The early 1980s witnessed a renaissance in Black and Ethnic Minority arts. This movement launched the careers of artists and filmmakers who today represent Britain on the international stage. The Greater London Council (GLC), under the leadership of Ken Livingstone, funded and championed the Black Arts Movementuntil Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher abolished itin March 1986.

Today, if you want to know what we can learn from this short-lived municipal cultural revolution, the place to start is right here. This open-accessarchive comprises over 3,000 primary documents from a pivotal chapter in London’s history, spanning the period from 1981 to 1986. During this period, a bold vision for racial equality, cultural democracy, and community power was forged.

The archive chronicles the work of Parminder Vir OBE, who served as the Ethnic Arts Officer and later as the Head of the Race Equality Unit at the GLC (1982-1986). The archive captures the bold strategies she advanced, the policies she crafted, and the programmes she led to amplify the voices of Black and Ethnic Minority artists and communities across London.

Drawn from Parminder’spersonal collection of committee papers, policy briefs, internal memos, and project records, this archive offers a uniqueaccess into one of the most transformative chapters in British cultural politics. It also includes material from her earlier work with the Minority Arts Advisory Service (MAAS) Midlands and the Commonwealth Institute from 1979 to 1982, providing a comprehensive record of her pioneering work.

This platform is more than a record of the past. It is a living resource for educators, cultural organisations, and the public to engage with a defining moment in the struggle for equity, representation,and artistic freedom in Britain.