When Suffolk Archives won Community Engagement Programme of the Year at the Museums + Heritage Awards for their “Arrivals: Celebrating Migration to Suffolk” project, it wasn’t just a victory for the organisation – it was a triumph for an entire community. Mandy Rawlins, audience development manager at Suffolk Archives, reflects on a project that engaged over 13,000 people and transformed how Suffolk’s migration stories are collected, shared, and celebrated.
The judges praised the project as “comprehensive, thoughtful and effective,” noting it “successfully reached beyond its organisation’s traditional audience, achieving impressive results with a strong legacy.” The two-year National Lottery Heritage Fund project set out to ” collect, share and celebrate stories of migration to Suffolk and make the archive collections representative of Suffolk’s diverse communities,” explains Rawlins. “The project has engaged new audiences and worked to foster social cohesion and pride of place.”
With over 13,000 people engaged through co-curated exhibitions, community art installations, extensive events programmes, and archive workshops across the county, the project’s reach continues to grow. “We continue to support community events including hosting The Chinese New Year Show, Eid, International Women’s Day, National Polish Day, International Roma Day, the annual Windrush Exhibition and Dora Love Schools Prize” Rawlins notes.
Multiple Voices, Multiple Methods
The programme’s innovative approach to story collection was deliberately designed to be as inclusive as possible. “Previous work on oral history and contemporary collecting projects had identified that people communicate their personal stories in different ways” Rawlins reveals. The solution? A multi-faceted approach including oral histories, a story collecting app, a recording phone booth at The Hold, online submissions and workshops.
“We also encouraged people to share their stories in their first language, if they were more comfortable and volunteers translated them. This enabled us to engage with a wide range of people within the community, making it as easy as possible to share their stories.”
Art Takes Flight
One of the project’s most visible successes was an art installation featuring decorated birds representing migration stories. “We explored different ideas but settled on a flight of migrating birds swooping through The Hold, decorated by the community to create a public work of art,” Rawlins describes. What started as 50 plain MDF birds eventually grew to 120. “Demand so was so high from community groups and schools, finally 120 birds were decorated. This also acted as an icebreaker activity to share details of the project with the wider community and gain support for co-creation and contributions to the exhibition.
Empowering Communities
The project’s Community Sharing Fund exemplified the collaborative spirit, with plans to support five community groups expanding to ten. “That was the plan, but we ended up supporting ten community groups! ” Rawlins exclaims. A £25,000 fund from the National Lottery Heritage Fund enabled community groups to promote and share their own heritage.
“We were guided by our Community Forum to create an independent judging panel of local community champions and some young ESOL learners.” she explains.
“The range of applications were so vast that the panel decided they would rather support ten projects with smaller grants.” These included Chinese New Year workshops, Polish Heritage Day Celebrations, an Afghan Women’s project, Filipino Community Summer Sportsfest, and Windrush Storytelling.
Building Legacy Through Skills
The project’s commitment to sustainability extended to training community groups in archiving their own histories. “This workshop had led to some groups obtaining additional advice from our archivists and the deposit of new collections, thus supporting our aim of making our collections more diverse, relevant and accessible.,” Rawlins said.
Sharing Knowledge Sector-Wide
The programme’s professional development components brought together educators and heritage professionals nationwide. “Learning about local migration stories aims to foster understanding, empathy, and social cohesion in our diverse society,” Rawlins explains. The team shared stories collected during the project, including that of Wasyl Kowbenk, originally from Ukraine, who was a POW in WW2 and came to Ipswich as part of the European Volunteer Worker scheme – a story that resonates powerfully with contemporary Ukrainian migration.
The Arrivals CPD study day drew sixty heritage professionals from across the country to The Hold. “90% of people responded that the day was useful, referring to how the day had given them ideas for new work and networks, and applying their learning in their own settings.”
A Collective Victory
Reflecting on winning the award, Rawlins emphasises the collective nature of the achievement.
“It was overwhelming, especially as we are a small organisation and up against some rather impressive competition,” she said.
The win holds special significance for Suffolk’s heritage: “Suffolk has a long history of migration and not many people are aware that when the Windrush generation arrived in the UK, they would head to three main centres, London, Birmingham and Ipswich, attracted by employment in our engineering and dock industries. This award gives value to the diverse heritage of our county and celebrates the contributions made by migrants.”
But Rawlins is clear about who really won this award: “The team knows that the project would not have been a success if it wasn’t for the support from our staff, volunteers and all the people who shared their stories with us and who contributed to the exhibition, events and activities. It was the community that made Arrivals such a memorable project, driving momentum, fostering community cohesion and celebrating difference.”
“None of this would have been possible, if it wasn’t for the support of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with thanks to National Lottery players.”
Her advice to other heritage professionals is straightforward: “We would encourage other heritage professionals to enter the Museum and Heritage Awards as it raises your profile nationally and you get to make valuable connections with other organisations who take part.”
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