Leicester Ugandan Asian Exhibition Wins National Award

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An exhibition to mark 50 years since Ugandan Asians began arriving in Leicester has won a national award.

Rebuilding Lives: 50 Years of Ugandan Asians in Leicester ran at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery and told the stories of families expelled from their country by dictator Idi Amin.

It was one of two winners of the best Temporary or Touring Exhibition at the Museums and Heritage Awards.

The exhibition attracted more than 167,000 visitors.

The exhibition, which originally opened in July last year, was asked to extend its run in Leicester to April due to its popularity.

It was also featured on BBC One’s Antiques Roadshow and the organisers have also filmed a piece about the exhibition for BBC Two’s Great British Railway Journeys with Michael Portillo.

It was put together by Leicester-based arts organisation Navrang in partnership with the city council.

Ranjan Saujani, acting chair of Navrang, said: “We were honoured to be shortlisted for such a prestigious award, but to win is absolutely amazing.

“It’s a great way to acknowledge the hard work the team have put into creating, developing and delivering a truly special exhibition. It’s the perfect way to end the project.”

Navrang was awarded just over £100,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for a series of regional events, including the exhibition.

The exhibition
Image caption,The exhibition attracted more than 167,000 visitors

Nisha Popat of Navrang added: “When you consider who we were up against and the huge budgets they had compared to ours, we never thought we’d actually win.”

City mayor Peter Soulsby said he was “enormously proud” the exhibition had triumphed.

The exhibition was named joint winner of the category together with English Heritage.

Permissible Beauty, an exhibition put together by Historic Royal Palaces and the University of Leicester, was highly commended.

Source BBC