For immediate release 

Brighton & Hove Museums is inviting refugees and migrants from all over the world to tell their stories to future generations as part of a unique community event at Hove Museum of Creativity.

The charity, which protects and promotes five historical and cultural venues across the city, wants people who have made the journey from other countries to live in the UK to share that experience to be recorded for future generations.
Whether people have come from the Caribbean as part of the Windrush generation, fled war or poverty from troubled regions or moved for love, the Brighton & Hove Museum’s Culture Change team want to gather as many diverse experiences as possible.

The story capture initiative will take place at a family fun day organised to celebrate Windrush Day at Hove Museum of Creativity.

Alongside music, food and activities, researchers from the museum will be collecting real life stories to be potentially included in the organisation’s archives. These archives will be part of an oral history collection which will speak to people in the future. Guests are asked to bring along memorabilia and photos if they have it, but their memories will also be enough.

The Culture Change team are also collecting family recipes from around the world to use in school resources. Visitors are invited to bring along a favourite recipe or just write it from memory on the day.
Brighton & Hove Museums will follow up some of the stories to form part of a new digital archive. They will then work with community partners to select some stories to follow-up and form part of our local history collection.

During the day, which is free for everyone to attend, local Hove artist Erin James will be holding zine-making workshops, a self-published booklet made from paper.

Throughout the afternoon music will be provided by steel band The Pantasy Steel Band during the day. For those who want to purchase authentic Caribbean food, there will be food available from Bready Delights .

Children can have fun joining in with arts and craft activities, facepainting and badgemaking.

The day has been organised by Brighton & Hove Museum’s Culture Change team, which was set up to change how stories from different communities are told and recorded.

Joint Head of Culture Change Simone LaCorbiniere said: “This will be a fun afternoon for everyone to celebrate the achievements and contributions the Windrush generation have made to the UK. But we also want to celebrate some of the fascinating, brave and important stories of migration into the area from other communities.

“It is important that we hear and keep these stories so people in the future can understand what it is like to leave your homeland and start a new life in the UK.

“From Commonwealth citizens who answered the call for help in the Windrush era to more recent journeys from every corner of the globe, every journey is special. Every journey is worth celebrating.”