The People’s History of Finsbury Park - A new project
Historic England awards an everyday heritage grant to Museum of Homelessness to highlight the heritage of Finsbury Park
Following on from last week’s announcement about our new building, Museum of Homelessness is delighted to share news about its first major new heritage project at its new home – A People’s History of Finsbury Park.
Funding has been awarded for the heritage project in as part of Historic England’s ‘Everyday Heritage Grants: Celebrating Working Class History.’ The new grant scheme was launched by Historic England earlier this year to support community-led projects and further the nation’s collective understanding of the past. MoH has been awarded £13,800 for the project.
A People’s History of Finsbury Park will delve deep into the history of housing, homelessness, urban planning, social change in this part of London to deliver an exciting programme of events and activities next year. Haringey has a proud history of organising and resistance and this project will explore that at a time when working class people are facing significant struggle.
At the heart of this new project will be people who have lived and worked in the area working with the museum. In the early part of 2023, a project group will come together to co-create this history, exploring micro-histories of the area, carrying out research and telling the stories they wish to tell. The group will decide what is created – it may be a zine, a podcast, a tour or something else.
The project will also be complimented by the input of MoH’s new artists in residence – Jacob V. Joyce, Liv Wynter and Surfing Sofas. Their involvement will spark creative ideas and will culminate in live events to mark the launch of the project next year.
Getting involved
Over the autumn period we will be reaching out to people locally and building a group of curators for the project. If this sounds like you, please get in touch. If you would like to join our project group, share a story, a poem, a testimony, or the facts about the past as you see them, please contact us: matt@museumofhomelessness.org
More about the grants and Historic England
About Everyday Heritage Grants: Celebrating Working Class History
Historic England is funding a wide range of projects around the country through its Everyday Heritage Grants: Celebrating Working Class Histories, following an open call for applications in February 2022. These 57 community-led and people-focused projects aim to further the nation’s collective understanding of the past, with a focus on heritage that links people to overlooked local historic places and celebrating working class histories.
The grants are part of Historic England’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and are part of the organisation’s commitment to help the heritage sector become more inclusive.
About Historic England
We are Historic England, the public body that helps people care for, enjoy and celebrate England’s spectacular historic environment, from beaches and battlefields to parks and pie shops. We protect, champion and save the places that define who we are and where we’ve come from as a nation. We care passionately about the stories they tell, the ideas they represent and the people who live, work and play among them. Working with communities and specialists we share our passion, knowledge and skills to inspire interest, care and conservation, so everyone can keep enjoying and looking after the history that surrounds us all.