Activist Museum Award 2025 winners announced by Research Centre for Museums and Galleries

Research Centre for Museums and Galleries (RCMG) has announced the winners of the prestigious Activist Museum Award 2025.

Sado Jirde, Director of Black South West Network (BSWN) and Hector Manuel Meneses Lozano, Director of the Museo Textil de Oaxaca, Mexico have been recognised by RCMG for their inspiring, ethically-informed cultural practice that fosters positive change in the world.

Based in Bristol, Sado Jirde has led BSWN since 2013. The network is a Black-led racial justice organisation that aims to drive racial equity in UK society through a community led approach. It supports the development of strong Black and minoritised communities, businesses and organisations to flourish whilst challenging systemic barriers.

Museo Textil de Oaxaca (MTO) preserves the history of textiles in Mexico by showcasing the knowledge that comes from within its local communities. It has brought together a network of weavers, embroiderers, dyers, spinners and producers in a response against modern industry trends that favour mass consumption and disposability.

Each winner is awarded £1000 to support the development of their ideas. They will also be invited to showcase their work with students, researchers and practitioners across the cultural sector.

This year’s awardees were nominated by the RCMG’s Honorary Fellow and Collaborator, Liz Ellis (Policy Project Manager at the National Lottery Heritage Fund, UK) and Américo Castilla (Director and Founder of Fundación TyPA, Argentina)

The award was launched in 2019 and is a vision of Robert R. Janes in recognition of the pioneering work of Professor Richard Sandell, Co-Director of RCMG.

Previous recipients of the award include Museum X, the Salt Museum, Queer Multiverse, Will Tregaskes, Itinerant Museum of Memory and Identity of Montes de María, Fast Familiar, People’s History Museum, Museum of Homelessness, Jean Campbell, Journey to Justice,100 Histories of 100 Worlds in One Object, and the Museum of Transology. Information about all of the previous winners of the Activist Museum Awards can be found here.

Sado Jirde said: “I am honoured to accept the 2025 Activist Museum Award, which comes at a crucial moment in the work of Black South West Network (BSWN). Our mission is rooted in community-led change, racial justice, and cultural inclusion, and this award will help amplify and sustain our ongoing efforts in decolonial and antiracist practice within the cultural heritage sector.

“One of the key areas this award will support is the continued development of BSWN’s approach to cultural justice, which is exemplified through our work on the UnMuseum project. This initiative critically examines how cultural institutions can shift power dynamics by centring Black and marginalised communities in decision-making processes, narrative ownership, and resource distribution. The award will enable us to expand our community engagement efforts, develop new collaborations, and document our methodologies for wider dissemination.

“Additionally, BSWN is committed to transforming cultural spaces into sites of activism, resistance, and collective memory. The redevelopment of the Coach House as a community-led cultural hub is a core part of this vision. This historic space is being reclaimed to provide a platform for underrepresented voices, fostering radical storytelling and artistic practice that challenges dominant narratives. The award will help support programming at the Coach House, including exhibitions, workshops, and discussions that bring together artists, activists, and scholars to explore the intersection of culture, social justice, and heritage.

“The Activist Museum Award is a vital recognition of the ways in which cultural institutions must actively participate in struggles for justice. I look forward to contributing to the growing movement of practitioners who are reshaping museums and cultural spaces as sites of resistance, healing, and transformation.”

Hector Manuel Meneses Lozano, Director of the Museo Textil de Oaxaca said: “MTO is a space that houses memories, success stories and challenges. An initiative encouraged and supported by the Alfredo Harp Helú Oaxaca Foundation since 2007, the MTO is committed to research, conservation and exhibition of the textile collections it safeguards. With the same level of commitment, the Museum encourages an open dialogue with the communities that have given rise to the textiles in these collections.

“We had never thought of the word “activism” as a description of our work. The social force of the MTO springs forth from empathy and it has grown by weaving together an intimate network with weavers, embroiderers, dyers, spinners and producers of raw materials, such as fibres and dyestuffs. Modern industry has made us seek disposable clothing and mass consumption, but in response, the Museo Textil de Oaxaca is focused on appreciating and promoting the manual and intellectual effort involved in handmade textiles.

“Aware of the bias that exists in the written history of clothing in Mexico, the MTO has forged alliances to showcase the knowledge that comes from within local communities, knowledge that is expressed not only in Spanish, but also in the diverse languages spoken by the first nations of our country.

“The award that we receive today motivates us to continue fostering the documentation and preservation of woven memories within textile-making communities, in conversation with formal studies carried out by scholars. The detailed analyses of the textiles that are preserved both in the communities of origin, as well as at the MTO, the socialization of these observations, and the creation of multimedia records will allow us to stage further exhibits to be presented not only in the City of Oaxaca, but in the communities where fibres and looms have embellished the trajectory of multiple cultures. We feel deeply honoured and we are grateful to the RCMG at the School of Museum Studies in the University of Leicester for entrusting us with this award.”

Dr Sarah Plumb, Senior Research Associate and Activist Museum Awards Co-ordinator said: “We are thrilled to be running the Activist Museum Award in its sixth year, with the generous support of the esteemed Robert R. Janes. The reach and impact of the Award has grown significantly since its launch in 2019 and we’re excited to see how this year’s Award can expand the innovative community activism and cultural rights work of Sado Jirde, and the Museo Textil de Oaxaca’s extraordinary work collaborating with indigenous communities.”

RCMG sits within University of Leicester’s School of Museum Studies. Founded in 1966, School of Museum Studies is the only autonomous department dedicated to the study of museums and galleries in the UK. RCMG is Co-Directed by Professors Suzanne Macleod and Richard Sandell. The School of Museum Studies is headed by Professor Sandra Dudley.

School of Museum Studies is the oldest and the largest academic unit of its kind in the world. More information about Museum Studies at University of Leicester can be found here.