This free, one-day event was the culmination of the (Multi)Cultural Heritage project. Featuring internationally renowned Keynote speakers David Olusoga (BBC broadcaster and public historian) and Dawn Walton (Eclipse Theatre Artistic Director), plus panels and performances that reflected on Stuart Hall’s project to challenge inequalities in the culture and heritage fields.

The Whose Heritage? symposium took place on Friday 24th May 2019 at the Assembly Rooms, in Newcastle upon Tyne. A curated daytime programme of invited talks, roundtables and arts interventions and performances offered a vital snapshot of current theory, performances and interventions. Open to BME and public audiences especially youth voices, the event is designed to offer a fresh approach to debate beyond reports, data, sector insights and academia.

Whose Heritage? aimed to raise awareness and expand society’s attitudes about heritage, and to incorporate ideas of ‘difference’ and ‘change’ into how we think about the past. In the current political climate, ‘going public’ with cultural difference made a claim on how culture, the arts and heritage is envisioned and practiced in the North East.