This month we have been delighted to support the International Slavery Museum in the design of an educational space in the museum (currently closed for redevelopment) that will carry Anthony’s name and continue his legacy.
From the opening of International Slavery Museum in 2007, until it closed for redevelopment in 2025, the original Anthony Walker Education Centre served as a safe space within the museum for young people to hold conversations, events and participate in workshops exploring themes within the museum. The Centre was inspired by our work here at Anthony Walker Foundation to tackle racism, hate crime and discrimination, and ensure a powerful legacy for Anthony.
The reimagined museum will feature new spaces for people to connect, reflect and discover. To ensure that Liverpool’s young people have a role in shaping the design of the new space named after Anthony, students from four of our ‘Tackling Racism in Schools Awards’ programme partner schools: Childwall Sports and Science Academy, Belvedere Academy, St. Hilda’s Church of England High School, and Liverpool College were invited to attend two workshops; where they worked with the Learning and Participation team at International Slavery Museum, and Kossy Nnachetta, an architect from Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios.
In both sessions, the students presented their ideas for the new space with thoughtful suggestions such as a mural dedicated to Anthony featuring the things he loved and who he was. Colour schemes; a book corner containing books on all topics, and for all ages; plants; ambient music; and a quiet sensory area were some of the idea shared with Kossy, the lead architect, who made plenty of notes to build these ideas into her plan for the new space. Dr. Gee Walker also attended the sessions, moving around the room to hear from the students, speaking to them in smaller groups and giving feedback and praise for their ideas and plans.
Claire Benjamin, Head of Learning & Participation, said: “For almost 20 years the Anthony Walker Education Centre welcomed many thousands of young people through its doors. We were proud to name the space after Anthony and with the blessings of his family, and the Anthony Walker Foundation, support their work to explore legacies of racial slavery and the impact it continues to have on young people today.
As we plan for the future of International Slavery Museum it is an honour to continue this relationship, and a joy to bring the vision and ideas of Liverpool’s young people into the conversation with our brilliant architects, to steer and inform the design.”
Judith Agis, Tackling Racism in Schools (TRSA) Programme Manager, said: “We are grateful to National Museums Liverpool for this opportunity. It not only continues the long-standing partnership between National Museums Liverpool and Anthony Walker Foundation but, by inviting our TRSA Student Ambassadors to assist in the redesign of the Anthony Walker Education Centre within the new International Slavery Museum, it also engages the next generation.”
In a few months, once the architects have met to rework the plans, there will be a third session for further feedback from the students. We are all excited to see the designs and see the students’ ideas come to life in the Anthony Walker Education Centre.
We’d like to give a big thank you to our TRSA Ambassadors for their enthusiastic involvement, it was incredible to hear all your thoughts, and to National Museums Liverpool for this opportunity. It continues the long-standing partnership between National Museums Liverpool and Anthony Walker Foundation and invites the next generation to design a space that will be used by young people as a learning space for generations to come.
