No More Page 3 Manchester Meet-up

No More Page 3 Manchester meet-up

Wednesday 8th Jan 2014 5.30/6pm start

The Penthouse, 5th Floor Hilton House, 26-28 Hilton Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester, M1 1EH

Anne Louise Kershaw, the Manchester campaigner for No More Page 3 would love to invite everybody to come along this Wednesday evening for a No More Page 3 brainstorm and chat.

No More Page 3 would love to raise the profile of their campaign in and around Manchester city, so if you have any ideas, are interested in the campaign, or just want to nosy in, feel free. Everyone is welcome.

The meet-up is a relaxed and very informal way to get together and brainstorm any ideas we have to get more people aware of the No More Page 3 campaign, and to get more signatures on the petition. Tea and coffee available.

If you need any further information or just want to get in touch contact: anne.kershaw@icloud.com @Anne_L_Kershaw on twitter. I really look forward to seeing you there

POLLFest at the People's History Museum

The People’s History Museum in Manchester is delighted to announce details of our exciting politics festival POLLfest. Visitors are invited to join us from Friday 15 to Thursday 21 November as we celebrate Parliament Week with a series of events, activities and unfamiliar goings on to explore this year’s theme of Women in Democracy.

Women in Democracy tour - Friday 15 November
Celebrate Parliament Week on this special tour of our main galleries celebrating women’s contribution to UK democratic life. Stick around afterwards to see unique material in the Labour History Archive & Study Centre and go behind the scenes in our archive tour.
Suitable for adults
Booking advised
Free. Donations to the museum gratefully received
1.15pm – 2.00pm, archive tour 2.00pm – 2.30pm

Our friends at the Working Class Movement Library will be holding a Women in Democracy event, highlighting the lack of women MPs which is often a complaint about parliament. With women making up over half of the population, so it goes that they should make up half of parliament. Visitors can see collections relating to those pioneering women who fought against this inequality, from the first female councillor in Eccles, to the women in the Co-operative movement, explore how women have fought for an equal say.

Women in Democracy at the Working Class Movement Library - Saturday 16 November
The lack of women MPs is a constant complaint about parliament. With women making up over half of the population, so it goes that they should make up half of parliament. On Saturday 16 November between 10.00am and 1.00pm, visitors to the Working Class Movement Library can see collections relating to those pioneering women who fought against this inequality. From the first female councillor in Eccles to the women in the Co-operative movement, come and explore how women have fought for an equal say.
Suitable for adults
Drop in event, no booking required
Free. Donations to the library gratefully received
Please note this event is at the Working Class Movement Library
10.00am – 1.00pm

Q & A with Lucy Powell MP - Saturday 16 November
Come along to hear Lucy Powell, MP for Manchester Central give her views on what it’s like to be a female MP in parliament today. In a Q & A with the museum’s Director, Katy Archer, Lucy will chart her journey from joining the Labour Party, to becoming the first ever female Labour MP in Manchester, to taking up her new role as shadow minister for childcare.
Suitable for adults
Booking required via Eventbrite – http://lucypowell.eventbrite.co.uk/
Free. Donations to the museum gratefully received
2.00pm – 2.45pm

In the evening, we are excited to be hosting Pecha Kucha Manchester.

Pecha Kucha - Saturday 16 November
Pecha Kucha Manchester is coming to the People’ s History Museum! Pecha Kucha is an informal presentation event where people are invited to talk about any subject they wish (in this case, politics) as long as they follow one simple rule – you can only use 20 slides and each have to be up for 20 seconds. This allows for quick, straight to the point presentations which both engage and educate.
Suitable for adults
Booking required via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/event/8811323907
Free. Donations to the museum gratefully received
6.00pm – 8.00pm

On Sunday 17 November we turn to the funny side of politics at our Comedy Spectacular! where we will showcase the best up and coming comedy talent. Warm up for the evening by coming along to our Politics Show Off – an open mic night with a twist!

Comedy Spectacular!
From political cartoons to Spitting Image puppets – we love the funny side of politics at the PHM. Come along to a very special night where we showcase the best up and coming comedy talent.

4.00pm Politics Show Off
Warm up for the evening by coming along to our Politics Show Off – an open mic night with a twist! Performers get seven minutes to strut their stuff before the buzzer goes off. If you’d like to sign up to perform please contact catherine.odonnell@phm.org.uk. Slots are limited so first come first served!

6.00pm Do Not Adjust Your Stage
In this very special performance, comedy troupe Do Not Adjust Your Stage will improvise scenes and stories inspired by the People’s History Museum.

7.00pm Gráinne Maguire’s One Hour All Night Election Special
Sad there’s no big election this year? Us too. Join stand up comedian, comedy writer and columnist Gráinne Maguire as she condenses all the fun of staying up late to watch democracy in process. Expect needlessly complicated graphics, politicians dancing awkwardly and humiliated grown ups trying not to cry in public. There will be Swingometers…
Suitable for adults
Booking required via Eventbrite – https://pollfestcomedy.eventbrite.co.uk/
Free. Donations to the museum gratefully received

Please visit our website to find out more about POLLfest. Follow us on twitter @PHMMcr #PHMPollFest for all the latest updates.

Women’s History Conference

November 23 2013   

10.30am – 5.00pm

Three Minute Theatre, Afflecks Arcade,     Oldham Street,  Manchester M1 1JG

£10/£5 (payable on the day)

Registration 10.00 am


Morning Session 10.30am – 1pm
Women, Politics and Music Claire Mooney  and Alice Nutter

Women as Political Activists (1)

Sonja Tiernan - Delia Larkin and Women in the 1913 Dublin Lockout

Michael Herbert – Sarah Parker Remond, Black American Anti- Slavery Lecturer

Afternoon Session 2pm – 5pm

Women as Political Activists (2)

Alan Fowler – Alice Foley: Weaver, socialist and trade unionist

Rae Street and Nick Wilding  – Enid Stacy: Socialist, Feminist,
Campaigner and Clarion Vanner

Panel Discussion on Socialism and Feminism

Speakers: Lindsey German and Louise Raw

Organised by the North West Labour History Society
More information: http://workershistory.wordpress.com

Fight for the Right Film Premiere

Friday 1 November 2013

6.00 - 8.00pm

The Library of Birmingham

Fight for the Right: the Birmingham Suffragettes is a history project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund in which female pupils from two local Birmingham schools, Kings Norton Girls’ School and Waverley School, explored different methods of protest and activism used during the Birmingham suffrage campaign.

The research was then used to create a short film about the local women who played active roles during the campaign, focusing on specific incidents that took place in the city between 1909 and 1914, including an attack on the prime minister, a protest march, vandalised paintings and hunger strikes.

To register your attendance, please visit the FaceBook page for the event.

Upcoming book signing at People's History Museum

Saturday 26 October Sylvia Pankhurst: Suffragette, Socialist and Scourge of Empire

Image Credit - Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst collection, International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam)

From militant suffragette at the beginning of the twentieth century to campaigner against colonialism in Africa after the Second World War, Sylvia Pankhurst dedicated her life to fighting oppression and injustice.

Launching a new biography of Pankhurst, the author will discuss Pankhurst’s role at the forefront of significant developments in the history of radical politics: her construction of a working-class suffragette militancy which put working-class women at the heart of the struggle; her championing of the Bolshevik Revolution; her clandestine attempts to sabotage the actions of the British state; her early identification of the dangers of Fascism; and her life-long opposition to racism and imperialism.

Katherine Connelly is a writer, historian and activist.  In 2003 she was one of the school students who led the school strikes against the Iraq war and has continued to be a trouble-maker ever since.  This year she co-ordinated the Emily Wilding Davison Memorial Campaign and participated in the Channel 4 documentary on Emily Davison presented by Clare Balding.  She is currently a PhD student at Queen Mary, University of London, where she is researching the influence of radical Parisian popular culture in the 1840s on the writings of Karl Marx.  She is a leading member of the revolutionary socialist organisation Counterfire and this is her first book.

Booking Advised.  Visit the PHM website here.

Contact the museum on 0161 838 9190 or info@phm.org.uk
Free. Donations to the museum gratefully received
2.00pm – 2.45pm (talk) 3.00pm (book signing)

Upcoming events for Manchester Pride

Loud & Clear – a Pride Fringe event for lesbian and bisexual women
Tuesday 20th August 5.30-9.30pm

Join The Lesbian & Gay Foundation for free food, free refreshments and free thinking at their Pride Fringe event for lesbian and bisexual women.

Women sometimes struggle to have their voices heard, even within the LGB&T community. ‘Loud & Clear’ will feature a panel of inspirational women, exploring the different ways that we ‘come out’ and get our voices heard, both at Pride and in the wider world. Panelists will include local vicar Rev Rachel Mann, New Statesman columnist Eleanor Margolis and Sarah Evans, founder of Art With Heart.

The event also marks the launch of ‘Can You Hear Me?’, an interactive art exhibition which allows lesbian and bisexual women who have experienced mental health issues to share their stories.

‘Loud & Clear’ is a free event – no need to book, just turn up.

Email women@lgf.org.uk or call 0845 3 30 30 30 to find out more.

Can You Hear Me?
Tuesday 20th – Sunday 25th August

The Lesbian & Gay Foundation's 'Can You Hear Me?' exhibition will run for 6 days during Manchester Pride. 'Can You Hear Me?' is all about challenging the stigma and discrimination faced by lesbian and bisexual women with a mental illness, by encouraging conversations between those who have and haven’t experienced mental health problems.

Fourteen female participants have created their very own kitchen spaces, with furniture, decorations and sound, all created by our participants in order to tell their story. Each ‘kitchen’ reflects an individual’s experience and will be the setting for conversations between the participants and members of the public.

‘Can You Hear Me?’ is a completely unique opportunity to understand and change the stigma and discrimination faced by this group of women.

The event is free and we welcome both individuals and groups to come along during the following times:

· Tuesday 20th August 5.30-9pm (exhibition launch)
· Wednesday 21st August 4-8pm
· Thursday 22nd August 4-8pm
· Friday 23rd August 4-8pm
· Saturday 24th August 12-8pm
· Sunday 25th August 12-8pm

For more information, call us on 0845 3 30 30 30, email women@lgf.org.uk or visit www.lgf.org.uk/canyouhearme

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/

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 PapersFrom 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/

Blog: http://wonderwomenmcr.blogspot.co.uk/

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/

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