Thursday 25 July 2013

Manchester Walk for Women

WHO: EVERYBODY, Women, men, children all welcome.

WHERE: The walk will begin at Ardwick Green, Manchester (the site of a rather impressive drama in ‘The Manchester Man’ written in 1876 by Mrs G Linneaus Banks). 


We will then pass the house of Elizabeth Gaskell, another Mancunian female pioneer, before heading to Birchfield Park and then Platt Fields. From there we will head to Whitworth Park before continuing up Oxford Road. We will conclude the walk at BLANKSPACE gallery, Hulme St to see the equals exhibition – a representation of where contemporary feminist artists are today – and have a glass of wine!

WHEN: Saturday 27th July, 2013 11.30am

AVERAGE DISTANCE: Approx 4.5 miles – 2 hours – flat, easy walking.
  

WEAR: Clothes and shoes comfortable to walk in, fantastic enough to celebrate in (feel free to wear sashes and bring banners, and of course if possible the suffragette colours of purple and green)

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Please email equals@blankmediacollective.org
For information about the equals exhibition visit: blankmediacollective.org/
equalsproject


SO WHAT IS WALK FOR WOMEN ABOUT?
In the summer of 1913, around 50,000 women marched across Britain to London’s Hyde Park to demonstrate for the right to vote.

Now, 100 years later, women from Barnsley to Brighton and Portsmouth to Manchester are putting their best foot forward to celebrate those who strived to make it possible for women to make their mark on the ballot paper.

Walk for Women is a series of walks taking place ACROSS THE COUNTRY throughout July – so let's get together and celebrate the action taken a century ago and the positive change it brought about.

As a fitting finale to a programme exploring and expanding ideas on feminism, Blank Media Collective have organised the Manchester leg of Walks for Women. It will be the conclusion to equals, a month long exhibition and series of accompanying events including an evening of live arts, a ‘speed debate’, live radio shows and a publication.

To celebrate the heritage of these ideas and the responsibility we have to pass the baton, we will be joining the Walks for Women movement to commemorate the Suffragettes’ march on the House of Commons and rally in Hyde Park in 1913. 2013 is also the centenary of the death of suffragette Emily Wilding Davis under the King’s horse on Derby Day. We will walk to commemorate her death and the sacrifices women made for our civil liberties; and to join in solidarity with other Walks for Women to celebrate the potential of realising feminist ideals.

Feel free to wear sashes and bring banners!

Refreshments will await the walkers and there will be the opportunity to see the show and explore what contemporary feminist artists have to say over a glass of wine.

Further information on this walk can be found here: http://www.walkforwomen.co.uk/routes/north-west/manchester/

Wednesday 17 July 2013

Conference Call - Suffragette Legacy; How does the History of Feminism Inspire Current Thinking in Manchester?





Suffragette Legacy
How does the History of Feminism Inspire Current Thinking in Manchester?
Saturday 8 March 2014

UPDATE JAN 2014 - We will shortly be booking tickets for this conference and sharing the outline for the day.  Sign up to follow the blog for new posts

Call for Papers
From The Village and David Bowie’s Suffragette City to Femen activists and Pussy Riot, the suffragette legacy is everywhere in modern culture.

As part of the Manchester Wonder Women events celebrating International Women’s Day 2014, this one-day conference seeks to bring together academics, artists, politicians and activists to present and speak about how their work is affected by the suffragette legacy of feminism.

Welcoming academic papers, feminist theory, dance, music or other, this one-day conference wishes to bring together different people to reflect on the important, but often complex, legacy of the suffragettes. Within an interdisciplinary context we wish to explore if, how and why the movement still matters in politics, academia, the arts and other aspects of modern Manchester.

Papers or submissions are welcome from any background, but special consideration will be given to anyone who directly engages with the Manchester history of the women’s movement.

Send your proposed paper, project or idea to suffragetteevent@gmail.com by 15 October 2013 at 12pm. We will let you know if you have been successful by 1st November.

If your work has a particularly visual or performance element, do send us lots of details about it. We are hoping to display related materials, objects and artworks, so any visual output is welcome in the planning stages.


Deadline: 15 October 2013 at 12pm

Contact info: suffragetteevent@gmail.com

Venue: People’s History Museum, Left Bank, Spinningfields, Manchester, M3 3ER

Directions: http://www.phm.org.uk/visit-us/how-to-find-us/

Fee: £25/£15 (concessions for students or unwaged). Bursaries and reasonable travel-expenses for speakers available.

Twitter: @wonderwomenmcr

Wonder Women: http://www.creativetourist.com/festivals-and-events/wonderwomen/

Friday 12 July 2013

Walking Tours this weekend

A very quick post with a couple of walking tours you might find of interest.

Saturday 13 July  1.45 pm
"Manchester First in the Fight": Votes for Women, 1866 - 1928
Meeting point: Friends Meeting House, Mount Street
This  walk  will tell the story of the campaign for “Votes for Women” in which  Manchester played a major role.

We will  encounter a number of the leading figures  of  the suffragist and suffragette  movement including Lydia Becker, Esther Roper, Teresa Billington,  Eva Gore-Booth, Nellie Keenan, Annie Kenney, Mabel Capper, Annot Robinson,   Hannah Mitchell and  the Pankhurst family.
£6/£5.

Sunday 14 July, 11.30am
"Up Then Brave Women": Manchester's radical  women
Meeting point: Co-operative Bank, Corporation Street.
This walk will look at the role of women  in Manchester’s radical  movements include Co-operative  Women’s Guild, Socialist women, Mary and Lizzy Burns, women writers on the Manchester Guardian,  Mrs Gaskell,  the Manchester Society of Women Artists  and  women at Peterloo.

It  is taking place in partnership  with the equals project, organised by the Blankmedia Collective. equals will explore feminism through art and conversation. It will run from 11th to 28th July and include an art exhibition, a book and a number of other events. It is curated by Nathalie Boobis and Anne Marie Kershaw. 

For  details of the full programme, please  go to their website, http://blankmediacollective.org/equalsproject

£6/£5

These talks are run and organised by Red Flag Walks http://redflagwalks.wordpress.com/

Thursday 4 July 2013

equals: exploring feminism through art & conversation



equals is not just about women, it is about everybody. Through the artwork in the exhibition, to the work developed for the publication and the conversations yet to be had, equals hopes to challenge preconceptions, reinvigorate the word feminism and take a step closer to achieving a better model of gender equality today.

Equals exhibition launch Thursday 11th July 6-9pm:
https://www.facebook.com/events/382421141860040/

equals is an exploration of the structures and systems that thread through our culture and language with regards to gender and feminism. Through the joint prisms of art and conversation, equals will provide a variety of platforms for all people of all genders to participate in the discussions and debates surrounding feminism and gender equality.

11th - 28th July - Exhibition equals:

Through the work of nine emerging artists, including Sarah Maple, best known for her strikingly subversive self-portraits and Goldfinger star Margaret Nolan, now a collage artist, the exhibition is an attempt to consider afresh where and how feminism could shape society.

Exhibition artists: Sarah Maple, Margaret Nolan, Ana Cigon, Rachel Finney, Marlene Haring, Helen Jones, Rosanne Robertson, Debbie Sharp, Mary Stark.

The exhibition launches on 11th July 2013 between 6-9pm at BLANKSPACE, 43 Hulme Street Manchester) and runs until 28th July 2013.

Equals Speed Debate and artists talk Saturday 13th July 11-5pm:
https://www.facebook.com/events/172167269628466/

On Saturday 13th July 2013, Blank Media Collective will be hosting an equals 'speed debate' where participants can engage in conversation and debate directly with high profile voices in UK feminism.

Speakers: Ally Fogg (Guardian), Lucy-Anne Holmes (No More Page 3), Vicky Horne (Feminist Art Historian), Kate Smurthwaite (Comedian/Political Activist), Caroline Craido-Perez (Writer for New Statesmen and 'Keep a woman on English banknotes' campaign).

Following the speed debate, the speakers will be in discussion with the artists from the equals exhibition, followed by an artist Q&A .

The event begins at 11am on 13th July 2013 at 2022NQ, 20 Dale Street, Manchester, M1 1EZ. A limited number of tickets are available here http://equalsspeeddebate.eventbrite.co.uk/ and cost £5 (£3 concessions).

Equals live event Saturday 13th July 7-9pm:
https://www.facebook.com/events/549807045077905/

On the evening of Saturday 13th July 2013, an amazing line-up of artists will utilise sound, image and language to re-explore gender identity through live performance, film and readings.

This event begins at 7pm at BLANKSPACE (43 Hulme Street, Manchester) and is free of charge.

Keep updated with all the latest information on this event:
Follow us on Twitter: @BlankMedia
Visit our website: blankmediacollective.org