Punk : Rage & Revolution

The chaos & creation of the 1970s British Punk scene. Exhibition which won National Lottery Project of the Year.

Social History

Punk: Rage and Revolution was a major intergenerational heritage learning project which told the story of the 1970s British punk youth subculture. Soft Touch Arts (STA) were awarded funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to deliver the project, in a unique partnership with Arch Creative and social history author Shaun Knapp.

The project featured exhibitions at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery, Soft Touch Arts, The Gallery at De Montfort University, and LCB Depot. The exhibition reached even more people through partner exhibitions in Nottingham and Northampton who created their own versions reflecting the experience of local people and putting their own twist on their approach.

The exhibition explored the scene through original objects, information panels and clothing. This included the first retrospective of original clothing from the late Dame Vivienne Westwood since she died, as well as a large-scale artwork from Jamie Reid, the artist behind the iconic Sex Pistols cover designs. The exhibition also looked at punk’s ideology, attitude, fashion, music, art and legacy.  It explored the Leicester punk scene, including the city’s creatives who influenced the development of punk and protected heritage at risk by collecting interviews, memories and loan items from local Leicester punks and key protagonists of the national scene.

This exhibition felt timely. The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022 reminded people of the Silver Jubilee in 1977. The exhibition opened shortly after Vivienne Westwood had passed away and sadly Jamie Reid also passed away during the exhibition run.

The exhibition featured clothing from The Contemporary Wardrobe Collection, which was founded by Roger K Burton. This incredible collection of original punk clothing, including items from Seditionaries, BOY and Sex, will sit alongside original items loaned by Leicester punks and museum collections.

The project won the National Lottery Project & Heritage Award for England, chosen as one of 17 finalists and going on to win the National Lottery Project of the year for England decided by public vote.  Also, joint winner of Best Free Event in Leicestershire Tourism Awards.

“This superb exhibition is proving to be extremely popular with our visitors and is enabling us to develop new audiences who are coming to the museum because of the stories which the exhibition tells and the wonderful content of the exhibition, including Roger K Burton’s significant Vivienne Westwood fashion collection. The involvement of young people through co-production has added another perspective and has enabled them to play an important role in developing the exhibition.”

Joanna Jones Head of Arts & Museums

Social Issues

The exhibition was co-curated and co-designed by young people from Soft Touch Arts, and there were responses from young people throughout the exhibition on what punk means to them. It demonstrated how social, political and cultural issues from the 1970’s were still relevant to today’s younger generation. The parallel social and political themes included Rock Against Racism/Black Lives Matter, 70s Recession/Current Cost of Living Crisis, Feminism and the Me-Too Movement, LGBTQ+ rights and activism, as well as new social and political challenges such as the environmental crisis.

19 young people from Soft Touch Arts helped to curate the exhibition and they offered 3 paid internships. Another 250 young people from STA, local colleges, and De Montfort University (DMU) created content for the main exhibitions at Soft Touch Arts and Leicester Museum & Art Gallery. DMU student work was shown at LCB Depot. Young people made fanzines, styled hair, explored and created sustainable fashion, recorded music, and much more, all featured in the exhibition.

‘Punk : Rage & Revolution was instrumental in reuniting what I consider a family of punks from decades ago, who all share something very special. Without all the hard work and research that went into this project, we might never have seen each other again; it’s that important. This whole thing has been a dream come true, and a life changing project.’

Wayne Large Photographer and former Punk

Project Highlights

  • Winner of the Heritage Project of the Year for England in the National Lottery Awards 2023 (from nearly 4,000 nominated projects).  Joint winner of ‘Best free event’: Leicestershire Tourism & Hospitality Awards 2023.
  • Some high-profile names were attached to the project including Jamie Reid, Dr John Cooper Clarke, Steve Pyke MBE, Don Letts, Jeanette Lee and Graham Fellows (Jilted John).
  • Visitors came from across the UK and from around the world as recorded and noted from the visitor comments book and exhibition evaluation forms.
  • 52,500 attendees (43,500 at Leicester Museum, 6,000 at Soft Touch Arts, the Punk Weekender Festival in August: 3,000).
  • 3 paid interns, 5 student placements, 240 young participants
  • 35 people loaning items and recounting memories.
  • 1.1k Facebook followers.
  • Economic impact: £2.7 million (aimed to generate £1.5million)
  • Recorded memories were e-archived by the East Midlands Oral History Archive and the Museum of Youth Culture, preserving social history stories that may otherwise not be told.
  • Discovery of the importance of the Leicester punk scene and how it influenced the national movement. It generated a feeling of pride in Leicester and gave the exhibition a unique and surprising edge.
  • The project generated a large number of national press and media coverage including a review on Radio 4’s flagship cultural programme Front Row.
  • As part of collecting material for the exhibition a photo was discovered showing a surprising juxtaposition of the old and young mixing. This proved an interesting talking point to share through social media and started a search for the older people in the photo with great-nieces/nephews eventually coming forward to tell us the story behind the picture.
  • In addition to the Jamie Reid content in the main exhibition, the team also helped to organise a satellite exhibition of his activism art, ‘Taking Liberties’, at The Leicester Gallery at De Montfort University which attracted 2947 visitors. “Our busiest summer exhibition ever!” – DMU Gallery.

Punk: Rage & Revolution was led by Soft Touch Arts, and curated, designed and delivered in partnership with Arch Creative & Shaun Knapp. The project was funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council England and BID Leicester, with sponsorship from Leicester Museums & Art Gallery, PPL PRS, De Montfort University, and The University of Leicester Heritage Hub.