Hoxton's Museum of the Home is hosting its Festival Of Home this weekend, bringing together best-selling authors, award-winning photographers, cabaret performers, drag artists and more to explore the theme of belonging.
Following The Museum of the Home's recent renovation which saw it closed to the public for three years, the Festival of Home marks the first opportunity to fill the building and its gardens with a host of activities.
Director of Creative Programmes and Collections Tamsin Ace said: “Following our reopening earlier this summer, the inaugural Festival of Home marks the start of a commitment to innovative programming at Museum of the Home which will see us collaborating with multidisciplinary artists, delivering a global and inclusive series of events."
The two-day festival will feature a conversation by author Emma Dabiri called "What White Institutions Can Do Next".
Highlights will also include a number of discussions on the housing crisis and the future of home.
The festival supports the museum's annual Campaign for Change and this year's Behind the Door campaign, which centres on homelessness in London.
Lucy Littlewood, director of partnerships said: “Our Campaigns for Change are a crucial way for the Museum to live and breathe our new mission - to reveal and rethink how we all live so we can live better together.
"Our first campaign, Behind the Door, hopes to raise awareness and funds for women and families struggling without a permanent home."
June Bellebono, creative programmer at the museum, said that talks at the festival will also add to debates around the statue of Sir Robert Geffrye, who profited from the transatlantic slave trade.
Last July, almost 80 per cent of respondents living near to the museum said in a public consultation that they wanted the statue moved from it's prominent position on the building's facade.
However, despite the consultation and a number of protests calling for Geffrye to fall, the museum decided to leave the statue standing amid governmental pressure.
June told the Gazette: "I fully stand with the community and believe the statue should fall and it should not be there.
"The festival's programme of events showcases what an actual environment of belonging could be and the voices we should listen to and highlight."
To book a ticket or learn more visit www.museumofthehome.org.uk
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