Celebrating the stories and voices of Leicester residents
Leicester Stories Gallery
Client: Leicester City Council
Location: Leicester
Timescale: 2021-22
Celebrating the stories and voices of people living in Leicester from the 1950s to today
The Leicester Stories Gallery is a new permanent exhibition at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery which highlights the experiences, challenges and achievements of Leicester residents in their own words over the past 70 years of the city’s history.
Core delivered the gallery design, build and fit-out, working with community groups, young people, local artists and the museum team through a co-production approach. We facilitated workshops with different groups to choose themes, stories and collections for the gallery, including objects donated by Leicester people for the display. The design which emerged explores themes of community, diversity, industry and work, as well as education, prejudice and sport, all brought to life with a multitude of everyday objects displayed around a central meeting and discussion area. Our design accommodates the work of local creatives, including poetry, artwork, a commissioned film, and photographic work created together with youth panel co-producers.
The gallery was formed through a redevelopment of existing exhibition, storage and offices space on the museum’s ground floor. Core acted as Principal Contractor for the project, overseeing enabling works by contractors and managing the gallery build and fit-out while the museum remained open to the public, minimising disruption to operations and services.
Images: Leicester City Council
It’s been fantastic to be involved in the development of the Leicester Stories Gallery. So much has happened in Leicester over the past 70 years, and it’s been fascinating to hear about everyone’s very different experiences in the same city.
Gurpreet Grewal-Santini – Co-production volunteer
More projects
All projectsFrom City of Empire to City of Diversity
Capturing migrant stories through the photographer’s lens
View ProjectStory Lab: The Past is Now
Challenging colonial narratives through co-curation and debate
View Project