This project explores stories of conflict involving ‘radical adolescents’ and their bewildered parents from the surprising perspective of ancient texts and objects (particularly the Manchester Museum’s marvellous collections). An 8th July workshop at the Museum invited AS-level students to engage playfully with the ancient version of the ‘parent problem’, through creative writing and the production of short videos. Students explored different points of view in ancient family dramas by writing and performing first-person speeches re-telling the stories through the eyes of different characters. Viewing the Museum’s mummy portraits –realistic “death masks” from Roman-period Egyptian sarcophagi– helped them consider the differences between characters in stories and real people. A production company run by PhD student researchers from Manchester University filmed these speeches, and a workshop was held on peer-to-peer filming. We will now create a “rogues’ gallery” of talking heads on our project website, showing how stories look very different when told from multiple points of view. We hope to develop further teaching resources that will bring issues of family tension, identity, authority, religion and violence to life in a similar way.
www.manchester.ac.uk/martinharriscentre
@MHCentre
MHCentre
School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Faculty of Humanities The University of Manchester Bridgeford Street, off Oxford Road Manchester M13 9PL
ARTS ACCESS FAIR Introducing the Arts Access Fair
Sing Out and Stand Tall Dr. Caroline Bithell
Professor James Thompson
Jules Gibb conducting Sing for Water North 2013
For this project, ethnomusicology lecturer Caroline Bithell and a team of students from Music are working in partnership with natural voice and community arts practitioner Jules Gibb to deliver a singing project in Oswald Road Primary School, Chorlton. Having taken part in two training workshops where Jules has introduced them to tried-and-tested techniques for teaching unaccompanied harmony singing by ear, the students are now looking forward to putting their newfound skills into practice as we start to work in the school.
October 2013 marks the 10-year anniversary of the opening of the Martin Harris Centre. Over this period the Centre has established itself as an important venue for teaching, research and public engagement for the School of Arts Languages and Cultures and the wider University. It has also developed an impressive reputation for community and local school involvement and it is now an important University asset with an excellent record of attracting young people onto the campus. To celebrate both 10 years of the Martin Harris Centre and its unique role in providing access for the community, the Faculty of Humanities and the School of Arts Languages and Cultures commissioned six projects which highlight the innovations in widening participation and access across the Faculty and University. Details of these exciting projects are given in this flyer and we hope you enjoy reading these examples of the University of Manchester’s commitment to the arts, to access and widening participation.
The children will learn songs from different cultures alongside songs from the community choir world. The project will culminate in an event at the Martin Harris Centre on Friday 18 October 2013 at 1.10pm, where the children will perform a short set of songs, supplemented by contributions from student-led ensembles. The project aims to celebrate diversity, foster a spirit of exchange, and impart a sense of empowerment to all involved.
Professor James Thompson Associate Dean External Relations – Faculty of Humanities
Pupils’ work will then feature in Museum Outreach Boxes and act as interpretation for Tactile, the Whitworth’s textile handling resource. Throughout the project young people Pupils’ work will then feature in Museum will develop their voice and record their Outreach Boxes and act as interpretation for Tactile, the Whitworth’s textile handling resource. contributions - be they poetry, song, short stories or simple narratives - to be shown during the celebration week at The Martin Harris Centre. A creative practitioner will work alongside students from the Centre for New Writing to support and develop pupils’ ideas, providing professional development for aspiring writers whilst inspiring young people with the Museum and Gallery collection. Voicebox is collaboration between Manchester Museum and Whitworth Art Gallery to engage young people with collections to develop a personal response. With support from the Centre for New Writing, participating pupils from three Manchester schools will develop creative narratives that will act as interpretation for objects in the Museum and Gallery collections.
Cat Lumb, Manchester Museum Denise Bowler, Whitworth Art Gallery
Voicebox
Bringing to Life the Politics of Identity in Roman-period Egypt, North Africa, Syria, and Turkey Professor Kate Cooper Partners: Thomas Whitham Sixth Form, Burnley; Merchant Taylor’s School, Liverpool; Belle Vue Productions
@MHCentre
MHCentre
www.manchester.ac.uk/martinharriscentre
Dig: Creative Interpretations. Dr. Karina Croucher and Dr. Melanie Giles
The young women have named their group ‘Girls don’t crime’ and through drama and storytelling they have been tracing their family histories and sharing stories and ideas about how living in Gorton has shaped them. Using costume alongside family memorabilia they have been working together to create a short performance about their experiences, telling stories about change, inter-generational journeys and, ultimately, about their aspirations. The performance will take place at the Martin Harris Centre at 5.30pm on Friday 18 October 2013. Professional performer and storyteller Akiel Chinelo has been facilitating a series of drama and storytelling workshops with a group of young women from Gorton in east Manchester. They are supported by Mancunian Way (mancunianway.org.uk) an organisation that was set up to address issues of anti-social behaviour in Manchester. Working alongside Akiel has been Lucy Sparks, Erin Power and Rosie Phillips, three recent graduates from the BA Drama course at the University of Manchester, and together with the young women they have been exploring the idea that ‘Manchester made me’.
Dr. Alison Jeffers
Made in Manchester. Storytelling and spoken word performance
Constructive Empathy and Creative Encounters: Exploring the Rylands On site with Medlock Primary School, Sale High School and Manchester Academy
Jacqui Fortnum and Katie Donlon Building on the success of ‘Cottonopolis’, this project explores how we can make The John Rylands Library more accessible to children with Special Educational Needs (SEN). It also promotes opportunities for learning outside of the classroom, which can be particularly challenging for special schools. This is being encouraged through the development of multisensory performance based tours, specifically aimed at pupils and families who may find it more difficult to engage with the spaces and collections at the Library. The tours are being developed by education and theatre professionals working in collaboration with Library staff. The aim is to develop an exciting interactive experience which helps schools and families to feel welcome in the space. Enhancing the skills of our Engagement Team will not only help us to improve accessibility for children with SEN, but will also have a long term impact on our range of tours - creating a more engaging experience for all of our audiences.
Working with local schools around the Whitworth Park Community Archaeology and History Project, the Dig: Creative Interpretations project explores park-inspired creativity. Schools were invited to respond to the Park’s Victorian and Edwardian past using artwork, poetry and storytelling. Many of them visited the site during the excavations and all groups had ‘hands-on’ workshops using Edwardian postcard images and modern replicas of clay pipes, glass medicine bottles and Victorian children’s toys. Back at school, the students were challenged to produce their own modern ‘postcard’, on which they also wrote a poem or short story. The workshops highlighted the use of parks as community spaces where people of different backgrounds mingle, and the past formed a point of departure from which to analyse the changing meaning of these vibrant urban green spaces. ‘Dig’ will form the focus of a Martin Harris Centre exhibition in autumn 2013 before the students’ work is showcased in the Whitworth Park Community Archaeology and History Project final exhibition at the Manchester Museum (2014).
DIG! Postcards from the Park
The young women have named their group ‘Girls don’t crime’ and through drama and storytelling they have been tracing their family histories and sharing stories and ideas about how living in Gorton has shaped them. Using costume alongside family memorabilia they have been working together to create a short performance about their experiences, telling stories about change, inter-generational journeys and, ultimately, about their aspirations. The performance will take place at the Martin Harris Centre at 5.30pm on Friday 18 October 2013. Professional performer and storyteller Akiel Chinelo has been facilitating a series of drama and storytelling workshops with a group of young women from Gorton in east Manchester. They are supported by Mancunian Way (mancunianway.org.uk) an organisation that was set up to address issues of anti-social behaviour in Manchester. Working alongside Akiel has been Lucy Sparks, Erin Power and Rosie Phillips, three recent graduates from the BA Drama course at the University of Manchester, and together with the young women they have been exploring the idea that ‘Manchester made me’.
Pupils’ work will then feature in Museum Outreach Boxes and act as interpretation for Tactile, the Whitworth’s textile handling resource. Throughout the project young people Pupils’ work will then feature in Museum will develop their voice and record their Outreach Boxes and act as interpretation for Tactile, the Whitworth’s textile handling resource. contributions - be they poetry, song, short stories or simple narratives - to be shown during the celebration week at The Martin Harris Centre. A creative practitioner will work alongside students from the Centre for New Writing to support and develop pupils’ ideas, providing professional development for aspiring writers whilst inspiring young people with the Museum and Gallery collection. Voicebox is collaboration between Manchester Museum and Whitworth Art Gallery to engage young people with collections to develop a personal response. With support from the Centre for New Writing, participating pupils from three Manchester schools will develop creative narratives that will act as interpretation for objects in the Museum and Gallery collections.
Cat Lumb, Manchester Museum Denise Bowler, Whitworth Art Gallery
Dr. Alison Jeffers
Made in Manchester. Storytelling and spoken word performance
This project explores stories of conflict involving ‘radical adolescents’ and their bewildered parents from the surprising perspective of ancient texts and objects (particularly the Manchester Museum’s marvellous collections). An 8th July workshop at the Museum invited AS-level students to engage playfully with the ancient version of the ‘parent problem’, through creative writing and the production of short videos. Students explored different points of view in ancient family dramas by writing and performing first-person speeches re-telling the stories through the eyes of different characters. Viewing the Museum’s mummy portraits –realistic “death masks” from Roman-period Egyptian sarcophagi– helped them consider the differences between characters in stories and real people. A production company run by PhD student researchers from Manchester University filmed these speeches, and a workshop was held on peer-to-peer filming. We will now create a “rogues’ gallery” of talking heads on our project website, showing how stories look very different when told from multiple points of view. We hope to develop further teaching resources that will bring issues of family tension, identity, authority, religion and violence to life in a similar way.
Bringing to Life the Politics of Identity in Roman-period Egypt, North Africa, Syria, and Turkey Professor Kate Cooper Partners: Thomas Whitham Sixth Form, Burnley; Merchant Taylor’s School, Liverpool; Belle Vue Productions
Voicebox
www.manchester.ac.uk/martinharriscentre
@MHCentre
MHCentre
School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Faculty of Humanities The University of Manchester Bridgeford Street, off Oxford Road Manchester M13 9PL
ARTS ACCESS FAIR
Constructive Empathy and Creative Encounters: Introducing the Arts Access Fair
Sing Out and Stand Tall Professor James Thompson
October 2013 marks the 10-year anniversary of the opening of the Martin Harris Centre. Over this period the Centre has established itself as an important venue for teaching, research and public engagement for the School of Arts Languages and Cultures and the wider University. It has also developed an impressive reputation for community and local school involvement and it is now an important University asset with an excellent record of attracting young people onto the campus. To celebrate both 10 years of the Martin Harris Centre and its unique role in providing access for the community, the Faculty of Humanities and the School of Arts Languages and Cultures commissioned six projects which highlight the innovations in widening participation and access across the Faculty and University. Details of these exciting projects are given in this flyer and we hope you enjoy reading these examples of the University of Manchester’s commitment to the arts, to access and widening participation. Professor James Thompson Associate Dean External Relations – Faculty of Humanities
@MHCentre
MHCentre
www.manchester.ac.uk/martinharriscentre
Dr. Caroline Bithell
Jules Gibb conducting Sing for Water North 2013
For this project, ethnomusicology lecturer Caroline Bithell and a team of students from Music are working in partnership with natural voice and community arts practitioner Jules Gibb to deliver a singing project in Oswald Road Primary School, Chorlton. Having taken part in two training workshops where Jules has introduced them to tried-and-tested techniques for teaching unaccompanied harmony singing by ear, the students are now looking forward to putting their newfound skills into practice as we start to work in the school. The children will learn songs from different cultures alongside songs from the community choir world. The project will culminate in an event at the Martin Harris Centre on Friday 18 October 2013 at 1.10pm, where the children will perform a short set of songs, supplemented by contributions from student-led ensembles. The project aims to celebrate diversity, foster a spirit of exchange, and impart a sense of empowerment to all involved.
Dig: Creative Interpretations.
Exploring the Rylands
Dr. Karina Croucher and Dr. Melanie Giles
Jacqui Fortnum and Katie Donlon
On site with Medlock Primary School, Sale High School and Manchester Academy
Building on the success of ‘Cottonopolis’, this project explores how we can make The John Rylands Library more accessible to children with Special Educational Needs (SEN). It also promotes opportunities for learning outside of the classroom, which can be particularly challenging for special schools. This is being encouraged through the development of multisensory performance based tours, specifically aimed at pupils and families who may find it more difficult to engage with the spaces and collections at the Library. The tours are being developed by education and theatre professionals working in collaboration with Library staff. The aim is to develop an exciting interactive experience which helps schools and families to feel welcome in the space. Enhancing the skills of our Engagement Team will not only help us to improve accessibility for children with SEN, but will also have a long term impact on our range of tours - creating a more engaging experience for all of our audiences.
Working with local schools around the Whitworth Park Community Archaeology and History Project, the Dig: Creative Interpretations project explores park-inspired creativity. Schools were invited to respond to the Park’s Victorian and Edwardian past using artwork, poetry and storytelling. Many of them visited the site during the excavations and all groups had ‘hands-on’ workshops using Edwardian postcard images and modern replicas of clay pipes, glass medicine bottles and Victorian children’s toys. Back at school, the students were challenged to produce their own modern ‘postcard’, on which they also wrote a poem or short story. The workshops highlighted the use of parks as community spaces where people of different backgrounds mingle, and the past formed a point of departure from which to analyse the changing meaning of these vibrant urban green spaces. ‘Dig’ will form the focus of a Martin Harris Centre exhibition in autumn 2013 before the students’ work is showcased in the Whitworth Park Community Archaeology and History Project final exhibition at the Manchester Museum (2014).
DIG! Postcards from the Park
Made in Manchester
Dig: Creative Interpretations
Voicebox
Sing Out and Stand Tall
Constructive Empathy and Creative Encounters
ARTS ACCESS FAIR
Exploring the Rylands
14-18 October 2013 Displays in the foyer of the Martin Harris Centre Six projects which highlight the innovations in widening participation and access across the Faculty of Humanities and University.
@MHCentre
MHCentre
School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Faculty of Humanities The University of Manchester Bridgeford Street, off Oxford Road
www.manchester.ac.uk/martinharriscentre
ARTS ACCESS FAIR Made in Manchester
Voicebox
Constructive Empathy and Creative Encounters
Exploring the Rylands
Dig: Creative Interpretations
Sing Out and Stand Tall
14-18 October 2013 Displays in the foyer of the Martin Harris Centre Six projects which highlight the innovations in widening participation and access across the Faculty of Humanities and University.
School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Faculty of Humanities The University of Manchester Bridgeford Street, off Oxford Road
@MHCentre
MHCentre
www.manchester.ac.uk/martinharriscentre