“The Becoming Brent initiative fostered pride, inclusion, and wellbeing in alignment with Brent Council’s ‘Thriving Communities’ priority.”
Amit Bhagat, Head of Libraries, Culture & Heritage
Becoming Brent was a groundbreaking heritage initiative that empowered Brent’s diverse communities to explore their histories through a decolonial lens.
The Brent Museum & Archive team set up this project to commemorate the centenary of The British Empire Exhibition of 1924-25; one of the most visited attractions of the 20th century that transformed Wembley from a village into what it is today.
Rooted in the British Empire Exhibition collections, Becoming Brent delivered exhibitions, events, and 18 community-led projects, engaging over 61,000 people.
The project team wanted to address outdated terminology in cataloguing descriptions and add cultural context to records by opening them up to new perspectives. Furthermore, the collections had been donated at different times, so an audit was needed to re-address cataloguing and storage conditions.
The team recruited 26 volunteers, aged between 18 and 70, through a range of regional and industry callouts, including a double page spread in Your Brent magazine which is delivered to every household in the borough.
The volunteer group took part in interactive workshops run by a decolonisation consultant, Devika. Freelance collections auditor, Monna Matharu, ran the archive audit with the volunteers, providing research guides and training on basic cataloguing standards. Another freelance collections auditor, Flavia Cahn, ran the museum audit.
The group explored details that were missing from the existing cataloguing descriptions and considered what questions might come up for someone viewing the items. The aim was to layer new perspectives on to descriptions, rather than erasing old ones. All relevant items were repackaged and recorded in a comprehensive spreadsheet.
The first key output was a six-month exhibition featuring historical context of world events in 1924, oral histories from visitors of the original exhibition and an overview of the project’s approach to decolonisation. There was also a curator note section, accessible via QR codes, which enabled each volunteer to write a short essay about an item of their choice and explain their research process.
The team developed a temporary paper-based version of the exhibition, inviting visitor feedback on the content, which was subsequently incorporated into the final design and printed panels. The completed exhibition went on to attract over 12,000 visitors across six months.
“We want to pay tribute to the brilliant volunteers who made Becoming Brent possible. Opening up the auditing process to local residents marks a real shift in how we work with history leading to more dynamic historical context in the collection descriptions.”
Brent Museum & Archive Team
Another key outcome was the establishment of a community fund, which supported 18 diverse projects. Many of the resulting outputs— such as oral histories, photographs, and publications—have since been accessioned into the archives.
The 26 volunteers remain in touch, so the project has fostered a genuine sense of intergenerational and intercultural community. It has also increased local knowledge of the 1924 exhibition and invited Brent’s residents to engage with themes of imperialism and decolonisation.