Susie
Symes chairs
19 Princelet Street, Europe's first museum of immigration and diversity.
She is an economist and broadcaster, who has worked in Her Majesty's
Treasury, the European Commission in Brussels and as Director of the
European Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs.
She is a Fellow and former conference chair of the British-American
Project; has published on topics ranging from world agricultural policy,
military might in the Mediterranean, and museum-making; and is variously
sherpa, scribe and spare pair of hands for several not-for-profits.
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Britain's
First Museum Celebrating Immigration
Susie Symes, Chair of Trustees, Museum of Immigration and Diversity,
19 Princelet Street, London, England shared with Conference participants
an English version of civic engagement. Her site, 19 Princelet Street
in Spitalfields in London is an unrestored Huguenot master silk
weaver's home, whose shabby frontage conceals a rare surviving synagogue
built over its garden. A dedicated group of volunteers are working
to save the building and to create a permanent exhibition where
visitors can discover the stories of waves of newcomers - Huguenots,
Irish, Jews, Bengali and Somali peoples among many others - who
have shaped this area and their nation.
The museum is located "on the edge" - on the edge of the
city and on the edge of survival. The site is in its 21st year,
but the story of why it has taken 21 years to become Britain's first
museum celebrating immigration and diversity is important, too.
Preserving the building is not just a physical task; it is a political
one as well. For some visitors, the state of disrepair says something
about the British and their treatment of immigrants.
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| Susie
Symes, on the left, engaged her audience throughout the session
and beyond. She is pictured here with Marie Rust, National Park
Service Regional Director, in the session's aftermath. Title
photo is of Princelet Street Trustee from the Princelet Street
website. |
Children
and Artists Create Exhibit
A current exhibit, "Suitcases and Sanctuary," was created
by children and artists working together. Children from six different
local schools, many of them from immigrant communities, were asked
to imagine the life of an immigrant and then tell those stories
to each other. These stories became part of a very simple, but powerful,
exhibit which, according to a commentary about the exhibit published
in The Times, "dwells on the enrichment of Britain by
outsiders, but also on the sorrow of exile."
Fragile
Structure; Tenuous Financing
Because of the fragile nature of the structure, the museum is only
open a few days a year, special occasion days directly related to
the immigrant and diversity story. Not being open year-round makes
it difficult to remain visible to the community and generate support
for the museum. The donations tend to be modest and private. So
far, foundations, companies, and the government have held back from
fully supporting this effort. But that is part of being on a shoestring.
Limited funds also means that the primary concern is to just "hold"
the structure, which can be money spent invisibly.
In closing, Susie told
her listeners that the mission of the museum is to not only engage
the community, but also the world. "The idea is that you can
take historic buildings and give them new meaning today through
what they evoke."
To learn more about 19 Princelet Street visit:
http://www.19princeletstreet.org.uk
Last Updated:
October 21, 2004
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