The three-day residential to the North-west region enabled the SOCL cohort to visit and explore a diverse range of Heritage Institutions in a region outside London.
Each of the venues – Whitworth Art Gallery, IWM North, The Hepworth Wakefield, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Manchester Art Gallery, HOME and The Portico Library, offered the trainees unique insights into their organisations and shared their approaches to connecting with communities, working with artists and developing local audiences. In addition to guided tours, the cohort met a variety of museum sector experts and professionals; specifically curators, public programme directors and education officers, with whom they discussed individual projects and exhibitions. Following the residential each trainee was asked to write a focused descriptive report about the trip and the venue they found most compelling.
SOCL Trainees in the Northern Quarter, Manchester
Imperial War Museum North
Portico Library, Manchester. Talk and Tour of the library and temporary exhibition with James Moss, Gallery & Exhibitions Organiser.
HOME, centre for international contemporary art, theatre and film. Behind the scene tour with Sarah Perks, Artistic Director: Visual Art and Rosie Stuart, Young People’s Programme Producer.
Talk and Q&A with Jason Wood, Artistic Director: Film (HOME) and Karen Alexander, Curator of Programmes (Culture&).
Career Development Workshops led by Karen Alexander, Curator of Programmes and Jenny Wedgbury, Assessor. Sessions covered included: Funding, CV and Interview workshop, Rights-focused Approaches to Arts Participation and Self-Assessment of Career Values and Needs.
Ed Watts, Engagement Manager at Whitworth Art Gallery, discusses new engagement projects including A Handbook for Cultural Engagement with Older Men and ‘Beyond Dementia’, Collection Centre exhibition.
Exploring ‘Beyond Dementia’, Collection Centre exhibition at Whitworth Art Gallery, curated by the Fabulous Forgetful Friends, a group of people living with a diagnosis of dementia based in the Manchester area.
Whitworth Art Gallery Sculpture Garden
Manchester Art Gallery, Thursday late visit to South Asian Design exhibition.
Yorkshire Sculpture Park
The Hepworth Wakefield, tour on Barbara Hepworth and the development of the art museum.
