Photo Credit: Sam White
V&A East Museum will inaugurate its programme with The Music Is Black: A British Story, a major new exhibition opening on 18 April 2026, with tickets available from 28 January 2026.
Launching alongside the opening of the museum itself, the show represents a significant cultural milestone, presenting the first expansive survey of Black British music across the past 125 years and examining how it has shaped both UK culture and the wider global music landscape.
Covering everything from early Jazz, Reggae and Lovers’ Rock through to Jungle, Drum & Bass, UK Garage and Grime, the exhibition spotlights the creativity, challenges, triumphs and cultural influence embedded within Black British musical history. Alongside pioneering artists, contemporary voices such as Little Simz, Jorja Smith, Ezra Collective and Sampha are featured, complemented by an immersive audio installation created in collaboration with Sennheiser.
Curated by Jacqueline Springer, the V&A’s Curator of African and Diaspora Performance, the exhibition reflects the broader vision of V&A East — a museum designed to be rooted in its community while engaging audiences across generations and around the world.