The Stuart Hall Foundation
"We must mobilise everything we have in terms of intellectual resources in order to understand what keeps making the lives we live and the societies we live in, profoundly and deeply anti-humane." - Professor Stuart Hall
Inspired by the life and work of Jamaican-born British public intellectual Stuart Hall, founding figure of British Cultural Studies, key arts supporter, inspirational educator and leading voice for social justice, the Stuart Hall Foundation is a young charity (established in 2015) committed to public education, addressing urgent questions of race and inequality in culture and society through talks and events, and building a growing international network of scholars, fellows and artists in residence.
Why our work is important
Despite decades of heightened awareness of Britain’s increasingly multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-racial and multi-religious composition, inequalities and social division in Britain are growing. At the same time, those most adversely affected by rising xenophobia and prejudice – low income and minority communities – are increasingly disenfranchised from the cultural and educational resources necessary to challenge biases and structural injustices.
"The most important thing from where I stand is to begin to give expression to ideas about what we can do next." - Angela Davis, Patron of Stuart Hall Foundation
Stuart Hall’s work has significant potential to help us understand how society is changing and advocate, with intellectual rigour, for greater social and racial justice. The upsurge of activism that followed the killing of George Floyd, the impacts of the pandemic, and the impacts of Brexit have made the challenges of inequality still more urgent.
The #reconstructionwork programme
Stuart Hall Foundation’s #reconstructionwork programme, launched in June 2020, brings together writers, artists and activists, for a series of intergenerational conversations considering how we can build a better society in response to the Covid-19 crisis and the Black Lives Matter protests worldwide.
We aim to raise £10,000 to expand the #reconstructionwork programme and further develop a digital platform which will create broader access to Stuart Hall’s ideas and highlight their relevance today, empowering marginalised communities to challenge social inequalities.
The funds raised from this campaign will be essential for this exciting new programme to run for at least another 9 months (a year if we reach our stretch target).
As part of the programme we run free monthly conversations between writers, artists and activists who offer thought-provoking perspectives on the problems we are facing in our society.
We are also embracing our digital platforms with more energy than ever, to amplify and connect the voices of underrepresented cultural producers committed to building a more just and equal society.
Recent #reconstructionwork events
Watch all previous #reconstructionwork conversations on our YouTube channel:
Support #reconstructionwork
With your support, we can continue to address the lack of opportunities and visibility afforded to black, ethnic minority and disadvantaged writers, artists, and activists through our #reconstructionwork programme activity plans.
This includes sharing their research and artwork, commissioning podcasts and blog posts, hosting workshops and online conversations, and developing educational, intergenerational spaces for creative and critical thinkers.