Mayflower 400: Freedom, humanity, imagination, future
This year, world-leading artists, performers, musicians, dancers and creative practitioners will descend upon destinations in the UK, USA and the Netherlands as part of Mayflower 400 – a major year-long programme commemorating 400 years since the Mayflower ship made its voyage to America.
Mayflower 400 will tell the story of the ship and the enormous effect of its arrival through a programme of cultural events, with investment from the Arts Council – from city-wide light festivals and international theatre productions to major public art installations and mass participation street dance performances. The commemorative programme unites four nations through creativity – the Wampanoag Nation, the United States of America, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
Mayflower 400 launched in November 2019 with Illuminate – a spectacular multi-city light festival which took place at destinations across the globe. One of the biggest highlights of 2020 will be the opening of the UK’s newest contemporary art gallery, The Box in Plymouth, boasting works by some of the world’s biggest contemporary artists - from Antony Gormley and Leonor Antunes to Kehinde Wiley and Eva Grubinger.
While the programme recognises the bravery of the early Pilgrims, it also confronts the tragic consequences of the English colonisers for Native Americans. Central to the Mayflower story is the impact of colonialism, slavery and the dramatic losses of Indigenous American land, lives and culture.
Native American artists and communities will explore the deep effects that colonialism has had on indigenous people. Settlement by The Conscious Sisters, Mayflower 400: Legend and Legacy at The Box and Wampum: Stories from the Shells of Native America, a collaboration between the Wampanoag Nation, The Box and the British Museum, will investigate the history of the Mayflower from the perspective of the indigenous people.
Mayflower 400 aims to grow and deepen transatlantic links and relationships through art, culture and creativity.
Here are some highlights of the Mayflower 400 cultural programme in the South West:
Visual Arts
The opening of The Box
The Box, Plymouth
16 May 2020
The Box is a major redevelopment of the city’s museum and art gallery. The reopening in Spring 2020 is a symbol of the city’s regeneration and future. It will be a museum for the 21st century with extraordinary gallery displays, world-renowned artists and a major visual arts programme. The opening will include the permanent installation of 14 original naval figureheads hung from the ceiling to celebrate the city’s maritime history.
Opening exhibitions:
Mayflower 400: Legend and Legacy
16 May 2020 – September 2021
The Box’s major inaugural exhibition is the national commemorative exhibition for the Mayflower 400 anniversary and the largest loans exhibition ever staged by Plymouth. Mayflower 400: Legend and Legacy has been co-curated by Jo Loosemore in partnership with the Wampanoag Native American Advisory Committee to Plymouth 400 in the USA. The exhibition will bring the Mayflower story to life through over 300 objects, images and ideas on loan from over 100 museums and archives on both sides of the Atlantic.
Making It
16 May – 31 August 2020
The Box’s flagship contemporary art exhibition will feature newly commissioned artworks by Antony Gormley, Portuguese artist Leonor Antunes and Brazilian artist Alexandre da Cunha, as well as Christopher Baker and Eva Grubinger. The show will contrast the labour-intensive nature of fabricating artworks with the instant gratification of the social media age. A new commission by Antony Gormley, Look II, will be unveiled on Plymouth Hoe, and a new commission by Leonor Antunes – a fused glass window for St Luke’s– will be permanently installed.
Ship of Fools, Kehinde Wiley
16 May – 31 August 2020
Narrenschiff (Ship of Fools), 2017, is a three-channel video installation by Nigerian-American portrait painter Kehinde Wiley. This is the first ever digital work by Wiley, who famously painted Barack Obama’s presidential portrait in 2018. Presented in collaboration with the Arts Institute at the University of Plymouth, the artwork looks at migration, colonisation and mental health problems in contemporary America.
A Mile in My Shoes, Empathy Museum Westquay on the Esplanade, Southampton
13 – 21 June 2020
A Mile in My Shoes is an award-winning immersive project touring internationally. Visitors are invited to put on a pair of shoes belonging to a stranger and walk for a mile whilst listening to that person’s story via an MP3 player and headphones. Housed in a shipping container masked as a giant shoe box, the roaming exhibition holds a diverse collection of shoes and audio stories from around the world that explore our shared humanity.
No New Worlds (Project Speedwell), Still/Moving Projects
The Mount Batten Breakwater, Plymouth
1 September 2020
Project Speedwell is a large-scale illuminated text installation on the Mount Batten breakwater. The structure will raise questions about the Mayflower’s journey through a contemporary perspective, concerning issues of migration, humankind’s relationship to the environment, and unequal social relations.
Museums
Commemorations
SeaCity Museum, Southampton
4 February – 5 July 2020
Throughout 2020, Southampton City Council will lead a major city-wide cultural programme including a series of arts projects and commissions. The programme will reconnect communities to their maritime past and tell stories of journeys, migration, identity, sanctuary - building empathy and greater cross-cultural understanding. Commemorations will present objects, images and archival material which explore the nature of commemorations whilst looking at the ways in which Southampton has commemorated Mayflower over the years.
Wampum: Stories from the Shells of Native America
Touring dates:
The Collection, Lincoln (3 April – 17 May 2020)
The Guildhall, London (25 May – 4 July 2020)
SeaCity Museum, Southampton (12 July – 22 August 2020)
The Box, Plymouth (5 September – 24 October 2020)
This will be the first commission from the UK to acknowledge the cultural connection to the Wampanoag people. The exhibition is a collaboration between the Wampanoag Nation, The Box and the British Museum in which members of the Wampanoag will create a new Wampum traditional shell belt. This intricate handmade artefact, which has a rich cultural significance for the Wampanoag people, will tour to four locations, accompanied by several historical Wampum belts from the British Museum collection.
Mayflower Maritime Festival
Southampton (various locations)
14 – 16 August 2020
The Mayflower Maritime Festival will deliver three days of cultural, heritage and maritime activity in Southampton. Highlights will include the unveiling of the newly-restored Mayflower Monument, a parade of sails featuring local boats, newly commissioned musicals at the Mayflower Theatre and exhibitions at Tudor House and God’s House Tower.
Music
Mayflower 400 Music Commission
Turner Sims, Southampton
21-22 November 2020
Turner Sims will work with local artists to produce a new music commission celebrating the lives of Southampton’s migrant communities. A composer will create new choral pieces based on the oral histories of migrant elders. The final piece will be performed at Turner Sims by local choirs and musicians from migrant communities.
Theatre
This Land, Directed by Alan Lane of Slung Low and Theatre Royal Plymouth
The Lyric, Theatre Royal Plymouth
16 - 20 June 2020
This major new work of international community theatre by Theatre Royal Plymouth will wrestle with the complex history surrounding the voyage of The Mayflower and the impact of its arrival on the shores of Massachusetts. Directed by Alan Lane and performed by 150-strong community cast (120 citizens of Plymouth, UK and 30 members of the Wampanoag tribe from Massachusetts, USA), This Land features text by Nick Stimson with songs written and performed by Seth Lakeman.
The 400: A Historical Comedy, Le Navet Bête and Barbican Theatre
Plymouth Athenaeum
15 July – 9 August 2020
The 400 is a light-hearted piece of historical comedy theatre that looks at Britain’s relationship with the USA – from 1620 all the way through to now. Performed by renowned comedy/clowning theatre company Le Navet Bête, the play follows the hilarious attempts of four people trying to flee their past lives.
Dance
RIDE, ZoieLogic Dance Theatre
Holyrood, Redbridge and Weston Shore estates, Southampton
16-18 April 2020
RIDE is an outdoor performance about a car with a life of its own. The story follow lives of three men whose lives coincide for a short time for an amusing take on the summer road trip. ZoieLogic will be embarking on an engagement project showcasing the stories and journeys of three Southampton communities – Holyrood, Redbridge and Weston Shore.
Roots Up!, Street Factory
Plymouth
25 July 2020
Roots Up! is a contemporary hip-hop-based exploration of Mayflower themes, culminating in participatory city-wide street dance performances. People across Plymouth will take part in a pioneering mass street dance led by the award-winning Street Factory in a bold and contemporary interpretation of the Mayflower story. Roots Up! will incorporate four hip hop theatre pieces to tell real life stories through the lens of hip hop culture - b-boying, graffiti, MCing, rapping, poetry, spoken word and DJing.
Future Cargo, Requardt & Rosenberg
St Michael’s Square, Southampton
11 – 12 and 17 – 18 September 2020
Future Cargo is an alternative outdoor dance show by Requardt & Rosenberg. A parallel universe is created within a shipping container. Using headphones, the visitor is invited to look and listen to a sci-fi world that is both strange and familiar. This is Requardt & Rosenberg’s fourth outdoor show, renowned for creating unique performances away from traditional auditoriums.
Combined Arts
Settlement, The Conscious Sisters
Central Park, Plymouth
6 July – 2 August 2020
Settlement is a collaboration between Plymouth-based collective the Conscious Sisters and Native American artist Cannupa Hanska Luger. Twenty Native American artists will present and live in a radical, large-scale installation of public art in Plymouth’s Central Park. The artists will explore colonialism and the deep effects it has had on indigenous people. Settlement will be designed by indigenous artists with the structure created by builders, makers and artists from Plymouth and the USA.
Belonging at Southampton Mela, Art Asia
Hoglands Park, Southampton
11 July 2020
Southampton Mela is an annual celebration of South Asian Music and Arts. As part of this year’s festival, Art Asia will work with 200 members of diverse migrant communities to explore the theme of belonging through storytelling, dance, singing and visual workshops, culminating in pop-up performances.
The Hatchling, Trigger
Plymouth
22-23 August 2020
Produced by the award-winning creative team at Trigger and directed by Mervyn Millar (War Horse) and Carl Robertson (Ellie Goulding, Bjork), The Hatchling will see a monumental visitor roam through Plymouth city centre in a spectacular live performance. The project combines age-old myth with innovative puppetry and cutting-edge technology. The performance will culminate in a memorable grand finale on Sunday 23 August on Plymouth Hoe.
Illuminate 2020, Real Ideas Organisation
Plymouth and across the UK
November 2020
A multi-city light festival taking place across the UK in Mayflower 400 compact partner destinations, featuring new light art commissions and an original choral commission in response to the Mayflower values. Illuminate 2020 will mark the end of the Mayflower 400 year.
Towers of Light, Audacious
Weston Shore, Southampton
26 – 28 November 2020
Towers of Light is a large-scale light art project at Weston Shore delivered by Audacious as part of Illuminate 2020, the national finale of the Mayflower 400 programme. Light and sound artist Andy McKeown and artists from Wild Strawberry Media will work with residents and community groups to create a bespoke illuminated grid consisting of hundreds of flags of colour in 1,300 front-facing windows of a tower block.
Destinations all over the UK will be taking part in the Mayflower 400 commemorative year. Here are some of the other cultural events taking place around the country.
Spirit of the Mayflower – Language of Sculpture, Rachel Carter
Worksop Library
3 March – 18 April 2020
Nottinghamshire artist and sculptor Rachel Carter has worked with adult and school groups in the county’s libraries to create a touring exhibition linked to her family history, the Mayflower story and her own work. The ‘Family Tree’ created for this exhibition using knotted macramé patterns stitched to fabric is shown alongside family stories from Mayflower travellers and Rachel’s Nottinghamshire ancestry. Rachel’s work is influenced by the Nottingham textile trade and the practices of the Wampanoag People who traditionally wore decorative items such as belts, neck ware and cuffs depicting stories and family symbols.
Later this year, Rachel will also unveil her new sculpture ‘The Pilgrim Woman’ – which was inspired by a series of national and international residences taken during 2018/19 exploring migration and family history. The Pilgrim Woman will feature a hand-stitched Tudor-style dress, with knotted macramé panels and a skirt decorated by fifty woven panels made with women from across the Pilgrim roots. The dress will be 3D printed and case in bronze.
Make a Mayflower
Gainsborough Old Hall, Gainsborough
1 May 2020
Make a May Flower is a community art project held by West Lindsey District Council. The project involves making ‘May Flowers’, or Hawthorn, using a range of different materials. People of all ages are encouraged to get creative to make the flowers by knitting or crochet, or by using milk bottles or card. The flowers will be used to create a large artwork attached to a willow ship.
Flight of the Separatists
Gainsborough Old Hall, Gainsborough
10 May 2020
A day of free activities will be held in Gainsborough, organised by West Lindsey District Council, to mark the historic day that the Gainsborough Separatists fled from the town to Amsterdam via the River Trent in search of religious freedom. Flight of the Separatists includes virtual reality headsets from Metro Boulot Dodo replicating the Mayflower voyage; performances from Rhubarb Theatre; and the town’s community art project, Make a Mayflower, which will be attached to a willow lantern Mayflower Ship.
Droitwich Spa Mayflower 400 Commemoration Day
Droitwich Spa Town Centre and Lido Park
4 July 2020
Droitwich Spa Mayflower 400 Commemoration Day is a free community event commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower and Pilgrim Edward Winslow, who was born in Driotwich. Programme highlights include; a performance set in a boat - All at Sea - by street theatre and circus company Acrojou; Poetry Jukebox, a selection of poetry performed by artist and theatre maker Adie Mueller; a performance of A Mayflower Tale on the bandstand in Lido Park by children’s opera company B’Opera; and a children’s show by Worcestershire-based White Socks Theatre about Edward Winslow and the sailing of the ship.
The Few to the Many (film premiere) - Jo Wheeler and Kate Stoddart
Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire
19 November 2020
The Few to the Many is a short shareable film which will explore how the few who set sail on the Mayflower in 1620 became a global community of 35 million descendants. Artist Jo Wheeler and curator Kate Stoddart created the film after working with a group of 10 young people and their tutors through a series of workshops and rehearsals. Nottinghamshire County Council & Bassetlaw District are supporting a touring exhibition following the premiere event.
The full Mayflower 400 events programme can be found at: https://www.mayflower400uk.org/events/
