Global Greenwich : Future Histories
Join us every month of the year to celebrate our shared Black Maritime History. Our next year of programming, generously funded by the Royal Borough of Greenwich, is launching in October 2021 and will celebrate the voices, perspectives and lived experience of Black communities, past and present.
In 2021/22, we will address inclusive and invisible histories across the National Curriculum; celebrate our Black cultural heritage across the year; and create opportunities for further study for adults with talks and workshops drawing on collections to develop and share a deeper understanding of African and Caribbean histories and culture.
The programme includes:
Black Atlantis: Drexciya and Other Nautical Afrofuturist Myths
Wednesday 13 October 2021
An event featuring artists, academics, and musicians that will discuss the nautical Afrofuturist mythologies that Black creatives are exploring today and what they tell us about the Black experience in the new millennium.
Message in a Bottle
Saturday 23 October | 12pm-3.30pm
This workshop will unlock the meaning held in Yinka Shonibare's Ship in a Bottle and its iconic Dutch wax sails. Design your very own pattern and, using a batik printing process, create your own personalised printed fabric. Learn more about the significance of this fabric to the artwork, artist and its importance to African cultural identities today.
Black History Tour of the National Maritime Museum
Thursday 4 November | 11am | Meet on Britain on the Great Map, 1st floor
Join curator Aaron Jaffer for a free Black History tour visiting the National Maritime Museum's major galleries. Hear fascinating stories about Black sailors, explorers, writers and artists in Britain and beyond from the past 400 years. There is no need to book and everyone is welcome.
Teaching Inclusive Histories, CPD training
Thursday 4 November 2021
A series of talks, discussions, taster school workshops and object and archive sessions will focus on how teachers and museum learning specialists can work together to teach inclusive histories that are meaningful and relevant to young people in the 21st century.
Caribbean Social Forum Takeover
Date TBC, check back soon
Look out for an intergenerational activity day at the National Maritime Museum in the Spring of 2022. This will include games, performances and creative activities designed to encourage interaction and learning which will contribute to relationship building between generations.
Windrush Day: Lewisham College Project
Wednesday 22 June 2022
For those studying at tertiary level, four weeks of creative workshops will challenge theatre and drama students to respond to the themes relating to Black history within the collection. The project outcomes will be decided by the students, thinking critically and creatively to connect with and express fresh perspectives on our past.
Nanny of the Maroons Trail
Check back soon for updates
Utilizing the Museum’s ongoing consultation initiative ‘Collaborating for Change’, artist and author Stella Dadzie will be creating a museum trail that readdresses the historical invisibility of women. This trail will follow the journey of Nanny of the Maroons, one of the countless anonymous women who resisted enslavement, whilst holding on to African culture and beliefs.
We will also be hosting a workshop, led by Stella Dadzie, for young women in the borough of Greenwich to engage with the empowering histories of female resistance and rebellion.