In 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, a group of museum volunteers aged 14-24 found themselves restricted to weekly Zoom meetings. It was during these meetings that the group began to question the narrative presented in their museum. Known as the Preservative Party, the group started to wonder: ‘Why are there no autistic voices in our museum?’, ‘Did trans people not exist in history?’, ‘Why are there no deaf perspectives in our galleries’ and ‘we know about the rich industrialists but what about the people who worked in the factories?’ When they couldn’t find satisfactory answers to these questions, they became determined to work with the Museum and local communities to find and tell overlooked stories, so that ‘everyone who comes to the Leeds City Museum sees themselves reflected in our galleries.’
The Preservative Party curated an exhibition from start to finish – they chose the themes, selected objects, researched stories, wrote text, and worked with various professionals and community partners to amplify the voices that are too often unheard.
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Sustainable Development Goals
Eurocities Awards
This project was shortlisted for the 'Eurocities Awards' in 2023 in the following category: Bringing young people to the centre of co-creating public spaces.
From the beginning, The Preservative Party group members were determined to listen to the voices of people who had not been heard before and to curate a large exhibit to showcase these stories. They also wanted people in Leeds to understand the importance of sharing their experiences, and to keep a record for future generations.
In some cases, stories relating to neurodiverse, autistic, transgender, deaf and older people were missing. The group realised that they would need to connect with these communities and learn about how to collect and tell their stories.
The Preservative Party reviewed the Museum’s collection and identified the stories that they thought were missing – in some cases, the stories were there but were not documented correctly; others were incomplete. Early on in their research they found an LP by Angela Morley, a famous Leeds composer. The LP was documented under their deadname. The group rewrote her record and found her archivist and family.
Early in the project, The Preservative Party recognised that they would need to build relationships with different groups and individuals in Leeds. During the coronavirus pandemic lockdown, The Preservative Party held Zoom calls with a group of older adults, listened and shared their stories invited them to record their oral accounts and to put their items on the display.
The Preservative Party realised that neurodiverse stories would be vital to the exhibition. Working together, they curated a display reflecting their own experiences with autism, and invited groups of autistic adults to share oral histories and objects.
Several group members were passionate about collecting stories about access. They worked with the Deaf Arts Forum and were so moved by people’s stories of isolation, that four members signed up for a British Sign Language course and supported the Deaf Arts Forum to curate their own film and exhibition - the first Deaf-led curated display that the service has ever produced.
During every single step of the way, the group was determined to involve the people of Leeds. Group members attended community meetings, searched the internet for contacts, and met family members of people whose stories had been overlooked.
The research and exhibition had a budget of 21,307 Euro. The Leeds City Council contributed with approximately 13,500 Euro; the rest was provided by Leeds Museums and Galleries’ National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) funding from the Arts Council England
The project achieved the following:
- 27 new stories told
- One new film in British Sign Language collected
- One new film from the neurodivergent community colelcted
- 10 young adults in British Sign Language and oral history methodology trained
- Four young adults trained to become project mentors
- 13 new oral histories collected
- 110 objects from community loans on display, including from over 30 partners
It is estimated that 40,000-50,000 visitors will attend the exhibition and the group will deliver bespoke workshops for specific community partners during this time.
It has been frustrating to see how people’s experiences were recorded (or not recorded) in history. Sometimes the Preservative Party felt burdened by the weight of what they felt they had to do; other times they felt that it was only a drop in the ocean – there is still so much more to be done.
The biggest challenge was probably finding the stories. It was sad to think about what had been lost forever. Sometimes group members did months of research, only to find that it led nowhere. One group member worked with a family to plan an entire section dedicated to a particular person from Leeds.
The Overlooked exhibition opened on 9 February 2023 and ran until 2 June. It was the culmination of 18 months of hard work by the young volunteers. The Preservative Party believes that the co- curation of this display can be applied to other museum projects, including the refurbishment of permanent galleries.
The Preservative Party has received a lot of requests for tours and talks from local communities, including adults with disabilities, members of the LGBT+ community, and a local history group. They will run events to celebrate different communities in the exhibition, including the first music performance by Angela Morley – the first transgender person to be nominated for an Academy Award in Leeds.
Some of the objects, oral histories and films will be acquired and become part of the Museum collection, so that future visitors can find more diversity in the Museum’s collection.
Across Leeds there have been other changes; for example, the Leeds City Music Library did not have any music from Angela Morley. The library is looking to rectify this, and a local orchestra is planning performances of her music.
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