Future Exhibition Makers: The People's Exhibition
Offering new perspectives on the 1951 Festival of Britain, this 2024 project helped young people explore exhibition-making
The second edition of our Future Exhibition Makers project series saw a cohort of young people come together to explore the archive and the legacy of the Festival of Britain.
Staged 100 years after the 1851 Great Exhibition, the Festival of Britain offered a chance for celebration and revitalisation in the years following the Second World War. It also saw a transformation of the south bank of the river Thames in London, with the construction of our Royal Festival Hall.
Working with our team of skilled archivists, subject experts and their fellow exhibition-makers the project participants explored our archive to present fresh perspectives of this landmark event. Together they produced a free display of archive material bringing new light to the stories, life and legacy of the festival.
What was the Festival of Britain?
Held in 1951, the Festival of Britain was a nationwide celebration of arts, science, industry and design; a ‘tonic for the nation’ following the horrors of the Second World War. The epicentre of the festival was here on London’s South Bank, where more than eight million people explored with pavilions and attractions surrounding the newly opened Royal Festival Hall.
The outcome of our Future Exhibition Makers’ work, The People’s Exhibition, was on display at the Southbank Centre’s Archive Studio from November 2024 to November 2025.
Future Exhibition Makers: The People’s Exhibition was kindly supported by the Rothschild Foundation.