A New Home for Black British Music: V&A East Opens Its Doors

East London got a new cultural landmark in April when V&A East Museum opened in Stratford with one of the most ambitious exhibitions of Black British music ever staged. ‘The Music is Black: A British Story‘ spans 125 years — from 1900 to now — mapping how Black music-making has shaped the sound, identity and soul of Britain itself.

The show brings together more than 200 objects across four continents and 12 decades. Instruments, photographs, fashion, recordings and archive material trace a story that moves through jazz, calypso, reggae, soul, jungle, grime and Afrobeats — each era a chapter in a longer narrative of excellence and resistance. Curator Jacqueline Springer described it as a story of ‘resilience and joy.’

The venue is part of the broader V&A East development in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park — a major cultural investment in one of London’s most diverse boroughs. Tickets are priced from £22.50, with under-26s and students admitted for £10. The exhibition runs until 3 January 2027.

For the African and Caribbean diaspora in the UK, the timing carries extra weight. As conversations about representation in national institutions continue to intensify, an opening exhibition centred entirely on Black British music sends a clear signal about what this museum intends to be.