Case Study: Telling Overlooked Local Stories Through Ambitious Heritage Programming

What is this case study about?

This case study about 'Unearthed: Collective Histories' was produced on behalf of Historic England by Studio Voltaire.

Studio Voltaire is one of the UK’s leading not-for-profit arts and education organisations. They champion emerging and under-represented artists and commission and produce exhibitions, collaborative projects, artist development programmes, live events and offsite projects.

What are the key learnings?

What was the project about?

'Unearthed: Collective Histories' was a 12-month pilot programme of commissions, workshops and events uncovering the lesser-known 20th century histories of Clapham, London, where Studio Voltaire is based.

The project was supported by Historic England's Everyday Heritage Grants, Hartfield Foundation, and This is Clapham.

The programme aimed to engage a range of local participants, artists and partners through several strands:

• A new Neighbours Advisory Group, 'Unearthed Collective', made up of paid local participants
• A co-authored Archival Display for Lambeth Heritage Festival in 2023
• A series of Participatory Video Making and Editing Training Workshops with former residents of Rectory Gardens in partnership with Spectacle Media CIC
• A co-created large-scale exhibition in Studio Voltaire's gallery 'Good Things: A Video History of Rectory Gardens'
• New work from award-winning poet, writer and activist Jay Bernard based on personal experience and research exploring the history of Clapham South Shelter, in partnership with Black Cultural Archives and London Transport Museum
• Learning programme engaging local young people, their carers and teachers
• A public programme of free screenings, talks and workshops associated with each strand of work
• A new visual identity created by F.A.T Studio CIC inspired by the ethos of the programme

What were the aims of the project?

The project aimed to:

• Explore the impact and legacy of Clapham’s lesser-known 20th century residents and histories, highlighting the contributions of underrepresented groups within the community
• Work collectively to raise the profile of overlooked and undiscovered histories in Clapham and Lambeth
• Co-author new creative and heritage projects with local participants
• Be inclusive, exploring a range of perspectives and histories through engaging a diversity of facilitators and audiences
• Create local access to high-quality heritage, cultural and learning experiences for diverse audiences through our partnerships with Black Cultural Archives, Lambeth Archives, Lansdowne School, Spectacle Media CIC and local residents
• Encourage young people to learn new archive, research and creative skills
• Become a more resilient and relevant organisation through the active involvement of people who live locally

What happened with the project?

Working with Spectacle Media, a Battersea-based community interest company specialising in documentary, community-led investigative journalism and participatory media, we collaboratively researched Rectory Gardens.

Rectory Gardens is a street of houses in Clapham's Old Town, less than a mile from Studio Voltaire, that was severely damaged by bombing during the Second World War. In the late 1960s, squatters moved into the street and slowly renovated the houses. From the 1970s to the eviction in 2014, the street played host to an industrious community of artists, musicians, poets and unconventional 'free thinkers'. Spectacle Media and Studio Voltaire hosted a series of free online participatory film editing and oral history workshops using their archival recordings with participants during the final months of their squat-turned-housing cooperative, the eviction and beyond.

Award-winning artist and poet Jay Bernard created a new sound work and installation responding to the Clapham South deep-level shelter as a point of questioning and diffusion after the arrival of the HMT Empire Windrush in 1948, working with the Black Cultural Archives and London Transport Museum.

Opened to the public in July 1944, Clapham South deep-level shelter was used by people seeking refuge during the Second World War and, later, by visitors to the Festival of Britain. In June 1948, due to a lack of temporary housing, the disused shelter housed 236 Caribbean people newly arrived on the Windrush following the Second World War. Conditions were basic, cramped and noisy in the windowless bunker. 15 storeys underground, it was a site of contradictory political gestures: fear from politicians about "coloured immigration" was met with a practical, warm and official welcome that became a sincere effort to find jobs and accommodation. The shelter's miles-long subterranean passageways remain a testament to the fascinating stories of those who stayed there.

The programme also initiated 'Unearthed Collective', a group of neighbours who met monthly at Studio Voltaire to investigate Clapham's community and history through the lens of creative practice. The 12-month programme of meetings, visits, local photography walking tours and socials culminated in a collaboratively curated and produced exhibition at Studio Voltaire called 'Where can we be heard?'

The exhibition brought together photography, printed matter, oral recordings and archival material to foreground both found and personal stories relating to Clapham.

A new learning programme was facilitated by artist Sadie St. Hilare with year 8 students from Stockwell-based secondary school Lansdowne, which saw visits to Black Cultural Archives to learn about Windrush history and the creation of a series of hand-printed and designed mini-zines which spoke to each student's heritage and experiences in unique ways.

Finally, South London-based F.A.T. Studio were commissioned to design the artwork, logo, e-flyer and printed materials relating to the project. Their beautifully detailed designs were inspired by fonts on Second World War Clapham Shelter tickets and the 'L' shape of Rectory Gardens, combining archival images with illustrations of modern-day Clapham residents.

What were the outcomes of the project?

Studio Voltaire surpassed many of their targets and fulfilled the programme’s aims and objectives. This was despite several challenges, including the ongoing effects of the pandemic, the cost of living crisis and the engagement of partners.

There were a number of positive highlights gained out of this new area of work for Studio Voltaire that we are particularly proud of:

• The initiation of a paid community advisory group: a lasting measure of success is that the group is still ongoing and that participants want to be involved in a new group, as well as being more involved in the wider work of Studio Voltaire
• The programme was highly successful in reaching diverse local communities, partners and facilitators, which was evident in feedback
• This grant has enabled them to establish meaningful new partnerships with a range of local and national partners

'Unearthed' marks a significant development in our programming as an organisation with the focus being on cultural heritage rather than contemporary art practice, this really adds value to our work by helping to engage a broader audience and helps connect other aspects of our programming which have a strong heritage element, such as our Rainbow Plaques programme.

The neighbours group 'Unearthed Collective' was such a success, that we have just received funding to set up a 4-year Neighbours Advisory Group. This would not have been possible to initiate without Historic England’s support. Work and research from the programme will enter archives across the UK including our local Lambeth Archives, ensuring the project has a legacy and that people will have access to the project outcomes in perpetuity.

We are now planning to make heritage an important part of Studio Voltaire’s Civic and Learning Programmes. This builds on previous projects and provides further significant opportunities to engage and collaborate with targeted participation groups and key stakeholders. On a wider organisational level, it helps reach local audiences (a key target group) through new programming and helps expand our civic role.

What lessons were learned?

There were a range of challenges to be learned from and built on in the next phase of the programme:

• Ensure projects have enough time to build trust with participants, particularly when they explore conversations around sensitive subjects. This is a key learning outcome for 'Unearthed'
• Engaging participants took longer than anticipated. We had to focus the short time period on meaningfully engaging audiences and participants, over and above other priorities, but as a result of this it affected other aspects of the programme
• Press and marketing around the programme could have been significantly improved with longer lead times for projects and programmes and more partner support and engagement
• In the future, we will either plan to produce fewer strands to the programme or extend the overall project time period to allow for projects to develop properly with people (and for flexibility when challenges arise)

Further reading

• Find out more about the programme
• Find out more about Jay Bernard’s Far From the Start
• Find out more about Unearthed Collective
• Watch the film collage ‘Where Can We Be heard?’
• Listen to some oral histories from the project