This application for funding is to create an Anti-Apartheid Legacy: Centre of Memory & Learning website and to commission of young/disadvantaged artists to create website content (a contemporary response to the legacy of apartheid and action against it).
The Liliesleaf Trust UK (TLTU) was established as a charity in 2018 (reg. no. 1180953), to advance public knowledge of the civic and political solidarity of international communities – particularly the British community, including South African and other political exiles to the UK – with the South African liberation struggle against the apartheid regime. We aim to encourage dialogue, reflection and positive contemporary action around the themes and values embedded in this globally significant history – social justice, reconciliation, inclusivity and equalities (particularly around race, economic injustice, rights of equal participation in political and civic systems) – while facilitating the sharing of culture and the arts.
We are currently working to build a new Centre of Memory and Learning (to open in 2022) in the former African National Congress London headquarters, at 28 Penton Street Islington. TLTU is collaborating with partners, including the Anti-Apartheid Movement Archives Committee, and Greater London Authority (our principal funder) to realise this project. A first for the UK, the CML will provide a tangible place of memory and engagement for anti-apartheid; housing exhibitions, skills development workshops, and community programming. All programme is designed to promote collaboration between peoples and drive participation in society to effect transformation, equality and justice.
We are seeking funding to launch content development for the web domain antiapartheidlegacy.org.uk. With the support of The Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust, we will commission five digital artworks to be permanently housed on the website. Artworks will be commissioned across media (visual art, spoken word, poetry, music, film, performance etc.).
To realise this project we will work with contemporary artists who have been historically marginalised from mainstream cultural narratives, taking anti-apartheid heritage, the values that are embedded in its legacy and its contemporary resonances as the starting point for each commissioned work. Artists will be encouraged to respond to a detailed brief that shares the specific history of anti- apartheid action and which enhances understanding of its socialist, egalitarian and liberation movement frameworks.
Each artwork will give a unique perspective on how this heritage remains relevant and inspirational to communities and movements today. Anti-apartheid heritage sends a clear message that solidarity, active citizenship, community, and cooperation are powerful forces for the continued transformation of our world into a more equal and fair society.