Announcement from BCA Managing Director, Arike Oke

Following the announcement of a second England-wide lockdown, the BCA team will shift back to digital and remote working with immediate effect. Our home at 1 Windrush Square will be closed to the public until the current restrictions are lifted. Any previously scheduled, socially distanced events, happening at 1,Windrush Square are postponed. This includes upcoming Poets Corner events, for which refunds will be made, and the use of our building for Remembrance Sunday.

You can still experience BCA’s programme and resources 24 hours a day through our new digital showcase and the exhibits on our Google Arts and Culture platform. We have been working hard on creating more digital programming since the first lockdown in March this year, and we will continue to make teaching and learning about Black history available during this lockdown, even if only via our online programming. Please keep an eye on our events listings.

Our staff will be working from home and can be contacted via email, social media and by telephone on 0203 757 8500. Sign up to our newsletter, or follow us on social media for our latest projects, and please look out for even more celebration of Black artists in our 2020 Black Futures Month commissions, the first ‘Reimaging Care’ curated by Pelumi Odubanjo can be viewed at bcaexhibits.org.

In this period our Windrush Compensation advice surgeries are suspended. Please send us an email at info@bcaheritage.org.uk or leave a voicemail on 0203 757 8500 with your contact details if you would like to be added to the list for when they re-open. Researchers should contact archives@bcaheritage.org.uk for further information on how to access the collections during the closure.

We will closely monitor government guidance to review when we can re-open 1 Windrush Square.

We give thanks to all of the funders, businesses, collectives and individuals who have shown us remarkable support this year. It is thanks to all of you that we can survive this latest lockdown and continue our work.

We encourage everyone to continue to be safe and look forward to welcoming you back through our doors soon. Thank you for your support of BCA. From community comes strength.

From me and all of our family at BCA, we wish you good health.