PEOPLE DEM COLLECTIVE
People Dem Collective is a community organisation based in Margate that facilitates systemic change, promotes healing and continues the work of our ancestors.
The collective was born out of a lived experience of lack of space, engagement and inclusion for Black, Brown & Diaspora communities, members of which make up the leadership. Our focus is on raising aspirations whilst elevating and healing those from within our communities and beyond. People Dem Collective also has a strong positive focus on supporting white people to become positive allies in their own communities.
BLACK DREAMS MATTER
People Dem Collective is raising funds to support the development of a new national cultural centre based in Margate that celebrates the rich cultural heritage of the town, the diversity of the thousands of visitors who come for the beach experience and the thriving arts scene and for those who live here. The aim is for the cultural centre be on the Margate seafront.
The People Dem Collective and other creative practitioners will deliver culturally rich programmes that include identity, heritage, history, hair, music, art and food. The programmes are for everyone to engage in and learn about the beauty and the cultural experience of 'others' with a focus on British Black and Brown people & Roma/Travellers. Alongside this, there will be enrichment programmes for young people, the LGBTQIA+ and neuro-diverse communities and the elders who will pass down their stories, experience and wisdom enabling healing whilst raising aspirations for a largely ignored group.
The national culture centre will feature a flexible educational space, a Black British and Roma/Traveller archive, a permanent exhibition and performance space, a radio station and podcasting suite, a family-friendly restaurant and beachside cafe, little learners play area and studios for artists-in-residence.
TAKE IMMEDIATE SOCIAL ACTION
As urgent and necessary acts of resistance to systemic racism, in June 2020 People Dem Collective ran two peaceful protest marches organised across Margate, Ramsgate & Broadstairs. Organised in solidarity with the global movement of protest resulting from the murder of Mr George Floyd and the many others that have lost their lives under police brutality. The marches were attended by over 4000 people from the local and surrounding areas.
As a result, People Dem Collective engaged thousands of local people and have been able to foster relationships with local, regional and national creatives and organisations.
What arose from the conversations was the need for much more Black and Brown creative cultural leadership and for organisations wishing to take an anti-racist stance to develop their responses in conjunction with a local Black, Brown & Diaspora led-organisations for it to be truly respectful, meaningful and effective; reminding them that it is not the time for a hurried or tokenistic response.
THE WORK STARTS NOW
People Dem Collective is now working towards the development of a new national cultural centre for Margate and the UK. We have identified a seafront site and are working with local partners on a capital bid. What we need now is your support to raise funds to develop our infrastructure and bring in the resources that we need to develop the bid.
The People Dem Collective Cultural Centre will be a national destination that embodies the ethos of this town, capturing the healing energy that has always existed in this part of the world. It will rekindle our civic pride and tap into the brilliance that the diversity of this town has to offer. By encouraging dialogue and bringing local people together to ultimately facilitate systemic change, this Cultural Centre will become a world-class cultural destination, and heritage hub with wide-ranging economic and social benefits for the town, its residents and visitors.
The Cultural Centre will seamlessly support Margate’s aspirations of becoming a beacon coastal town that celebrates Margate's rich cultural heritage. It will stand alongside the town’s existing cultural giants such as the Turner Contemporary and Dreamland.
- 29 December 2019: a group of friends and associates were called together to join a conversation about the Black & Brown community in Margate. People Dem Collective was born. The development of the CIC began.
- 7 June 2020: People Dem Collective CIC organised 'Margate to Minneapolis' peaceful protest in Margate in solidarity for the murder of George Floyd and the protests in Minneapolis
- 13 June 2020: A second peaceful protest was organised across Thanet
- 3 July 2020: People Dem Collective curate the Margate NOW Festival
- 1 August 2020: People Dem Collective curate and install the 'Margate to Minneapolis' exhibition at Turner Contemporary
- 8 August 2020: People Dem Collective to host the 1st Black pride Margate float. Due to COVID-19 this was postponed to 2021.