Heritage Fund invests in first anti-apartheid centre

A new centre dedicated to the anti-apartheid movement is to be created after securing a £1.2m grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The £3m project at Penton Street, a four-floor townhouse in Islington which is the former London headquarters of the African National Congress, will be called The Anti-Apartheid Legacy: Centre of Memory and Learning.

The building will be fully restored as part of the project to create a permanent exhibition exploring the history and legacy of the anti-apartheid movement, in particular the UK's central role in the struggle.

The building will have an accessible archive resource and study space. It will also create a programme of learning, volunteering and employment opportunities, and offer affordable workspaces to businesses, charities and community groups.

Professor Chris Mullard, Chair of the Liliesleaf Trust UK, which is responsible for the project, said it “enables a unique platform from which we will strive to reduce inequality and promote inclusivity through its programmes and events which empower as well as inform contemporary communities, and which work towards redressing longstanding imbalances in the perceptions and experience of UK’s multi-cultural heritage”.

The project has also been supported by the Mayor of London’s Good Growth Fund and Garfield Weston Foundation, as well as other funders.

A campaign has begun to raise the final funding required for the project.