Friends and supporters,

The George Padmore Institute (GPI) is launching an appeal for urgent building repairs to secure the Institute’s future for years to come.

Our many supporters

Many of you have a long association with the GPI — you may have attended an event or workshop, visited the archive as a researcher, worked or volunteered with us on one of our many projects, purchased one of our books or you may follow us on social media. We are so grateful for this wide network of supporters — you are all crucial to our mission of preserving and promoting the histories of Britain’s black communities of Caribbean, African and Asian descent.

Our building’s history

Since the GPI was founded as an independent charity in 1991, it has been located at 76 Stroud Green Road, London. It has also been the home of New Beacon Books since 1973. The building was donated to us by the wonderful, sorely missed Sarah White, one of New Beacon and the GPI’s co-founders and the partner of John La Rose.

Major building repairs

After more than fifty-five years of housing the bookshop and then the GPI, today this four-storey, nineteenth-century building requires emergency repairs. We are faced with major structural issues that are causing subsidence, leaks and cracks. The building needs to be stabilised urgently. Our staff, researchers, visitors, volunteers and New Beacon Books need a safe space to carry out their work.

Current funding

The GPI was honoured to be named a National Portfolio Organisation by Arts Council England last year. This funding enables us to continue to welcome researchers to our archive and carry out an exciting programme of work including events and publishing children’s books. However, the grant covers a portion of our operating costs, and we continue to rely on donations to make up the remainder of the budget. With increased energy costs alongside inflation, it is more and more difficult for us to reach our funding goals. And we have no funds to carry out capital building work.

‍Help us secure our future and mission of preserving and promoting the histories of Britain's black communities. Help us reach our goal of £35,000!

We have already received a couple of donations totalling £3,000. Thank you so much to those very generous donors. And a big thank you to our supporters who donate on a regular basis. But we still have a way to go to reach our target! Ways to support us are below.

GoFundMe

Click here to donate via our GoFundMe.

PayPal

Click here to donate via our PayPal.

Bank transfer

Charities Aid Foundation Bank

Sort code: 40 52 40

Account Number: 00035060

Cheques

Made payable to the George Padmore Institute. Please post to the GPI at:

76 Stroud Green Road,

Finsbury Park,

London,

N4 3EN, UK.

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‍PLEASE LET US KNOW YOU HAVE MADE A DONATION, WE WOULD LOVE TO KEEP IN TOUCH WITH YOU TO UPDATE YOU ON THE BUILDING REPAIRS. EMAIL US AT info@georgepadmoreinstitute.org.

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A snapshot of the GPI’s recent achievements

·        Last year, we had 209 visits to the archive, a huge increase from 2021.

·        Over 200 people attended an event hosted and curated by our trustee Linton Kwesi Johnson to commemorate the life and work of Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze. View the film of the event on our YouTube channel.

·        The John La Rose Award, renamed in honour of our co-founder, awards grants to local students. We work with Haringey Council who administers the funds.

·        We produced 9 short films about our archive collections; all are available to view on our YouTube channel.

·        The GPI archivist Sarah Garrod is working with the Open University on accessible materials from our archive for people with learning disabilities. Find out more here.

·        Recent talks and workshops have been held for the Historical Fictions Research Conference, Oral History Society, Foundation for International Education (FIE) and King’s College London among others. Find out about these and all our other events here.

·        The GPI worked with researchers on Oscar-winner Steve McQueen’s Education docu-drama, part of his Golden Globe nominated Small Axe five-part anthology for the BBC. The GPI shared archive materials from the Black Education Movement and Black Supplementary Schools. The film is available to view on BBC iPlayer.

·        We also worked with researchers on two other Steve McQueen documentaries: Subnormal: A British Scandal (May 2021) and the three-part Uprising (July 2021). Both are available to view on BBC iPlayer.

Thank you to everyone who continues to support the GPI.