The Music is Black: A British Story

‍ ‍ Photo: Sister Rosetta Tharpe performing at Drury Lane Theatre, 1959 © Photo by Harry Hammond.jpg

V&E East Museum’s first exhibition, The Music is Black: A British Story, from 18 April 2026, celebrates the voices, talent and stories of Black British music and its global impact.

* The exhibition brings together hidden stories of early legends and contemporary artists through objects from groundbreaking musician Winifred Atwell’s piano to the Nintendo Jme used for early music experiments, fashion worn by Little Simz, Seal, Dame Shirley Bassey and Skin and newly acquired photographs of Kemistry and Storm, Mis-Teeq, and Skepta

• A multi-sensory experience, the exhibition showcases over 200 objects – including 60 new acquisitions – from musical instruments to soundtracks, artworks, fashion, and personal belongings of world-famed artists

• Spanning over 125 years, the exhibition unveils the origins of multiple genres including, 2 tone, Brit funk, lovers rock, jungle, drum & bass, trip hop, UK garage, grime and more

• The exhibition includes a partnership with BBC Music and kicks off The Music Is Black Festival, a series of programming, displays and performances in collaboration with East Bank partners in summer 2026.

The Music is Black: A British Story traces the roots of music descended from African musical practices that have influenced and transformed British identity over the past 125 years. Tracing an ever-evolving sound shaped by British colonialism, transatlantic enslavement, migration and innovation, this exhibition is a celebration of resilience, creativity and joy.

It reveals how British-born Black music genres – from lovers rock and Brit funk, to 2 tone, jungle, drum & bass, trip hop, UK garage, grime and beyond – have inspired and impacted lives across the UK and around the world.

It brings together an evocative sound experience and multimedia installations with over 200 objects from 1900 to today.

Spanning fashion, photography, musical instruments and technology, personal writings, song sheets, sculpture, paintings and more, objects include over 60 newly acquired items to the V&A collection. New acquisitions on display for the first time include clothing worn by Seal for his eponymous 1991 debut album, Eddie Otchere’s vivid photographs of drum & bass duo Kemistry and Storm, Joan Armatrading’s childhood guitar that sparked her love of music, and the jacket that rapper and actor Nolay wore when filming Top Boy.

For the first time, a series of personal items belonging to music-makers, DJs and producers, such as DJ Target, and those connected to Jammer’s Lord of the Mics created with Chad ‘Ratty’ Stennett, which changed the trajectory for many MCs, go on display. Revealed for the first time is Jme’s Super Nintendo and Mario Paint game, which he used for his first experiments with music-making in the 1990s, before founding grime collective and record label, Boy Better Know (BBE) with his brother Skepta.

The exhibition includes iconic fashion, from the striking dress worn in 2013 by Dame Shirley Bassey to perform ‘Goldfinger’ at the 85th Academy Awards, celebrating 50 years of the James Bond film franchise, to the Comme des Garçons ensemble worn by rapper Little Simz for British magazine Dazed in 2023, and a provocative green suit and spiked headpiece worn by singer-songwriter Skin – the first Black woman to headline Glastonbury in 1999.

Also on show are ensembles worn by music-making pioneers from Carroll Thompson to Janet Kay MBE, Pauline Black, Sade, and Morcheeba’s Skye Edwards. Visitors can also delve into hidden stories of musical figures across time through objects such as musical batons from the early 1900s belonging to classical composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who was commissioned to compose music for the first PanAfrican Conference in 1900.

A piano belonging to Winifred Atwell, the first Black artist to have a number one hit in the UK Singles Chart in 1954 is also on show, along with works of American icons who influenced Black British music-making including Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Big Mama Thornton. Artworks by Dame Sonia Boyce, Olayinka Burney-Nicol, Sokari Douglas Camp CBE, Denzil Forrester, Fowokan George Kelly, Tam Joseph, Vicky Lindo and Bill Brookes, and Zak Ové bring the exhibition further to life, including specially commissioned new works by Sir Frank Bowling and LR Vandy, unveiled for the first time.

Jacqueline Springer, Curator of The Music Is Black: A British Story and Curator of Africa and Diaspora Performance at the V&A, said: “Music reflects and feeds emotions. It inspires, comforts, offends and entertains. It also awakens memory and punctuates our present. This exhibition provides another dimension in our celebration and understanding of how social and political histories are responded to by people and their cultures to provide the art we all enjoy.

“This exhibition speaks to modernity and long deep histories; of the legacies of identity and to the music that furnishes our collective and individual memories. We hope that visitors will emerge with a broader appreciation of Black British music makers, the enormous influence of Black musicality - internationally and domestically - and the legacy of the influence of the African diaspora.”

Gus Casely-Hayford, V&A East Director, said: “We’ve created V&A East Museum as a hub for collaboration, creativity and celebration, and our first exhibition, The Music is Black: A British Story, is the embodiment of this. Expertly curated by Jacqueline Springer and team, this is an important story, not just for Britain and British music, but for Black artistry globally, and it’s an honour to spotlight this in east London, home to the creation of some of the most exciting musical genres and performances. We’re thrilled to be collaborating with BBC Music, as well as our East Bank partners on the programming for The Music is Black Festival, inspired by this exhibition.

“My thanks go to our supporters, Ford Foundation, the Huo Family Foundation, GRoW @ Annenberg, and Sennheiser in helping make this a reality. We can’t wait to welcome everyone to V&A East Museum this April.”

The exhibition begins with Act 1: Origins of Music, tracing the origins of Black music, uncovering its African foundations, how Black expression travelled through years of enslavement and inspired the music genres that would later arrive in Britain. Act 2: 'Great' Britain: 1900-1969, explores the rise of modern Britain, bringing to life how Black music flourished amid war, migration and technological change. Act 3: British-Born Black Music reveals how uniquely Black British genres began to emerge, from lovers rock to grime. The exhibition concludes with Act 4: The British Sound Of… looking at Black British music today and its future, across a variety of genres from pop, dubstep, and drill, to gospel, jazz and afrobeats.

BBC Music has partnered with V&A East on The Music Is Black: A British Story, providing access to archival materials, and releasing a season of content across its channels inspired by the exhibition. In summer 2026, The Music is Black Festival will take place in collaboration with East Bank partners, including the BBC, Sadlers Wells East, UAL’s London College of Fashion, and UCL East. The festival will include a series of performances, displays events and live performances across Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and beyond.

V&A East Museum joins sister venue V&A East Storehouse, which opened in May 2025. Across two sites, V&A East is one of the UK’s most ambitious new museum developments of the last decade. Both sites are on East Bank, the new cultural quarter in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, as part of the Mayor of London’s 2012 Olympic legacy.