STEP into the Smithsonian Zine

Set over a six week period in July 2019, the immersive development programme connected four young east Londoners to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. ahead of their move to the East Bank on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in 2020.

The group visited renowned cultural institutions in London, Washington and New York through a series of workshops, conversations, meetings and visits. The aim, to inspire the group to understand a little more about how they can contribute to and influence the content produced, created and showcased by cultural institutions globally.

The STEP into the Smithsonian participants were asked to document their experiences. Their creative reflections manifested as essays, stories, quotes, images, illustrations, poems and other creative pieces. This zine presents some of the great material they produced, capturing a sense of the project and illustrating their experiences.