Leeds Hosts Abolition of the Slave Trade Bicentennial Event with Culture Minister David Lammy.

Wednesday, 31 January 2007

Yorkshire leads the way with an innovative joint Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England event in Chapeltown marking this year’s bicentenary. David Lammy, Culture Minister, today joined the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and Arts Council England at the Leeds West Indian Community Centre in Chapeltown to launch their programme of events and projects to mark the Bicentennial of the Abolition of the Slave Trade. This dynamic event, designed to bring together community groups and arts and heritage practitioners, will show-case projects supported by HLF and Arts Council England, Yorkshire and provide a unique forum for funding advice. Delivering the key note speech, David Lammy welcomed both HLF and the Arts Council’s enabling role as funders for bicentenary projects: “I’m delighted to be in Chapeltown today and am looking forward to meeting many of the Yorkshire-based community groups who have benefited from either Heritage Lottery Fund or Arts Council England support. The range of bicentenary projects and events taking place in the region is both imaginative and inspirational and demonstrate how much people are thinking about 1807 and how it relates to their own lives today.” Today’s programme features dramatic and musical illustrations of the impact of the slave trade, including a performance by the Harewood House Trust project who will be performing Carnival Messiah at Harewood, a unique interpretation of Handel’s Messiah performed Caribbean carnival style and featuring gospel, reggae and hip-hop music. The focus of the day will be to forge new relationships as a model for working together in the future. Dr Fiona Spiers, HLF Regional Manager for Yorkshire and the Humber, added: “Today’s event has two key aims – ensuring a long-term legacy from this important historical anniversary and bringing together community organisations and practitioners to share their knowledge and experiences. The Heritage Lottery Fund has already awarded over £2million to bicentenary projects in Yorkshire and we’re keen to help even more projects, particularly ones from smaller community groups.” Andy Carver, Executive Director of the Arts Council England, Yorkshire, commented: “We’re pleased to be supporting such a range of exciting and innovative projects to mark this momentous bicentenary. It is a chance for all of us to increase our understanding of the heritage we share, and the arts are an important way of animating it and making it relevant to people today. As part of our on-going commitment to diversity, we are keen to support, through grants for the arts, the many artists, producers and organisations from all cultural backgrounds who will want to mark this significant historic occasion.” Background: Both HLF and the Arts Council have supported a diverse range of bicentenary projects in Yorkshire and Humber. These include: • An HLF grant of £408,000 to help the Leeds West Indian Centre Charitable Trust to run a programme of activities involving the local community in the commemoration of the bicentennial, the role played by those enslaved in campaigning against the trade and highlighting the contribution of African culture to the UK’s heritage. • An HLF grant of £12,900 for City Arts’ project ‘Tumari Charl – The Way You Are’ which will involve five different groups of young women who will explore various cultures and traditions in Hull through film and drama. • An HLF grant of £800,500 for the Wilberforce House Museum Development Project in Hull. The museum which will open on 25 March recounts the history of the slave trade and the Parliamentary campaign of William Wilberforce for its abolition. • An Arts Council grant of £100,000 will enable Harewood House to hold performances of Carnival Messiah in September 2007. The project is providing a large number of young people with opportunities for new artistic experiences. • An Arts Council grant of £39,336 will enable the Riding Lights Theatre Company, based in York, to work with York Theatre Royal to produce African Snow, the story of a white slave trader and a black African stolen from his home. The show will go on a 10-week tour to many of the cities central to the UK’s involvement in the slave trade, accompanied by educational workshops and activities. • HLF has already awarded grants to more than 60 bicentenary projects across the UK, totalling £10million, which explore this important historical period. More details can be found on: www.hlf.org.uk/rememberingslavery.

Top of Page [ Back ]

Email this page to a friend

In this Section... David Lammy presents Wilberforce Slave Trade Act to Amistad as it sets sail on fantastic voyage. Culture Minister David Lammy`s Keynote Speech to ‘Slavery: Unfinished Business’ Conference. UNFINISHED BUSINESS – Slavery: then and now. "Fighting for human dignity: the common responsibility of all" - Address by H.E. Mr. Kofi A. Annan to commemorate the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire. Deputy Prime Minister: Introducing Kofi Annan. David Lammy attends the launch of the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Commemorative £2 Coins. David Lammy attends the House of Lords launch of the Oxford Companion to Black British History. The Prime Minister talks to Simon Schama about history and the Slave Trade. Commemoration day to recall slave trade and make UK face up to past. Protection for tomb of anti-slave trade activist. Adjournment Debate on the 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, House of Commons. David Lammy welcomes Haringey Council`s commitment to mark the 200th anniversary of the Parliamentary Abolition of Transatlantic Slave. David Lammy heralds programme of events to mark bicentenary of slave trade abolition. Parliament commemorates the bicentenary of British Parliamentary abolition of the slave trade. Leeds Hosts Abolition of the Slave Trade Bicentennial Event with Culture Minister David Lammy. David Lammy`s Podcast on the Commemoration of the Parliamentary Abolition of the Slave Trade. English Heritage searches for links to slavery. David Lammy takes historic stance on Bicentenary Commemoration to mark the abolition of slavery.