Volunteer to be interviewed for the project Heritage of Displacement: Oral Histories from the UK Armenian Communities (2023–2026)

Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players.

Did your family migrate to the UK?

Do you like to share family stories and memories with others?

Do you want to be part of a large UK project collecting stories of the Armenian communities and celebrating Armenian culture?

Would you like to digitise some of your family photographs and prized heirloom objects?

Then join us to be part of a large UK project collecting stories of the Armenian communities and celebrating Armenian culture!

About this opportunity:

You would become a valued part of the Armenian Institute’s new project “Heritage of Displacement: Oral Histories from the UK Armenian Communities” made possible by National Lottery players.

With this large-scale project, the Institute aims to help UK Armenian communities take part in preserving their heritage of displacement, migration, and resettlement. This oral history project will collect the memories of members of the Armenian diaspora settled in London and Manchester, the two largest Armenian communities in the UK. Family stories and personal relationships with cultural traditions will be recorded and preserved, with a desire to shed light on paths of migration, and how Armenians have recreated ‘home’. The new digital archive created by this project will be hosted on a dedicated website that will remain available as a resource for the community and for academic research. It will also be presented in an exhibition in London and Manchester.

The Institute is seeking volunteer interviewees to help achieve this important project. As our team of trained volunteers interview you, you will:

  • Be part of a movement of engagement of your local community with your shared heritage and legacy

  • Be given a safe space to share memories of home, displacement, and resettlement

  • See some of your most treasured objects and images preserved and celebrated

  • Contribute to building a new digital archive of recorded interviews, material heritage, and photographs, which will be hosted on a dedicated website that will remain available as a resource for the community and for academic research, and will ultimately be presented in an exhibition in London and Manchester.

Suitable for volunteers aged 18+

To sign up, or if you have any questions, please contact: Erica Payet, Interim Programme Manager at the Armenian Institute: erica@armenianinstitute.org.uk