Dr Mykaell Riley’s Beyond the Bassline collaboration with the British Library has won at the Museums + Heritage (M+H) Awards 2025. They were named the winners in the Temporary and Touring Exhibition of the Year with a Budget More Than £80,000 category, highlighting the cultural impact of research at the University of Westminster.
The M+H Awards celebrate the very best exhibitions and projects in the UK cultural and heritage sector, with a variety of categories ranging from Visitor Accessibility to Sustainable Project of the Year. Winners were announced in an awards ceremony in London on 15 May.
The exhibition, Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music, ran between April and September 2024 at the British Library and was recognised for its excellence in the creation and delivery of a temporary or touring exhibition within museums, galleries or heritage attractions in the UK.
Dr Mykaell Riley, Director for the Black Music Research Unit (BMRU) and Principal Investigator for Bass Culture Research at Westminster, collaborated with Dr Aleema Gray from the British Library to curate the landmark exhibition that documents the centuries of African and Caribbean musical contributions to the UK.
As the first major exhibition of its kind, Beyond the Bassline was powered by the British Library’s extensive sound archive and community collections and traversed an array of genres to showcase the influence of Black British musicians, creatives and entrepreneurs on popular music since the 16th-century.
About winning the award, Dr Mykaell Riley said: “Dubbed as the Oscars of the Museum world, it was such an honour to be recognised as the Best Temporary and Touring Exhibition of the Year. The Beyond the Bassline exhibition established a new timeline for Black British music and its contributions to British culture. With over 45,000 visitors to the British Library, thousands across the 31 regional libraries and over 700,000 online interactions, Westminster and the BMRU are transforming perceptions of popular music.”
This exhibition contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 4: Quality Education and 10: Reduced Inequalities. Since 2019, the University of Westminster has used the SDGs holistically to frame strategic decisions to help students and colleagues fulfil their potential and contribute to a more sustainable, equitable and healthier society.
Discover more work from Westminster’s Black Music Research Unit.
