We’re pleased to announce a host of creative events from across Manchester Met’s Faculty of Arts and Humanities in the programme for the award-winning Manchester Histories Festival, returning this year for its ninth edition.
A free four-day festival packed with public events, Manchester Histories Festival runs from 6 – 9 June 2024. The programme includes four new music world premieres, walk-about performances, family crafts workshops, live music, comedy, and public talks.
Manchester Met events include IS WAS, a brand new international storytelling festival from Manchester Poetry Library, featuring students’ and artists’ work inspired by Manchester Met’s 200th anniversary; Intangible Sounds, a day of talks, workshops and live music from the School of Digital Arts (SODA); and Manchester Metropolitan on Film, a screening of curated footage from North West Film Archive showing Manchester Met through the 20th century.
Event Details
It Started with a Seed International Storytelling Festival (IS WAS): Manchester Histories
Fri 7 Jun 2024
6:00pm – 9:00pm
Manchester Central Library
The It Started with a Seed International Storytelling Festival (IS WAS) is a public festival that celebrates the art of storytelling in all its forms. We centre people and community first in our advocacy for storytelling and aim to push the boundaries of storytelling and the people who tell them.
Commissioned artists and students from Manchester Metropolitan University will take the stage, to unleash a wave of creativity that celebrates the 200th anniversary of Manchester Met and promises to be nothing short of extraordinary.
IS WAS is a partnership between Manchester Met’s Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Manchester Poetry Library and Manchester Histories.
Artists presenting work include:
Mila Januszova: Dive into urban resilience with a mesmerizing 3-minute filmpoem, exploring themes of belonging and identity inspired by the Sylvia Pankhurst Gender Research and Pankhurst Centre.
Josef Minta: Join this artist, poet, and workshop facilitator from Bury in exploring the history of Man Met in three interlinking poems. Josef will host a public workshop and guided walk around the Manchester Met campus as part of the project on 28 May.
Anita Ngai: Through poetry and soundscapes, Anita will tell the stories of the first Chinese (or East Asian) students of Manchester Met, their journey coming and leaving here, as well as their lives as members of the school, of Manchester’s Chinese community and of the city as a whole.
Quen Took: Engage in “Here, I Am Whole,” a multi-disciplinary project amplifying the voices and experiences of disabled staff, students, and alumni at MMU, celebrating the rich history of disability activism, politics, and art in Manchester.
Tolulope Ami Williams: Experience “Planted Not Buried,” an immersive performance installation celebrating Manchester’s diverse legacy and breaking barriers of race, gender, culture, and class. Tolupe will host a public workshop as part of the project on 24 May.
Intangible Sounds: Manchester Histories Festival
Sat 8 Jun 2024
9:30am-22:30
The School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University / HOME
Researchers from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Manchester Met present a day of public talks and workshops on music and sound heritages, followed by a night time music and performance event. Both the daytime activities and the evening gig will explore how music, sound and sonic experiences constantly interweave with both time and place: creating emotions, evoking memories and bonding us into many different kinds of community.
The day sessions will examine topics including Alternative Voices, 40 Years of the Manchester Studies Oral History Collection, Paranormal Manchester and Intangible Heritage in Place.
Following the dsessions at SODA, join us in the events space at HOME for an evening of performance linked to our themes, presented by the DⱯRK Research Group and the Music and Sonic Studies Research group (MASS) at Manchester Metropolitan University. The evening performance will showcase the soundscapes and research-influenced music being created by PhD students and staff.
Intangible Sounds is a joint event between The School of Digital Arts (SODA), the Contemporary Intimacies, Genders and Sexualities (CIGS) Research Group, Manchester Centre for Public History and Heritage (MCPHH), Heritage Impact Network and Manchester Histories Festival.
Manchester Metropolitan on Film: Manchester Histories
Visit to an Art School
Sun 09 Jun 2024
12:00-13:00
Manchester Central Library
A curated film from North West Film Archive featuring examples from its collection made by, in or about Manchester Metropolitan Polytechnic and Manchester Met through the 20th century, as part of Manchester Histories Festival 2024.
The screening features footage of Manchester School of Art in 1930, student productions from the 1970s with a Manchester theme, royal visits, local TV news items and promotional films.
Presented by Will McTaggart, Access and Engagement Officer from North West Film Archive.
To keep up to date with the latest creative events from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, check out our events listings and sign up for our mailing list.
