How we work

BCA is a registered charity and company limited by guarantee. It is governed by a non-executive Board of Directors who also serve as Trustees of the charity. It currently has a Board of 5 Trustees. Trustees will be serving a 3-year term on rotation under revised Articles with the option of annual renewal. Day-to-day management of the organisation is delegated to a small Executive team, supported by a dedicated staff team and volunteers.

Our legacy service delivery plans are under review pending the appointment of our new Chair, and work on the revised strategy will take shape with the active involvement of the successful candidate. We want our incoming Chair to influence those critical decisions, helping the Trustees and Executive team to set fresh goals and clear metrics of impact.

BCA’s three programmatic strands

Collect and Activate: preserving and cataloguing our collections, providing a year-round reading room for researchers, supporting organisations and individuals who want to include collections in exhibitions and publications, managing collection acquisition and supporting researchers and curators with special projects
Educate and Inspire: providing a year-round Black history learning service through workshops and an array of BCA learning materials for students of all ages, as well as managing a volunteering and workforce development programme focused on the arts and heritage sector.
Celebrate and Champion: providing a year-round programme of exhibitions, events, and communication activities from BCA HQ, that bring our collections to life, whilst advocating for change on key policy issues affecting the Black community. We also provide access to BCA’s physical and online shop that champions and celebrates Black authors and creatives.

BCA has 4 strategic aims for 2023-2026 which stem from the organisation’s 2030 Vision for BCA to become a truly financially resilient, world leading heritage centre. Each of these aims are designed to be cross-cutting across the organisation’s three programmatic themes; collect and activate, educate and inspire and, celebrate and champion. They also inform BCA’s core functions, i.e. fundraising and communications, the retail strategy as well as BCA’s venue management. Thereby these aims are embedded into every aspect of the delivery of BCA’s mission.

To strengthen and improve research into BCA's world class collections of contemporary Black British History
To increase the understanding, celebration and promotion of Black British History
To empower racial equity and social justice advocacy for Black British communities through BCA's 'Active Voice'
To secure BCA's financial and operational resilience