Break the Vault!

A guest blog by artist Pui Lee about last week’s Break the Vault! family friendly workshop

Well, hello again to everyone! It’s October half term and I was delighted to be back again at the People’s History Museum to deliver another fun-filled art workshop for you all inspired by the Show Me the Money exhibition.

Wednesday’s family friendly session was called, Break the Vault! and all the participants got the opportunity to create their own fabulous 3D cardboard bank vault sculpture to take home with them! The children learned about what a bank vault/safe was and they were then asked to think about what things they would personally want to keep safe – and thus, thinking about the idea of value. This could be an actual object, an abstract idea or even a person or animal! They then had to make this “thing” to put inside their vault. This could be done as a 3D response using recycled materials or be a 2D hand-drawn response.

As always, I brought along an example that I made earlier and in my vault, I put a big red heart. 🙂 It was great to see all the families discussing the ideas and working on a creative project together. There were definitely a lot of fantastic vaults produced today and it was interesting to see what went into them: a favourite family photograph, a black and white dog, a football, a teddy bear and a mini love-heart, to name just a few! Some of the children also said they would also be using the vault to store some of their special keepsakes when they get home. – Now that’s what I call practical art! :-p One grandparent offered this feedback at the end, “Superb activity and the kids obviously enjoyed it – you could tell! They wanted to stay until the end to make it.” Meanwhile, another parent commented, “This is different. – We’ve never done anything like this before! It sounds really fun and we get to see the show too!”

The participants also got the opportunity this afternoon to respond to my, All the Money in the World installation, which began at the end of July this year! I had a quick look at it before I left today and gosh, it has grown even bigger since I last saw it! Initially inspired by Simon Robert’s text installation, Credit Crunch Lexicon, my participatory piece here explores the idea of wealth and value, allowing members of the public to consider their place in the world today. It was great to see museum visitors of all ages engage with the piece and it crucially stimulated relevant conversation and debate, which is what I had hoped for. The piece will continue to be on show until Sunday 24 January 2016 when the exhibition closes, so please do have a look and offer your thoughts on it too!

Refugees Make a Greater Manchester

A guest blog by Ben Knight a social work student on placement on the Wellbeing project at Refugee Action.

Ben worked with the arts drop-in group at Refugee Action to create a banner with positive messages about refugees and asylum seekers in Manchester.

As the collection at the People’s History Museum demonstrates – the making and displaying of banners has always been present at protests and marches. They are an essential way for the uncounted or underrepresented to make their voices heard loud and clear.

For the weekly arts drop-in at Refugee Action we wanted to create some banners that are inspired by the rich tradition of banner making on display at the People’s History Museum. Many of the participants in the group have experience organising protests around asylum issues such as the ‘Shut Down Yarlswood Detention Centre’ campaign and we wanted to channel this energy into creating some positive messages about refugees and asylum seekers in Manchester.

During the designing of our banners the educational resources made available by the People’s History Museum were invaluable. These resources included some symbols that have appeared on protest banners throughout history, including images of unity, diversity and collective action. The sessions resulted in two banners, one based around the phrase ‘Refugees Make A Greater Manchester’ and an ‘Asylum Seekers Welcome Here’ banner. Both banners are on display in our office at Canada House, and the latter banner was used by Manchester University students at a recent pop-up campaign to raise awareness of asylum issues on the streets of Manchester.

Of our art-sessions, regular participant Bisham Dass says, that the art-sessions ‘aimed to provide a means for stress relief and emotional healing for asylum seekers and refugees who have been victims of abuse and hardship, and are in need of a mental sanctuary’.

The banner making session was a stimulating and thought provoking activity and we’re all pleased that the banners could be used in a public campaign.

If you would like to find out more about Banner Making workshops at People’s History Museum please contact the Learning Team.

Refugee Action are one of our Parliament Week partners.  Find out about our programme of events inspiring you to change your future.

Volunteering at People’s History Museum

A guest post by volunteer Jason Neal 

This summer I volunteered at the People’s History Museum in Manchester. I didn’t know what to expect and was full of nerves as, aside from the volunteer-training course I’d taken beforehand, I had never volunteered; I was a fresh, naïve volunteer. But my worries were in vain as I was made to feel incredibly welcome and valued by my colleagues from the start.

I spent part of my time volunteering at the museum on the front desk, welcoming the many visitors to the museum who had journeyed there for varying reasons – whether it was to gain knowledge, for a school trip, or a family day out. Another part of my role involved working behind the scenes, where I realised and appreciated the amount of work and effort that is essential to keep a museum afloat. I particularly enjoyed working in the archives with original, fascinating records. From my very first day, I was struck with how passionate the people who work at the museum are about the stories which are told there; this stayed with me for the duration of my placement and made me feel incredibly lucky that my first experience of volunteering was with the People’s History Museum.

Creative Currency Casino!

Artist Pui Lee’s final blog about her fantastic programme of Summer Family Friendly events.

Well, there was definitely a lot of money floating about as my summer project came to an end at the People’s History Museum 😀

The final event was, of course, my much anticipated Creative Currency Casino event, where museum visitors were invited to try their luck on various games of chance to win some truly fabulous prizes to take home with them! Admission was free and all the participants enthusiastically drew their own banknotes to spend at the casino. There were a lot of brilliant designs created and I even noticed some very speedy mass-production methods being used during the afternoon. After all, the more banknotes you had, the more plays you had and so, your chances of winning increased – potentially!

There was something for everyone: whether it was the Fast ‘n’ Furious Card Games, “Stuck in the Mud!” Dice Games, the “Show Me the Money BINGO!” and the ever popular “Human Fruit-Machine” (which, from looking at the takings at the end of the day, was the most played game of the afternoon!). It was fantastic to see people of all ages taking part – showing that art is not only for the young ones to enjoy but for grown-ups too!  Participants commented that the workshop was very “interactive” and “fun to play”! There were certainly lots of smiling faces and it was wonderful to see all the excitement over the games! All players also received a special 28PUI currency banknote to take home with them as a memento of the day!

It is also worth mentioning that all the hand-drawn banknotes from the workshop, giant printed and collaged banknotes, as well as my example pieces from the previous summer workshops are display at the museum for all to see, so do come down to have look!

Overall, it has been a wonderful 5 weeks and I have enjoyed every minute of it! 🙂 It has been great to deliver this art project to coincide with the Show Me the Money exhibition. After all, money plays such huge part in our everyday lives and yet it is often regarded as being a bit of a forbidden subject. We are often reluctant to talk about it and although it is often perceived as being a grown-ups’ subject, I think it is worth engaging children and young people with it too. This has been a really fun and educational project, which explores the theme of money and finance in terms of how we use it, the exchanges that we make and its perceived value. …Thank you to everyone who has taken part in it and/or supported it in some way!

The Creative Currency Casino! project is now finished but there is still a legacy of participation opportunities still available. For example, my All the Money in the World (2015) installation will still remain in the Show Me the Money exhibition space for visitors to add their responses to. Likewise, I will be returning to the museum during the next half term on Wed 28 October 2015 to deliver my Break the Vault drop-in family friendly art workshop, so I hope to see you all there for that! But until then, it’s good bye for now and remember …”everyone’s a winner!!!” 😀

Show Me the Money Political Economy from 1700 to present

A guest blog by WEA tutor Mark Krantz

 

Show Me the Money: The Image of Finance, 1700 to the Present is the People’s History Museum latest changing exhibition. It shows how the financial world has been imagined in art, illustration, photography and other visual media. From Hogarth’s 1721 painting of the South Sea Bubble, which depicts the ‘market’ as an evil wheel of fortune – to the Credit Crunch Lexicon by Simon Roberts which lists the vocabulary of the post 2008 economic crash; art has shaped the way we ‘imagine’ finance. The economics, history and politics that underpin the exhibition will be examined in a five week course from the Workers’ Educational Association in association with the People’s History Museum.

Course runs Friday 25 September – Friday 23 October, 1:00pm – 3:30pm. WEA tutor Mark Krantz will lead the course. For more details and to book a place,  please contact WEA on 0151 243 5340 or book online via WEA’s website.

Design a Banknote

The next instalment of artist Pui Lee’s blog series about our summer Family Friendly workshops that link to our Show Me the Money exhibition

In week 4 of my Creative Currency Casino! project, families visited the Design a Banknote workshop at the Learning Studio in the People’s History Museum for my latest art workshop as part of the summer drop-in pARTicipate programme!

Today’s activity was inspired by an artwork in the coinciding Show Me the Money exhibition called The Robin Currency™ (2008-2014) where the artist Robin Bhattacharya created his own currency based on a prime number system meaning that each coin and banknote is entirely unique.  When the participants arrived, I sent them on a marvellous-money-mission to explore the exhibition to find and count as many banknotes as they could throughout the gallery space. This could be in object format or in terms of visual representation. There was certainly plenty to see and discover including a one hundred trillion dollar banknote! They were then asked to find The Robin Currency™ banknote and to create a sketch of this, along with any shapes and patterns they saw recurring throughout the show. The families also had an opportunity to take a photo or two at the face-in-the-hole board in the exhibition, where anyone can be the new face of a larger-than-life banknote!

After this, it was back to the Learning Studio and everyone set to work on designing their very own giant currency banknote, which celebrates who they are as individuals and what matters to them. First of all, we looked at the design elements of a typical banknote and I also showed an example of one that I made earlier. I then introduced and demonstrated monoprinting, which is such a fun and creative process, so everyone got a little messy and tried out various techniques to create some really cool prints! Hand-made drawings and collaged elements were then added to the prints to personalise and complete the designs. Participants were then able to exchange their new currency with a special 28PUI currency banknote of mine to take home with them as a special memento of the day. All the hand-made banknotes collected in will soon be put up on display at the museum for all to see! Great stuff! 🙂

Don’t forget to add to my All the Money in the World (2015) installation in the Show Me the Money gallery space if you haven’t already done so yet! You can do this any day of the week, not just on Wednesday! Your responses might consist of a single word, a few sentences or even a really, really, long list! You may even want to illustrate your responses too! It’s all acceptable and can be anonymous too!  …So, what would YOU do if you had all the money in the world? Submit your answers now and get involved! 😀

Tomorrow’s drop-in will be long-awaited The Creative Currency Casino finale event, where you can try your luck on exciting games of chance to win some fabulous prizes! (Note to previous workshop attendees: – don’t forget to bring your “Creative Credit Card Vouchers” to redeem your free turns too!) 😀

…See you all then on Wednesday 26 August 2015, 1.00pm-3.00pm! 😀

Pui Lee’s Creative Currency Casino

A guest blog by artist Pui Lee, who is running a series of Family Friendly workshops over the summer to link to our Show Me the Money exhibition

Hi everyone! My name is Pui Lee and I work as a freelance artist and arts educator throughout the North of England. I am so, so excited to be working for the People’s History Museum as a freelancer and I sense lots of exciting things ahead! Look out for my upcoming Creative Currency Casino project as part of the museum’s pARTicipate summer drop-in programme and do get involved! 🙂

Personalised Piggy Banks – Wed 29 July 2015

Well, today was the first of the workshops as part of the pARTicipate summer drop-in programme PHM – gosh, what a brilliant turnout indeed! Thanks to everyone who came along! It was lovely to meet you all! This is the first time that the museum has had a set of family-friendly drop-in workshops all functioning together as an overall project. This was indeed my intention because drop-in workshops often operate as isolated one-off sessions at most museums and galleries today… and so, I decided to change that notion with this very project!   So, when the first flurry of families arrived, I introduced myself and outlined the details of my Creative Currency Casino project… and so it all begins today!

Personalised Piggy-Banks Fit for a King or Queen were on the agenda this afternoon, but not before a guided tour around the Show Me the Money changing exhibition first! It was great to see the families engaging with the contents of the show and discussing what they saw!   The theme of this week is the idea of “saving” – how we save money and the reasons why we do so. This led me nicely to inviting the participants to contribute towards my ongoing All the Money in the World (2015) installation in the family learning space inside the exhibition itself, which was inspired by Simon Roberts’s Credit Crunch Lexicon (2012) wall-based text piece.   We then returned back to the Learning Studio to work on the personalised piggy-banks! The children had some wonderful ideas and they enjoyed inventing unique characters for their hand-made creations. We also saw some less traditional piggy banks being made including an eight-legged Spider-Pig… a one-eyed half Cyclops/half pig piggy-bank… as well as a giant one litre piggy-bank for all those extra pennies! …Well done to everyone who took part! 🙂

See you all on Wednesday 5 August 2015, for the Recycled Sculptures Worth Every Penny workshop; 1.00pm – 3.00pm!

Visit by Britannia English Academy

A guest blog by Richard Skillander, Director of Studies at Britannia English Academy 

When someone arrives in Manchester they often have an idea about the city that is completely wrong. They’ve heard so many comments about the bad weather, the darkness of the city or about a city where you can’t do anything else except drink beer in a pub while it’s raining outside. But, at Britannia English Academy, we try to change their opinion, offering a great social event programme to our students. And one of the best places to change their opinion about Manchester is the People’s History Museum which we’ve visited recently.

Last Thursday 9th July, Britannia English Academy organised a visit to the People’s History Museum with a group of eleven students from all over the world. They discovered so much about Manchester’s history that no one had ever told them before. The museum focuses on the fight for human rights from its beginning two centuries ago, with its politics, demonstrations and banners.

The People’s History Museum is well worth a visit. Its exhibitions are amazing and our students enjoyed their afternoon enormously, asking about every poster, exhibit and artefact they saw. They were especially impressed by the display of all the banners used in political marches. Students were astounded by their size and couldn’t imagine the scale of such protests. Another great story for them was the Peterloo Massacre, the story of brave Mancunians and their fate at St Peter’s Field against the cavalry charge really grabbed their attention. They felt they’d had an excellent history lesson about Manchester and its brave people.

We really enjoyed our day in the People’s History Museum and it will be included in our future social events programmes. Because we don’t only teach English. We want our students to leave with great memories about the city. That is our aim. Learning English is more fun if you have a range of different activities to do, and visiting Manchester’s museums should be one of them. We will be back again.

Chester U3A’s visit to the PHM

A very lovely guest blog from Sue Proctor MBE, JP, DL who organises trips for Chester U3A.  We promise these are all Sue’s words! If you’d like to write a blog about your visit then please get in touch at events@phm.org.uk.

I want to share my experience of visiting the People’s History Museum in Manchester because it was so good. I organise trips for members of Chester University of the Third Age and took 28 people on 1st July. We enjoyed The Hard Way Up play about Hannah Mitchell which was extremely well done and gave us a good insight into one woman’s fight for Women’s Suffrage and the working conditions from that time. The short anti-war poem was particularly poignant.

The displays and exhibitions provided something of interest for everyone. From the Textile Conservation Studio, and the banners to the stories of apprenticeships and the rolls of honour from WWI. My husband was delighted to discover the names of some of his relatives on one roll, but it was hard to see as it was very high up. Trying to take a photograph from lower down wouldn’t have been possible but the staff were amazing. They offered to get a set of ladders at the end of the day, and turn the lights up to take a good picture if they didn’t have a copy on file. Before we got back home the photograph had already been emailed to me.

Our coach driver had complained about problems finding a place to park up and keep cool – it was the hottest day of the year – and again the staff quickly responded by printing off details of possible locations. In fact every member of staff or volunteer we met was very helpful, friendly and knowledgeable. Must be a Manc thing!

The design of the building is superb, the café was very pleasant, especially the terrace overlooking the Irwell, the toilets were very good, access was excellent throughout the building and the quality and range of merchandise in the shop was impressive, in fact I couldn’t resist it.

My group is  diverse in age, interests, mobility and backgrounds. We all found something special at PHM. I knew that there would be lots of information about the Labour Movement but as a Lib Dem I was not put off! I would encourage anyone with an interest in the history of working people to visit Manchester’s People’s History Museum. You won’t regret it.

Votegraphy: digital photography

A guest blog by Anthony Firmin, WEA course tutor

Workers’ Education Association (WEA) in association with the People’s History Museum are presenting a seven week photography course to run alongside the current exhibition: Election! Britain Votes

So, with the excitement of Election 2015 over, the ballot papers counted and a new government appointed it is time to reflect and look at photography, voting and the issues that surround elections.

The course will cover technical and creative aspects of photography and there will be an emphasis on documenting the home, our lives and social issues.  Additionally we will be having a tour of the exhibits as well as visiting the museum’s Labour History Archive & Study Centre.

One of the outcomes from the course will be to put together a book of students’ photographs taken during the course.

This looks to be a really interesting and varied course and both the People’s History Museum and WEA look forward to you coming along and taking part.

WEA course Votegraphy: digital photography runs from Friday 5 June 2015 – Friday 17 July, 9.00am -12.00pm           

*Please note this is a seven week course; attendees are required to book onto all seven weeks of the course*

Suitable for adults aged 19 and over, all levels and abilities welcome.