Curating Challenging Histories: developing new curatorial approaches to addressing issues raised by histories and heritage

In 2020 the National Trust published a report revealing its properties' connections to colonialism and historic slavery. This is the latest in a series of initiatives where the Trust has sought to address challenging histories associated with its properties, often through contemporary art programming. The Trust has been the largest commissioner of contemporary art in the last decade, yet approaches to curating programmes around challenging histories within heritage remain under-researched. This project will produce the first critical study of Trust New Art as a foundation for then undertaking practice-led research into how best to approach challenging histories through contemporary programming.