Skiffle Workshop

A guest blog from Gallery Assistant and resident Skiffle expert, Ed Lambert

Now the ringing in my ears has subsided, I would like to thank everyone who was involved in the Skiffle Workshop last week, from the members of the public who took part, the front of house team and Colin Smith for making the event one to remember for all who were there.

I feel the workshop achieved its aims of educating people on the subject of Skiffle, the working class music performed on household appliances utilised as instruments. The instrument hunt using Hannah Mitchell’s kitchen and the presentation, although being slightly chaotic, demonstrated the way in which the Skiffle generation used what was to hand to bring about the much needed change to music that we still feel the effects of today.

The session had a few unexpected highlights such as the two girls who sang and the especially skilled bread bin player, and other examples of hidden musical talents that occurred during the marathon jam session held together so well by Colin on guitar. If anyone had the opportunity to take any photographs or film could you please share them with us and anyone who was unable to make it this time there will be the opportunity to come to a future Skiffle workshop, possibly around March of next year.

 

Work in Progess – Week 4

Week 4 kicked off with our Acquisitions meeting.  We had lots of interesting offers of material, a highlight of which was a handmade  anti-Nazi children’s game in the form of a small wooden coconut shy where the hinged objects to be knocked over are caricatures of the German baddies.

On Tuesday we held our Art of Protest workshop and had one of our first forays into digital art.  Art of Protest is usually run as part of our Learning Programme for schools and community groups.  Artist David Perkins adapted it to test as a drop-in family workshop, and to try our one of our new iPads.  There were some brilliant results, however we felt that if we wanted to incorporate more digital elements into our Learning Programme we’d need to invest in more tablets so they can be shared between the group.  Unfortunately this isn’t something that we currently have the resources for, but it’s something to consider for the future.

I’ve been busy this week adding new events to our already jam-packed programme.  Don’t miss fire service historian Bob Bonner telling the story of London Road Fire Station on Monday 18 August. Photographer Steven Speed will join us on Sunday 7 September to share his experiences of Protest Photography. Finally, No More Page 3 will lead discussion, debate and collaborative craftivism with their Wollstonecraftivism workshop on Saturday 13 September.

Carolyn Peters from the Hough End Hall campaign popped in for a chat.  They’re going to be dropping off some campaign materials for us to display next week.

We’ve had a couple of entries in our Suggestion Box this week, which I put to our Curator, Chris Burgess.  One visitor requested replica World War I bombs and Chris explained that ‘we’re trying to avoid the story of the trenches. A Land Fit For Heroes is an exhibition about motivation and cause and effect’.  Liv requested ‘more clothes to try on and make a stage for acting’. Chris: ‘Here at PHM we think the whole world is a stage and everyone in it actors. So go crazy.’

We rounded off the week with Make Your Own People’s Guide run by artists Kate Dunstone and Chloe Hamill. Kate and Chloe have been delivering the The People’s Guide project, where groups have selected objects from the museum that other visitors shouldn’t miss.  This was our visitors turn to choose their must see objects, create their own guide to the museum and pick up a snazzy bag!

I’m very excited that Claire Curtin will be joining us for her Microresidency from tomorrow.  Come join in screenprinting, creating placards, petitions and more!

Meet the artist – Claire Curtin

In a series of blog posts we will get to know the artists who will be taking part in our Microresidencies project a little better.  Next up is Claire Curtin who will be resident in Work in Progress from Sat 9 – Fri 15 August.

Hi Claire, nice to meet you! Please can you introduce yourself…

I am an artist from Manchester who specialises in Printmaking. My current practice focuses on portraiture and social activism. I produce portraits of people I admire, this might be because of their involvement in civil rights and peacekeeping or because of something they have done like producing great music or art. I try to convey the character of the person by producing simple, expressive line drawings that I usually translate in to lino prints. I am influenced by current affairs, politics, music and people.

To vent my frustrations I produce work in response to current affairs and politics; this usually manifests itself in expressive and rather unflattering portraits of politicians. Some of these drawings have been developed in to screen printed political placards and books.

I am an Artist Educator; teaching helps to keep my practice up to date and relevant, through teaching I am constantly learning about new artists and ideas.

I am interested in materials and process; I like to experiment with new techniques and problem solving. This is why I usually end up in the print workshop. I find that the process of printmaking helps me to further develop my ideas and plan new work.

What attracted you to apply for the Microresidencies project? Have you done anything like this before?

I thought that the Microresidency project was a really good idea and I was really excited to see that the People’s History Museum was running it.

I think that the museum is a great setting for this and I was attracted to it because I feel that the residency will compliment and enhance my practice. I was also really excited by the audience participation aspect to the project.

Can you tell me a bit about what you’re planning on doing for your Microresidency….

I will make work in response to the museum’s theme: There have always been ideas worth fighting for. I will look at current affairs and social issues and try to highlight these with my work. This will involve making placards, writing letters (to MPs/Newspapers/Ofcom) and producing satirical collages from the day’s news.

I will be making work all week and I would like the visitors to come and join in and make political works of their own.

I will use social media and a blog to record the progression of the residency and to highlight the issues that people want to fight for.

At the end of the residency I intend to hold a demonstration on the theme of There have always been ideas worth fighting for. I will invite the visitors to take part in the demonstration, highlighting the issue that they have been fighting for.

What should our visitors expect when they come to your studio?

 Visitors should expect to be able to take part in making protest works. We’ll be making placards, satirical collages, rubber protest stamps (socialist stamp making?) and writing letters. I’d also like to facilitate a political printmaking workshop during the week.

Do you have a favourite object/display in the PHM?

I like lots of objects in the museum; I love all the campaign posters and comparing how they have evolved over time and how they are referred to in current campaign material. I love the protest posters, banners and badges. One of my favourite objects is the Stop the War poster because I remember carrying a placard just like it.

If you could meet any person living or dead, who would it be?

 Where do I start? I could write a long list but the problem is that I know that I wouldn’t be able to keep my cool. I once met a musician and I went quite hysterical, I gave him a portrait and he was sweet and seemed quite humbled by it but it has put me off approaching my heroes!

If you had a time machine that could only go forwards or backwards in time, would you like to see the past, or visit the future?

That’s complicated, I think if I went back I would feel a great responsibility as well as a great temptation to ‘mess with things’ whereas going forwards would be curious but then you would not have anything to look forward to when you went back to ‘now’. So I think I would go back, I probably would try to meet some of my heroes and try to keep my cool.

What’s your idea worth fighting for?

There are lots of campaigns that I feel very strongly about; free universal education for girls and boys, free universal healthcare for all, protecting our NHS from any further cuts or privatisation, etc. But I think if there was one thing I could change in the UK it would be to get rid of all nuclear weapons. I don’t understand why we have them in this country. Our governments could never justify using them. If the argument is on defence then I’d like to be clear that I would rather die than be culpable for the use of nuclear weapons.

Work in Progress – Weeks 2&3

Now we’re a few weeks into Work in Progress, I’m getting slightly more used to having my desk up in the exhibition space and I’ve started to have more conversations with visitors (including an interesting debate about the teachers’ strikes the other day). I’ve also made the decision to move our suggestion box to the debate space in order to encourage more comments (I think visitors are put off by my being there!).

Week 2 was crammed with meetings and it was great to share details of the project and progress some of the other work that I’m doing on Play Your Part. These included a CPD field trip from early career museum professionals in the West Midlands, and internal meetings about Play Your Part and our volunteer-led object handling programme.  We also held our weekly diary meeting, where members of our Learning, Events, Venue Hire and Front of House teams meet to discuss what’s coming up in the next few weeks.

Out and about we popped over to the Royal Exchange for the launch of the Fun Palaces project.  Our Fun Palace will be on Saturday 4 October, and you can help shape what it will become by visiting Work in Progress.

Sarah Taylor, who has starting volunteering on the project, created a brilliant display of the Friends of London Road Fire Station campaign materials.  If you want to highlight your campaign then get in touch on 0161 838 9190 or catherine.odonnell@phm.org.uk.

On Wednesday 23 July the team from the Chandelier of Lost Earrings came to drum up votes for their project to win a National Lottery Good Causes Award.  Voting has now closed, but we’re crossing our fingers for them!

Also on Wednesday, we hosted the engage North West Area Meeting.  engage are the National Association for Gallery Education and with another hat on I’m one of the North West Area Reps.  It was brilliant to show off Work in Progress to colleagues across the North West, and we enjoyed Pecha Kucha-style presentations from Steven Roper from the Whitworth Art Gallery and Marisa Draper from HOME.  I’m very excited to see how their projects progress and to have a look round once they’re both open.

The highlight of the fortnight was hosting our first Microresidency.  Sashwati Mira Sengupta and Jaydev Mistry delved into our archives and researched Migration, Protest and Workers Rights.  They also interviewed visitors and captured some inspiring stories.  They are working on shaping their research into an audio work, which will be premiered at our Closing Party on Sunday 14 September.  I’m very excited to see what they create!

In Week 3 Ed Lambert brought the galleries to life with his Skiffle Workshop.  The workshop explored the history of Skiffle music and children and adults alike joined in and created fantastic (and very noisy!) music with handmade instruments.  It was wonderful to see people from different generations working together and sharing their love of music and there was some brilliant feedback including, ‘It was amazing! My daughter even got to sing Elvis in public!!!’  Needless to say, we’re already in discussions to do it again!

I’m delighted that the PHM are going to be part of the first LGBT History Festival in Manchester in February.  I met the team on Friday and we’ve started planning the great events that will be happening across the festival.  To warm up, we’ve got lots of events across the Pride Weekend over August bank holiday, so come along and join in the fun with our LGBT History Tour, Q&A with the cast of the film Pride and Oliver Bliss’ Microresidency.

Ideas worth fighting for – Claire Curtin’s Microresidency

Do you have an idea worth fighting for?

Do you want to spread the word creatively?

Claire Curtin is here to help!

Our second Microresidency starts on Saturday.  Claire Curtin will use her residency to make a series of protest works with our visitors, which will be paraded at the end of the residency in a public demonstration.  You can take part in the demo and highlight issues you’ve been fighting for, make placards and satirical collages, write letters and more…

Claire’s residency runs from Saturday 9 August – Friday 15 August.  Throughout the week you can pop into her studio and help her to create protest artworks, including placards, badges and letters. Claire will be holding two screenprinting workshops on Saturday 9 August and Thursday 14 August, 1.00pm – 3.00pm.  Pop along for free family friendly fun!

The residency will culminate in a procession on Friday 15 August.  Bring a placard and meet at the PHM at 5.00pm.  We’ll march down to Lincoln Square at 5.15pm, where we’ll gather for our Democratic Demonstration, with speeches and music. Grab the megaphone and promote your idea worth fighting for! Everyone’s welcome, and please let us know that you’re coming by emailing catherine.odonnell@phm.org.uk or call 0161 838 9190.

It goes without saying that we won’t promote any ideas that are in any way offensive (eg racist, sexist, homophobic, etc).

Please note that Claire will be out of the studio on 10 & 11 August, but there’ll still be lots to do!

Work in Progress – the first week

My first week of essentially being a museum exhibit has been slightly surreal!  My office is now based in our Work in Progress exhibition and I’ve been struggling to come to terms with leaving the hustle and bustle of the office and being ‘on show’.  One of the main challenges has been feeling quite lonely without my colleagues, but I’ve had a few visitors come and say hello.  Not as many as I expected, however, so if you are in the building I’m happy to answer any questions about the project.

We kicked off the week by hosting our Acquisitions meeting in the Studio space. Members of the Collections and Engagement team met to discuss potential object and archive donations to the museum. We decided to acquire material from the public sector strikes on 11 July 2014, including leaflets, a placard and even a NUT hat. If you’re interested in donating any objects to the museum, you can find out more here.

Curated Placed launched our workshop programme with their Secret Cities: Immersion – Manchester Cityscape Workshop 1 on Monday.  The workshop was sold out and I’m excited to see how the project develops.

We’ve confirmed details of two new workshops as part of the programme. In Art of Protest on Tuesday 5 August artist David Perkins will help you to create your own protest art.  Re-Telling: Scapegoats, Media & Politics on Thursday 4 September will explore the impact of scapegoating in politics and the media.  No More Page 3 also popped in to start planning a workshop that they’ll be hosting on 13 September.  Full details to follow soon. If you’d like to host a workshop as part of Work in Progress then please get in touch.

To fill the gaps between all our exciting workshops and meetings we’ve created some activities for you to do.  Hold the Front Page! lets you create your own headlines of what you think is newsworthy. Every day I’ve printed off the front pages of all the national newspapers, and there’s been a very interesting mix of stories. Unsurprisingly, the only day all the papers agreed was Friday, with near-identical front pages reporting the atrocity of the MH17 crash.

Unfortunately our badge machine was a bit poorly so has had to be sent to machine hospital.  Once it’s been discharged you can make badges telling us how you’ve Played Your Part or plan to Play Your Part.

We’ve been asking you to contribute to the debate and we’ve had some interesting responses on our chalkboard.  We’ve also set up a suggestions box, and comments have included ‘slavery should stop’ and ‘cool! I love it!’.

We met Harriet Andrews from Uprising who told us about their fantastic leadership projects for young people, including My Voice My Vote, a year long project in the run up to the general election.  Hopefully there will be lots of scope to work together on our Election! exhibition.

We also had a meeting with Jeff Evans from LGBT History Month to discuss plans for Manchester in Love, a groundbreaking LGBT history conference in February.  Jeff has also been helping to develop our LGBT history tour, which you can come along to on Friday 22 August.

Jamie from Friends of London Road Fire Station popped in to drop off some photographs, campaign materials and artwork.  I’ll be putting them up this week.  If you’re interested in highlighting your campaign in this way, then please get in touch on 0161 838 9190 or email catherine.odonnell@phm.org.uk.

We rounded off the week with a visit from Sheng-Wei Chang, a researcher from the 2014 International Human Rights Exchanging Program in Taiwan, who was interested in finding out more about the museum as they are setting up a Human Rights museum.

I’m excited to see what this week holds – lots more meetings, our engage NW Area meeting and the first of our Microresidencies.

Work in Progress has begun

Find out more about our Play Your Part project in our Office Space. Come say hello!

Our Workshop Space will hold events, activities and meetings

I’m very excited to be writing this blog in my new office, right in the heart of our new Work in Progress exhibition.  We’re going to have an exciting, experimental nine weeks. There’ll be workshops, meetings, artists, activists, badgemaking, debating and much much more!  Find out what’s coming up on our website here.  We’ll be adding more to the programme as we go, so keep checking back.  So pop in, say hello and Play Your Part!

Discuss current events and historical campaigns in our Debate Space

Three artists will base their studios here during their Microresidencies

 

Meet the artists…. Sashwati Mira Sengupta & Jaydev Mistry

In a series of blog posts we will get to know the artists who will be taking part in our Microresidencies project a little better.  First up are Sashwati Mira Sengupta & Jaydev Mistry who will be resident in Work in Progress from Fri 25 – Tues 29 July.

Have you collaborated together before?

No, we have known each other for a long time and we both have a shared political interest in our diverse communities and the struggles they have faced and their collaborations with the working class movement in the UK. Through the residency we are both looking forward to finally be working together.

What attracted you to apply for the Microresidencies project? Have you done anything like this before?

We have always enjoyed our visits to the PHM, the history of the lives of working class people is of great importance to us and helps us better understand the struggles that people face today.  The Microresidency is an opportunity to explore the museum’s archives and tap into the expertise that exists there.

Jaydev has been artist in residence at the Contact Theatre: Jaydev’s project there looked into the connections between Manchester and India relating to the cotton trade, India’s Independence struggle and how the warehouses that once stored cotton from the Indian Sub-continent have and still are used for hosting musical events such as club nights and gigs.

Sashwati sees this as a perfect way to combine her interests in music and trade-unionism and she has never done anything like this before

Can you tell me a bit about what you’re planning on doing for your Microresidency….

We shall be exploring the museum’s exhibits and archives and create a soundscape/musical composition and visual response relating to Migrant communities and how they have helped change the course of workers rights in the UK.

What should our visitors expect when they come to your studio?

Visitors should expect objects, documents, musical instruments and a mobile recording facility. They will be able to observe the creation of a soundscape/composition responding to the material we uncover. Also, we shall be encouraging victors to contribute their thoughts and/or experiences, which we shall record and possibly include in the composition.

Do you have a favourite object/display in the PHM?

Jaydev: I love the trade union banners because to me they are a window into the hopes, struggles and lives of the working class.

Sashwati: the section on the Spanish Civil War because it represents Internationalism and the lengths that people will got to for solidarity across the world.

If you could meet any person living or dead, who would it be?

Jaydev: Stephen Hawking

Sashwati: Mangal Pandey who led the 1857 Indian uprising that the British referred to as the Sepoy  mutiny.

If you had a time machine that could only go forwards or backwards in time, would you like to see the past, or visit the future?

Jaydev: The future.

Sashwati: the past, to the 1926 General strike.

What’s your idea worth fighting for?

The ongoing global fight for equality.

Share your stories of Migration, Protest and Workers’ Rights

We are delighted that we will be hosting the Microresidency of Sashwati Mira Sengupta and Jaydev Mistry at the People’s History Museum from Fri 25 July – Tues 29 July 2014 as part of our Work in Progress exhibition.  Sashwati and Jaydev will use their residency to focus on the migrant communities that have changed the course of UK workers’ rights.  They will explore the museum’s archives, creating an original music composition and visual piece on this theme.  Visitors will be encouraged to share their experiences of migration, protest and workers’ rights, which will be included in the composition.

If you have any stories, memories or experiences that you’d like to share then we’d love to hear them! Just pop in to the museum between Fri 25 July – Tues 29 July and share your story.  If you can’t make those dates and would like to contribute then get in touch with Catherine O’Donnell on 0161 838 9190 or catherine.odonnell@phm.org.uk.

Microresidencies – Winners announced

We are very excited to announce the three winners of our Microresidencies public vote.  We had a grand total of 1165 voters, who each voted for their three favourite artists.  Claire Curtin topped the public poll with 386 votes, closely followed by Oliver Bliss with 384 votes.  Sashwati Mira Sengupta & Jaydev Mistry bagged the third residency with 363 votes.  The voting was very close, and all of the 12 finalists got an overwhelming amount of public support.

  Claire Curtin will use her residency to make a series of protest works with our visitors, which will be paraded at the end of the residency in a public demonstration. You can take part in the demo and highlight issues you’ve been fighting for.  Make placards & satirical collages, write letters and more…

Oliver Bliss will run creative textiles workshops crafting messages of hope to MPs who did not vote ‘Yes’ to equal marriage.  You can learn about the role of MPs, be inspired by the pioneering banner collections challenging Clause-28, and craft your own history-making messages. This craftivist project will champion a triumph in our collective history!

Sashwati Mira Sengupta & Jaydev Mistry will use their residency to focus on the migrant communities that have changed the course of UK workers’ rights. They will explore the museum’s archives, creating an original music composition & visual piece on this theme.  Visitors will be encouraged to share their experiences of migration, protest and workers’ rights, which will be included in the composition.

We look forward to welcoming Claire, Oliver, Sashwati & Jaydev to the museum during our exciting Work in Progress exhibition over the summer.  Full programme to be announced soon!