Pankhurst in The Park, Manchester Autumn 2014

This Autumn, Alexandra Arts will be curating Pankhurst in The Park; a programme of free events and activities celebrating Alexandra Park’s rich historical connection to the iconic suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. 

Pankhurst in the Park takes inspiration from the Park's rich heritage connected to the leader of the Suffragette Movement, Emmeline Pankhurst, who was born and bred only yards from the Park in the neighbouring Moss Side estate.

The local community of Moss Side has hosted its fair share of radical history but Emmeline’s achievements, while volatile and controversial, helped to change the course of women's history, and Alexandra Arts believes this legacy is something to celebrate!

To highlight this historical socio-political heritage, which has until now has left no trace locally, Pankhurst in The Park is taking the opportunity to promote the wealth of talented female artists around the world and to provide a platform for art created by women.

The programme will include the Park’s first International Artist Residency, Go! Push Pops from Brooklyn, New York, combined with a free public programme of artist talks and installations situated in and around the stunning Grade 2-listed Alexandra Park and Pavilion.

The programme is open to all and provides the perfect excuse to nose around the newly renovated park and pavilion*. So, come and join us with friends and family for one or more of our fabulous free events.

4 October, 1-4pm

Free

Big Life Draw[ing]: Katarzyna Jablonska

Join artist Katarzyna Jablonska in the newly opened pavilion for an exclusive viewing and talk about her recent commission for Pankhurst In The Park, followed by a tutored life drawing class.

Acoustic Set: Ríoghnach Connolly & Associates

Singer and flutist Ríoghnach Connolly, while strongly rooted in her trad Sean-nós background, also stirs elements of Appalachia, blues and jazz into the folk archive.

Big Draw Mayhem: Naomi Kashiwagi

Families are invited to join artist Naomi Kashiwagi in our exciting Big Draw activity at the park. The Big Draw is an international drawing festival taking place in over twenty countries throughout October. 

15 October, 5.30-8.30pm

Free

In Conversation With Dr. Helen Pankhurst

Join us in conversation with Dr. Helen Pankhurst as we discuss our new Pankhurst in The Park programme. Inspired by Helen’s great grandmother Emmeline Pankhurst, the programme celebrates Alexandra Park’s connection to the British suffragette movement and its leader, who was born in Moss Side in 1858. Our conversation will be followed by a question and answer session, so get your questions ready!

Meet Our Artist In Residence: Go! Push Pops

Our first ever, international artist in residence will be flying over from Brooklyn, New York, to talk about their practice and their involvement in our programme.

Talk By Hysteria Magazine

London-based HYSTERIA is a periodical and a platform for feminist activism. With a printed publication and happenings all over the world, this is one story not to be missed.

1 November, 12-5pm

Free

Woodland Exhibition Tour: Sarah Hardacre

Artist Sarah Hardacre will reveal the results of her recent commission for Pankhurst In The Park, with a walk and tour through the park's preserved woodland.

Artist Talk: Lynn Setterington

Join Lynn Setterington for a talk about her collaborative signature cloth, which marks the centenary of the death of Emily Wilding Davison at the Epsom Derby in June 1913.

Zine Mania: The Chapness & Queen of the Track

Feminist zine making workshop with Manchester based The Chapess and Liverpool's very own Queen of the Track.

29 November, 7-10pm

Free

Artist Talk and Film Screening: Nataly Lebouleux

A screening of the stop-motion animation film Illuminate will be taking place with an introduction by Nataly Lebouleux - and her props.

Artist In Residence Performance; Go! Push Pops

All the way from Brooklyn, New York, join our artist in residence for a specially commissioned performance at Alexandra Park.

Installation By Julie Fitzpatrick

In collaboration with students from Manchester University's School of Architecture, Architect Julie Fitzpatrick will be exhibiting her new installation at the pavilion.

Music – Dj set by the Mighty Quinn

Alexandra Park

Alexandra Park has been serving the communities of Whalley Range and Moss Side for 144 years. Covering an area of 60 acres, it is one of the earliest and most complete of Manchester’s Victorian parks. Alexandra Park is regarded as of national importance and is a Grade 2-listed landscape on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens. It has recently reopened following a restoration project funded by Manchester City Council, Heritage Lottery Fund, English Cricket Board, the Lawn Tennis Association and Sport England. Facilities include floodlit tennis courts, a cricket square, lacrosse pitches and buildings with community meeting spaces, toilets and changing facilities. The Serpentine Lake has been restored, alongside new hard and soft landscaping, whilst the raised walk has become a formal zone. It’s beautiful but, don’t trust us, come along and see it for yourself!

Alexandra Arts

Alexandra Arts is an artist-led collective based in Manchester's Alexandra Park and founded in 2010. Alexandra Arts is curating the Pankhurst In The Park programme, which has received funding from the Arts Council of England and Norwegian Embassy in London as well as investment from St Mary's Primary School in Moss Side. Visit the links below to keep up to date with a growing calendar of events and installations.

For further details:

Email: hello@alexandra-arts.org.uk

Visit: www.alexandra-arts.org.uk

Follow: @AlexArtsMCR

*A café service will be available during events taking place in the Pavilion. 

WOMEN OF THE NORTH 02 September 14 - 18 October 14 at The Royal Exchange, Manchester

(Photo: Anne Reid) Photography by Paul Wolfgang Webster

WOMEN OF THE NORTH
02 September 14 - 18 October 14

Part of Paul Wolfgang Webster's major project MADE IN THE NORTH

Paul Wolfgang Webster is a Manchester based photographer working on an ongoing major project MADE IN THE NORTH. This project is based on prominent Northern people who have made a contribution to life in the North.

The idea started many years ago when Paul was working towards his photographic degree. His work was received so well that he decided to carry on with the project after successfully completing his degree.

Four of Paul's MADE IN THE NORTH portraits are included in The National Portrait Gallery permanent collection in London. His work has been exhibited in The Circle Gallery, New York, Richard Goodall Gallery, Manchester and throughout the UK. The photographs have been commissioned and collected by individuals and businesses in the Northwest and Paul is also proud to say that he works closely with the Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention Charity and the Diane Modahl Sports foundation.

The images exhibited here in the Royal Exchange Theatre relate to women of the North. Some of them you will recognize, others you may not, however all have made a contribution to life in the North and they all form part of the main MADE IN THE NORTH collections. Paul is so very thankful to them all for allowing him to capture their images. We hope you enjoy looking at his work.

Find out more here

Wollstonecraftivism at People's History Museum, Sat 13 Sept, 12.00pm - 3.00pm

Wollstonecraftivism at People's History Museum, Sat 13 Sept, 12.00pm - 3.00pm

Join No More Page 3 for #Wollstonecraftivisim, a craftivist workshop highlighting issues of representation, feminism and gender expectations. The activists will lead a discussion tour of the main galleries, from Mary Wollstonecraft to the Rose Queen display. Then relax and explore these ideas through collaborative craftivism.

How have women and their bodies been seen and are seen in our world? What does this say about women? And why does representation matter? Using the idea of ‘News in Briefs’ (the comment given by the day’s Page 3 girl on current affairs) we will sew our thoughts and ideas about these issues and affairs onto a Rose Queen dress, bringing together historic and present day representations and ideas of women through collective craftivism.

Suitable for adults and young people

Part of the PHM Work in Progress workshop programme

Booking Requirements: Booking required via Eventbrite click here for link

This is how Manchester does feminism: with deeds, not words – and with a month of art, music and more

Wonder Women, the city’s annual, creative celebration of feminism returns next March, and we’d like you to join us.

Feminism. It's a thing, isn’t it? It causes Twitter storms and campaigns, and it draws attention to a pay gap so wide you could (fingers crossed) lose Jeremy Clarkson in it. And occasionally, it leads to some surprising, creative acts of protest. Like, crochet masks drawn tight over the heads of the Town Hall statuary to illustrate the fact that Manchester doesn’t have a single statue dedicated to its many women of note. Or three “respectable” women running into Manchester Art Gallery one afternoon, each raising a hammer and smashing the glass that covered some of its most famous paintings – part of a nationwide campaign designed to draw attention to women’s rights.

The fact that those two events occurred 100 years apart (the crochet masks this year, the glass smashing in 1913) speaks volumes: as in, here in Manchester, the birthplace of the suffragette movement, we are not done yet. Or as Jeanette Winterson, writing in the Guardian on the centenary of the art gallery protest, put it: “the suffragettes believed that a woman who could vote was a woman who could change the way society operated. That hasn’t happened. We are not equal.”

“It speaks volumes. As in, here in Manchester, the birthplace of the suffragettes, we are not done yet”

Jeanette Winterson is the supporter of Wonder Women, our annual series of events that runs for four weeks every March. Wonder Women looks at the feminist debate in the only way we know how: culturally. Through exhibitions, art and music, film and an annual academic conference, via after hours events in galleries, writing and debate, and taking in International Women’s Day, it is our contribution to a debate that just keeps on running.

Wonder Women returns in March 2015 and we are planning its now. It has the support of the city’s museums and galleries – in particular the People’s History Museum - but we’d like you to support it, too. It relies on clever, creative people coming up with clever, creative ideas that collectively we can make happen. And we can make great things happen: previous years have seen everything from a Pussy Riot-inspired music and art event at Manchester Art Gallery to an international conference on the suffragette movement.

Interested in taking part? Join us at our open meeting on Thursday 18 September at Gorilla to find out more. We’re holding it upstairs in the Gin Bar (appropriately we thought; mother’s ruin and all that) from 4.30pm until around 7pm. All are welcome. Feminism might be a thing right now, but it still needs fuel. Come along and help us feed the flames.  

This was also published on Creative Tourist here http://www.creativetourist.com/articles/festivals-and-events/manchester/this-is-how-manchester-does-feminism-with-deeds-not-words-with-a-month-of-art-music-more/