The UK’s only national heritage centre dedicated to collecting, preserving and celebrating the histories of African and Caribbean people in Britain is at risk of closure because of a funding crisis.
More than 100 cross-party MPs have signed a letter urging the government to step in to save the Black Cultural Archives (BCA) in Windrush Square in the heart of Brixton, south London. The centre’s funding has dropped by two-thirds in recent months.
The BCA, whose patrons include the actor Idris Elba, poet Benjamin Zephaniah and playwright and director Kwame Kwei-Armah, does not receive any core funding from central government and its supporters say its future is in doubt.
The Labour MP Chuka Umunna drew attention to the BCA’s predicament during prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, pointing out that other national institutions such as the British Museum and National Gallery receive 40% of their funding from the government.
“The BCA currently receives none and is at threat of closure,” he said, adding: “Can I ask the prime minister to explain the differential treatment of the BCA and, in this Windrush year of all years, to right this wrong and provide it with the funding it desperately needs.”
Theresa May said she would ask a minister to look into the issue.
The letter from MPs to Jeremy Wright, the secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS), said: “The BCA is a vitally important institution, which must be supported to address the current funding issues and to achieve a sustainable plan for the future.
“We are therefore writing to ask that, as a matter of urgency you commit short-term funding to sustain the BCA and work with the organisation on a sustainable funding plan for the future, including the establishment of an endowment.”
The BCA, which opened in 1981, was set up to bring together objects, documents, publications and oral histories, and enable the black community in Britain to tell its stories and history in its own voice for the first time.
The archives include everything from a small silver coin, depicting Septimius Severus, the Roman emperor, dating back to 208AD, a collection of photographs of the affluent Barbour-James family from the Edwardian era and the back catalogue of lifestyle magazines such as Drum and Flamingo dating from the 1970s.
The BCA has been dependent on funding from the Heritage Lottery for the past four years but that money, which constitutes two-thirds of the archives’ income, has come to an end. Lambeth council is the major funder and, although it remains committed to supporting BCA, it is unable to plug the funding gap.
The DCMS minister, Michael Ellis, visited in June and agreed that officials would work with BCA as a matter of urgency to address the funding challenges, but according to campaigners there has been no meaningful follow-up.
The BCA director, Paul Reid, said: “We call on the broadest spectrum of society from local community, private sector, high net worth individuals, trusts and foundations, through to central government to join our #BackBCA campaign.”
Umunna, who is MP for Streatham in south London and a BCA patron, added: “The BCA is a vitally important institution for the community, and part of keeping our heritage and history alive for the next generation.
“Repeated attempts to reach out to the government have so far been met with inaction. The government must act now, before it is too late and this vital pillar of the African-Caribbean community is lost.”
A DCMS spokesperson said the BCA provided an important contribution to preserving and celebrating the diverse cultural heritage of Britain. “It has received significant public funding, including over £4m from the Heritage Lottery Fund to develop its heritage centre, and we will continue to work with it to identify further funding opportunities to help it become more financially sustainable.”
Recent BCA exhibitions include photographs by the Jamaican-born Neil Kenlock, who documented the hopes and struggles of the Windrush generation. Another recent exhibition, Family Ties, explored the heritage and tradition of the British-Ghanaian Adamah family.