Museum of Colour

What Museum of Colour does

Museum of Colour is a London-based digital museum platform that celebrates the achievements of people of colour in British film, television, and the arts, and commissions contemporary artists to respond to British colonial history. Founded in 2019 and operating as a project under People's Palace Projects Ltd — a registered charity (number 1085607) and company limited by guarantee that is itself a charitable subsidiary of Queen Mary University of London — the platform is delivered as a public-facing website at museumofcolour.org.uk built on the Nuxt.js framework. The product surface comprises six major digital exhibitions to date (People of Letters 2019, Respect Due 2020, My Words 2022, These Things Matter 2022, A Very British Rhythm 2023, Keeping it Real 2025), an Academy educational vertical hosting scholarly provocations and curated reading lists, and an Engage & Support visitor feedback platform; each exhibition features digital portraits, podcasts, video content, and archival artefacts supplied through partnerships with gallery institutions including Bodleian Libraries, Pitt Rivers Museum, and Reform The Funk.

The business model is non-commercial and grant-funded: the museum is free to access for all visitors and generates no direct visitor revenue. Operating capital is secured through institutional grants from Arts Council England, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Oxfordshire County Council, and the parent Queen Mary University of London, with a six-person team including a Founder/Director, Executive Director, curators, commissioned portrait artists, a finance and administration officer, and project staff drawn from the wider People's Palace Projects organisation. GTM is community-led: audiences are reached through the website, partner organisation referrals, organic social sharing, a MailChimp-managed email newsletter (capped at four issues per year), live events and workshops, and an embedded podcast library. The primary customer segments are general public and cultural audiences seeking decolonised British heritage content, academics and educators in postcolonial studies, and contemporary artists of colour seeking platforms for responsive work.

Name

Museum of Colour

Legal name

People's Palace Projects Ltd

Website

https://museumofcolour.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Museum of Colour is a London-based digital museum celebrating people of colour in film, TV, and the arts. Operating since 2019 under People's Palace Projects Ltd (a Queen Mary University of London charity), it hosts free online exhibitions and educational content funded by UK arts grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Cultural Museum

NAICS

Museums (712110), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (712)

akta.pro primary industry

Museums & Heritage Sites (History, Science, Specialty) (BPAGAHAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Art Galleries & Exhibition Spaces (Commercial & Nonprofit) (THAJADAH)

Keywords

• Digital museum exhibitions
• Cultural heritage content
• Black British history
• Decolonial curation
• Arts and literature

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Charitable Grants and Funding: Museum of Colour is funded through charitable grants and institutional funding from organizations including National Lottery Heritage Fund, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Arts Council England, and Oxfordshire County Council. It operates as a project under People's Palace Projects Ltd, a registered charity.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Museum of Colour is a digital museum that curates and publishes online exhibitions celebrating the achievements of people of colour in British film, television, and the arts, and commissions contemporary artists to respond to British history. The platform hosts six exhibitions (People of Letters, Respect Due, My Words, These Things Matter, A Very British Rhythm, Keeping it Real), an Academy section of scholarly provocations, and an Engage & Support visitor feedback interface. Content is delivered free of charge via the web at museumofcolour.org.uk.

Product overview

Museum of Colour is a digital museum platform offering multiple exhibitions celebrating achievements of people of colour in film, television, and the arts. The core platform hosts distinct exhibition products including People of Letters (2019), Respect Due (2020), My Words (2022), These Things Matter (2022), A Very British Rhythm (2023), and Keeping it Real (2025). Supporting offerings include Academy educational content and an Engage & Support visitor feedback platform. All exhibitions feature digital portraits, biographical content, podcasts, and educational materials, with gallery partners including Bodleian Libraries, Pitt Rivers Museum, and Royal Albert Memorial Museum.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• People of Letters Exhibition
• Respect Due Exhibition
• My Words Exhibition
• These Things Matter Exhibition
• A Very British Rhythm Exhibition
• Keeping it Real Exhibition
• Academy

Quantifiable outcome

• 6 major exhibitions produced since 2019
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Peoples Palace Projects LtdcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPeoples Palace Projects Ltd is the parent organization that produces Museum of Colour. It is a registered charity (number 1085607) and company limited by guarantee (number 03705562), operating as a charitable subsidiary of Queen Mary University of London.
• Queen Mary University of LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerParent academic institution and registered office location. Peoples Palace Projects Ltd is a charitable subsidiary of QMUL.
• Bodleian LibrariesmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGallery partner for People of Letters exhibition and other exhibitions. Houses collections including Chinese manuscripts catalogued by Michael Alphonsius Shen Fu-Tsung.
• Pitt Rivers MuseummajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGallery partner, particularly featured in People of Letters exhibition. University of Oxford museum specializing in anthropology and world cultures.
• Reform The FunkmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCreative agency gallery partner contributing film and design work to Museum of Colour exhibitions. Team members Musa and Derrick Kakembo provide visual design services.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• The National Archives (UK): UK government archive and publisher of historical records with an active digital education and exhibitions arm. Comparable as a publicly funded UK heritage organization producing digital-first content and educational resources.
• Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A): Major UK arts and design museum with extensive digital collections, exhibitions, and learning programs. Comparable in mission to preserve and interpret British creative heritage, with a much larger institutional footprint.
• The Hunterian Museum: University-based museum with collections spanning arts, sciences, and humanities. Comparable as a university-affiliated museum (similar to Museum of Colour's QMUL link) operating in the academic heritage space.
• British Museum: UK national museum with global digital reach via Google Arts & Culture partnership and its own digital platform. Comparable as a UK institution grappling with colonial legacy narratives and expanding digital access.
• Tate (Tate Britain / Tate Modern): Major UK national museum of British and international modern art with significant digital programming and decolonization initiatives. Comparable in audience overlap (British arts audiences) and growing digital heritage content.
• Google Arts & Culture: Digital platform partnering with major museums worldwide to host online exhibitions and high-resolution collections. Operates at vastly greater scale across all heritage categories, including culture-specific digital programming similar to Museum of Colour's digital-first model.

Direct peers

• Black Cultural Archives: UK-based heritage organization dedicated to preserving and celebrating the history of people of African and Caribbean descent in Britain, with a complementary physical archive and digital presence. Directly comparable mission around Black British history and decolonized narratives.
• Pitt Rivers Museum: Oxford University museum of anthropology and world cultures, an active gallery partner of Museum of Colour. Comparable as a UK institution explicitly engaging with colonial collection histories and post-colonial reinterpretation.
• Bodleian Libraries: Major Oxford research library that has contributed collections (including Chinese manuscripts) to Museum of Colour exhibitions. Comparable as a UK academic-cultural institution with digital exhibition programming and decolonization efforts.

Emerging players

• The Photographers' Gallery: London gallery dedicated to photography with a strong digital and educational programming presence. Comparable as a London-based visual arts institution that uses portrait photography and digital content to engage contemporary audiences.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/museum-of-colour

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Museum of Colour