North East Museums joins anti-racism programme

North East Museums has been accepted into the latest cohort of the Museums Association’s Anti-Racist Museums Programme, furthering its commitment to being an anti-racist organisation.

The programme supports museums to develop and implement policies and practices to dismantle institutional racism and embed this work across their venues and programmes.

It will also support North East Museums’ ongoing work to decolonise museum collections, programmes and practices. This involves improving knowledge and understanding of collections and adding more stories and perspectives in museum displays. This work is being delivered via historical research, reaching out to source communities, and involving local diaspora communities in research and programming.

The Museums Association’s Anti-Racist Museums Programme aims to create meaningful change in the UK museum sector through organisational and professional development. It is striving to develop a thriving network of museums and leaders that are committed to personal and organisational change; collaboration and peer learning; and being at the forefront of anti-racist practice in UK museums.

Keith Merrin, Director of North East Museums, said: “We are pleased to have been accepted onto the Anti-Racist Museums Programme.

“Our commitment to Equality and Equity is central to our mission and we believe being part of this programme will help us to build on our work to break down barriers caused by inequality and discrimination and our aim to share more diverse stories.

“It feels particularly important to ensure all our communities feel welcome at our museums and galleries and to send a clear message that we denounce racism in all its forms.”

Sharon Heal, Director, Museums Association, said: “I am delighted that we are able to run this programme again and support successful applicants on their anti-racist journey.

“We have worked with sector experts to design a programme that is thoughtful and thought provoking and we are looking forward to working with a new cohort of museums that are determined to become anti-racist organisations.”

North East Museums has introduced several programmes over the last five years to develop its anti-racism practice.

Its venues are accredited Museums of Sanctuary and deliver activities for refugees and asylum seekers to help them learn about the area and gain new skills.

It has run three successive community-led research projects. The first involved people from South Asian, African and Caribbean diaspora communities exploring themes of empire, migration, and life in Britain with staff at Discovery Museum, to identify opportunities to tell more stories representing their communities. The output was a permanent display about 16 Inspirational Women of Colour who enrich the North East in healthcare, science, education, activism and politics, and an exhibition exploring an untold story about North East shipbuilding and Indian Indentureship.

Bangladeshi diaspora communities in South Tyneside worked with South Shields Museum & Art Gallery to co-curate an exhibition, Routes & Roots: British Bangladeshi Stories of South Tyneside, celebrating the contribution Bangladeshi communities have made to the vibrancy of the culture and economy in the area.

A steering group from communities living in the North East worked with staff at the Great North Museum: Hancock to reimagine the museum’s Explore Gallery, which includes natural history, natural science and ethnographic collections. The group explored hidden narratives, with the aim of bringing new voices and viewpoints to the display and highlighting new and alternative objects from the collections. The reimagined Explore Gallery opened in June 2025.

Find out more about the Museums Association’s Anti-racist Museums programme: https://www.museumsassociation.org/campaigns/anti-racism/anti-racist-museums-programme/

Find out more about North East Museums: https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/about/impact