Black British Voices: Black British Collections
Cambridge University Library's exciting project sees a community panel research and design the Library’s 2027 exhibition and public programme.
For its first large-scale community research project, Cambridge University Library (CUL) has appointed a Community Panel to develop and direct an exhibition and events programme to take place in 2027.
Ten panelists have been drawn from across the UK, and will be supported by a Project Curator to explore the Library’s far-reaching collections, researching sources that range from the personal to the public and the bureaucratic. By connecting historical records with contemporary experiences, the Black British Voices: Black British Collections panel will unearth a nuanced history of Black Britain, building a year-long public programme that will tell stories about community and identity.
The project is anchored by the findings of the Black British Voices Report (2023), the largest study to date on the opinions and attitudes of black people in Britain.
Commencing in 2026, the panel will take part in a number of online meetings. Over ten months, they will design the stories that the 2027 programme will tell through exhibitions, events and artistic responses to the process and uncovered material. They will have the opportunity to join in-person workshops exploring the Library collections, as well forming an online curatorial forum.
Alongside directing the 2027 public exhibition programme, the community panel will also select community groups to receive small grants for local projects that embody the spirit of the project and amplify the stories of Black British experience from all over the country: past, present and future.
During the inaugural community panel meeting in January, our panel members were tasked with building a creative manifesto that would create a foundation for the process of the exhibition curation and overall project. With 7 central points, these include:
1. Curiosity & Openness - Taking an open approach to what we might build together, amongst the hard and heavy subject materials encountered within the collections.
2. Good Faith - Having a reasonable amount of space for good faith for fellow panel members’ curiosities, and investigations and their outcomes for the good of the project.
3. Playfulness - Bringing fun to the project is important, whilst celebrating and touching on the joy of the histories as well.
4. A Safe Space - Making the panel a safe space by all actively participating in the process of making it so. Active listening, consideration and kindness as we all have a lot to learn from each other. We cultivate an environment of freedom to speak.
5. Multiplicities - There is a mutual respect of multiplicities in the group and of Black British history. We are mindful of the randomness and non-continuity of the archives and position objects in the context of past and future.
6. Communication - We actively play our individual parts to keep in active communication with each other within a remote context, making the most of the time and resources we have as a panel.
7. Keeping Focus on the ‘Why’ - We think about how the research affects the wider community, always going back to the ‘why’. Our common goal is for the betterment of the Black British community, ensuring it is inclusive of different backgrounds and lived experiences.
The project Black British Voices: Black British Collections is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Thanks to National Lottery players, Cambridge University Library will work with the panel and in collaboration with community partners to ensure that this vital history is better represented and understood.
To stay up to date with the project's live progress, and future opportunities, you can sign up to the BBV:BBC newsletter mailing list here.
The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Published 18 November 2025; revised 13 January 2026