Imagining Animals public events programme

The public events programme extends Imagining Animals beyond the Tower’s walls in partnership with East London cultural organisations.

Events will explore how humans have imagined and lived alongside animals across different histories, places and cultures - and how these relationships have been shaped by power, empire and our changing relationship with the natural world.

Imagining Animals | Whitechapel Gallery

Sunday 06 September, 11:00 – 16:00
Location: Whitechapel Gallery
FREE

Join us for a day of puppetry, movement, music, presented as part of the finale of Whitechapel Gallery’s Biennial Festival. Featuring performances from Imagining Animals at the Tower, alongside workshops, poetry and discussion, inviting people of all ages to imagine and celebrate animals.

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Enslavement, Resistance, and the Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London

Saturday 05 September, 14:00 - 15:30
Location: Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives
FREE, includes refreshments

This intimate discussion explores the Tower of London's connections with empire and enslavement through the Royal Menagerie, focusing on the story of Edward Francis, an enslaved African in the household of Thomas Dymock, Keeper of the Lions, who attempted to liberate himself in the 1690s.

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Imagining Animals | Royal Drawing School x Tower of London

Monday 14 September, 18:30 - 20:30
Online event. Part of the Digital Studio: Live Online Drawing Sessions
£23

Join a special live online drawing class featuring puppets and performers from the Tower's Imagining Animals performances, using their dynamic movement to draw animal character and experiment with creative mark-making.

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