V&A East is set to open its doors in 2026 with a powerful statement, announcing “The Music Is Black: A British Story” as the museum’s inaugural major exhibition. The landmark show promises to be a long-overdue revelation of the extraordinary contribution Black British music has made to British culture and its global impact, telling a story of “excellence, struggle, resilience, and joy”.
Spanning from 1900 to the present day, the exhibition will celebrate 125 years of Black music in Britain. Visitors will be immersed in the heart of music-making, exploring everything from Carnival, club nights, and record shops to MC battles and festivals.
The show will draw on the V&A’s extensive archive and track record of creating evocative and immersive performance exhibitions, such as David Bowie Is… and DIVA. It will feature a massive soundtrack, thanks to full access to the BBC Archive, along with immersive audio-visuals, large-scale installations, and seminal musical instruments and personal belongings from ground-breaking artists.
The exhibition will explore how the social, historical, and cultural context behind Black music in Britain fostered the UK’s most progressive musical genres, including:
- Jazz, Reggae, and Lovers Rock.
- 2 Tone and Brit Funk.
- Jungle, Ragga, Drum & Bass, and Trip Hop.
- UK Garage and Grime.
- UK Rap, Dubstep, Afrobeats, and UK Drill.
The exhibition will trace the journey from early pioneers to today’s global superstars.
- Early Pioneers will include Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Winifred Atwell, Emile Ford, and Janet Kay.
- Iconic International Figures who made music in Britain and shaped the national sound will be highlighted, such as Joan Armatrading, Eddy Grant, Sade, Soul II Soul, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, and Fela Kuti.
- Today’s Groundbreaking Artists will feature prominently, including Little Simz, Jorja Smith, Tems, Sampha, Kano, Nubya Garcia, and Ezra Collective.
The exhibition will also spotlight the significant impact of east London on the scene, recognizing it as the birthplace of Grime (Rinse FM, Roll Deep) and home to legendary venues like The Blue Note, where Drum & Bass exploded.
The cultural impact of Black British music extended far beyond sound waves. The exhibition will use a wide array of visual and physical artifacts to tell a broader story, including:
- Paintings, prints, playbills, and posters.
- Sculpture, TV, photography, and film.
- Fashion and textiles.
Curator Jacqueline Springer noted that the exhibition is set against a backdrop of colonialism and evolving social and political landscapes, and will celebrate Black music as an “instrument of protest, affirmation, and creativity”.
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, emphasized the importance of the show: “London is the music capital of the world and at the heart of that success is the incredible contribution of Black British artists… I’m delighted that V&A East Museum’s inaugural exhibition will honour this”.
“The Music Is Black: A British Story” is scheduled to open at the V&A East Museum, East Bank, in 2026. The exhibition will also inspire a season of collaborative programming across the East Bank cultural quarter, involving partners like the BBC, Sadler’s Wells East, and UAL’s London College of Fashion
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