Respect! Caribbean life in Edinburgh – How a community project has changed our museum practice

Abstract

• In 2021 and 2022 Museums & Galleries Edinburgh worked with Edinburgh Caribbean Association (ECA) to develop the exhibition Respect! Caribbean Life in Edinburgh. ECA used the collections of the Museum of Childhood to explore Caribbean culture and childhoods, living in Scotland and Caribbean contributions to British society. The project was community led and collections based. This was challenging as Covid restrictions were still in place, meaning access to venues and collections was very limited and meetings were digital. Building trust between museum staff and the group was key, and so the museums had to take risks and try new ways of working, changing processes and exploring the gaps and absences in collections. The project has prompted the Museums work in new, more equitable and representative ways with communities. The subject matter meant that additional safeguards were needed to support participant wellbeing as well as offering financial recompense for their time. We would like to present the successes and failures of the project honestly, reflecting on what we have learned from the process, and what we will take forward in our future practice in terms of outreach and collections work. The project was a part of Exchange, funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council and managed by partner National Museums Scotland and Royal Museums Greenwich and focused on themes of Empire, Immigration and Living in Britain.