedicated non-British-born workers who have contributed to it. Through photography, artefacts, and a newly commissioned interactive music video installation, their stories are lovingly told. It’s a wonderful way to gain some insight into how working for such a precious but pressured organisation has impacted their lives.”

Museums + Heritage Advisor featured the opening of our Heart of the Nation exhibition at the Migration Museum in Lewisham in its Museum Moves round-up.