Her Hidden Histories visit the People’s History Museum

Posted on March 29, 2018 by enjoyarts

Our Her Hidden Histories groups had a fantastic time visiting the People’s History Museum on Monday afternoon. Young women from Cedar Mount Academy and Newall Green High School came together for the first time in this phase of the project to gather inspiration for their upcoming performances at Victoria Baths in May. The performances will explore the role of everyday working women in the struggle for the vote and the groups came away buzzing with ideas!

Now we’re gearing up for more visits and creative workshops in the Easter Holidays: we’ll be heading to the Pankhurst Centre and the Working Class Movement Library as well as trying our hand at some music and dance. We can’t wait!

Her Hidden Histories – Centenary Celebration

Posted on February 6, 2018 by enjoyarts

As today marks 100 years since the first UK women were granted the right to vote, it’s about time for an update on our Her Hidden Histories project!

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Last summer saw two groups of young women, from Wythenshawe and Gorton, create some fantastic performances at both the Museum of Transport and the Greater Manchester Police Museum. ‘In the Driving Seat’ told stories of the first women to work on trams and buses, largely owing to the absence of men during the First World War. ‘Top of the Bill’ explored experiences of the first women in policing during a similar period, many of whom had also been on the other side of the law as suffragettes. Both performances enjoyed a rousing inter-generational musical finale, thanks to our fantastic Herizons group!

This year, we are bringing both groups of young women together to create another ambitious performance at the stunning Victoria Baths. ‘Turning Tides: First in the Fight’ will weave together the stories uncovered in the previous two performances and celebrate the role of everyday women in the struggle for suffrage. Exact times are yet to be confirmed but there will be 3 chances to catch this exciting new piece, with an evening performance on Thursday 31st May and both a matinee and evening performance on Friday 1st June.

Watch this space for more details!

Merry Christmas from enJOY arts!

Posted on December 15, 2017 by enjoyarts

Tis the season to be jolly & joyous! And so, time for another festive round up of the year from enJOY HQ…

The year began with young people from our projects in Monsall and Wythenshawe making fantastic progress and completing their Arts Awards. In Wythenshawe, those working towards their Silver Arts Award hosted a very successful event for the junior youth group where they presented their own interactive drama piece on the theme of decision-making.

In March, our newly established Herizons Creative Women’s Group (comprised of Gaskell: The Musical! alumni, plus some fab new faces) were honoured to open the Manchester City Council International Women’s Day Event at the Town Hall, with a rousing rendition of ‘Let the Women Rise’. Also in the spring, we began working on our flagship young women’s creative heritage project, Her Hidden Histories, by running training workshops for volunteers at the Museum of Transport and Greater Manchester Police Museum. We worked with young women from Wythenshawe and Gorton to create special performances at each of these venues in June and July, inspired by true stories of the first women to work in both transport and policing. The performances, aptly named In the Driving Seat and Top of the Bill , were both very well-received and featured a musical cameo by Herizons in their finales.

The Herizons group were fresh from their own performance of Strong Manchester Women – a series of inspirational songs and sketches regaling the audience with tales of local women, from Peterloo’s Mary Fildes to Moss Side’s Louise Da Cocodia, and performed at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House in May.

We’ve continued to work in partnership with Elizabeth Gaskell’s House on education and outreach projects throughout the year and we supported young people from Cedar Mount Academy to create their own short film, going Through the Keyhole and delving into the goings on of the House when the Gaskell family lived here.

In September, Herizons performed at National Trust’s Lyme Hall, as part of the Live at Lyme festival of new performance works at this incredible historic venue. Their piece, Legends of Lyme, explored the untold stories of women from Lyme’s Regency Era -complete with harpsichord accompaniment by the wonderful Claire Mooney! Also in September we had a fantastic event to celebrate the hard work of the young women on our Her Hidden Histories project, bringing both groups together for the first time before they all work together on a big performance at Victoria Baths next year. The evening was full of fun and laughter as the young women watched films of each other’s performances, before posing for selfies together in a way that only teenage girls can.

The rest of the autumn was spent working towards Takeover Days at each of the Her Hidden Histories venues. Our Gorton group did a fantastic job taking over the Greater Manchester Police Museum as creative tour guides in November and the Wythenshawe group will be delivering theirs at the Museum of Transport in January.

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Lots of exciting things are afoot for 2018, with planned performances to celebrate the centenary of the first women getting the right to vote, 70 years of the NHS and the friendship of Elizabeth Gaskell & Charlotte Bronte to name a few – watch this space as our plans develop!

In the meantime, we’d like to say a massive thank you to our funders and partners this year, without whom none of our work would be possible: Elizabeth Gaskell’s House, Claire Mooney, Wythenshawe Community Housing Group, Newall Green High School, Manchester Young Lives, Cedar Mount Academy, the Museum of Transport, Greater Manchester Police Museum, Victoria Baths, TLM Centre, Waterside, Creative Industries Trafford, Trust New Art, National Trust, Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England, Granada Foundation, One Manchester, Comic Relief Communities Fund, Places for People and our wonderful advisory board.

Wishing you all a JOYful festive season and we’ll see you in 2018!

In the Driving Seat – young women set to perform at Museum of Transport

Posted on May 15, 2017 by enjoyarts

Less than 3 weeks to go until our ‘In the Driving Seat’ performances by young women at the Museum of Transport! We can’t wait to share what the group has been creating and the good news is you have two opportunities to join in the fun! Please call or email us for FREE tickets (details on the flyer below) and be speedy as spaces are limited!

In the Driving Seat Flyer

In the Driving Seat Flyer Reverse

These performances are part of our ‘Her Hidden Histories’ project, working to creatively engage young women and other new audiences with small heritage venues across Manchester. More news soon on our next performance at the Greater Manchester Police Museum!

Her Hidden Histories

Posted on February 7, 2017 by enjoyarts

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We’re delighted to announce our new young women’s project: Her Hidden Histories!

Over the next 2 years, we’ll be working with young women from Wythenshawe and Ardwick to uncover and celebrate stories of everyday Manchester women, creating 3 brand new site-specific performances at small heritage venues across the city.

In the first phase of the project, spring/summer 2017, we’ll be teaming up with the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester (Wythenshawe group) and the Greater Manchester Police Museum (Ardwick group), creating site-specific performances at both venues. Incorporating music, drama & dance, these performances will be inspired by hidden histories of women in the typically male-dominated industries of policing and transport in the early 20^th Century. Each group will then work towards a Takeover Day at their venue in autumn 2017 where they will become creative tour guides, devising methods to engage other young people and the general public with each place, based on what inspires and excites them.

The second phase of the project in 2018 will bring the two groups together to create a larger scale performance at Victoria Baths. This will build upon elements of each previous piece and coincide with the centenary of the first women being granted the vote in summer 2018. Throughout the project, the young women will preside over the development of an interactive online resource in collaboration with Digital Women’s Archive North (DWAN) & MadLab. The project will conclude with the launch of the digital archive in December 2018.

We’re incredibly grateful to Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England and The Granada Foundation for supporting this project – and we can’t wait to get started!

Our award winning young women’s heritage project!

Posted on March 14, 2016 by enjoyarts

We’re absolutely delighted to announce that Tales of Manchester Life, the young women’s creative heritage project we delivered last year, won a Manchester Community Histories Award on Friday!

It was fantastic to bring the young women who took part to a great event at the Town Hall, organised by Manchester Histories. Here, we got to find out about all sorts of wonderful projects and the incredible people who run them, including Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People, PANDA, RECLAIM and WOWzone. Jorge, Tammin & Tyra from our project spoke confidently in front of a large audience and all the young women were thrilled to be presented their award by the lovely former Coronation Street actor Julie Hesmondhalgh!

We are so proud of all the young women involved and very grateful to Manchester Histories for this honour. We’d also like to thank our project partners, Elizabeth Gaskell’s House, Tandem Theatre, Wythenshawe Community Housing Group and Salford Youth Service and the project’s funders, Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England and Community First.

We’re looking forward to developing more creative heritage projects with these young women and others in future – watch this space!

Taking Over Elizabeth Gaskell’s House

Posted on November 27, 2015 by enjoyarts

Sunday 22nd November was an exciting day in Elizabeth Gaskell’s House as a group of young women took over the House as volunteers and tour guides!

Members of the group had been working together following the success of their ‘Tales of Manchester Life’ performance at the House back in May. This time they learned about the roles of the people who work at the House and used their heritage knowledge and creative skills to devise some fun activities for visitors to take part in. They even got back into full Victorian costume and took members of the public on their own unique and interactive tour!

The young women did a fantastic job sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm, interacting with visitors and thinking on their feet. Elizabeth Gaskell’s House was abuzz with excitement and laughter all day and there was some lovely feedback from members of the public:

‘Ladies, I so enjoyed your enthusiasm – it really made my visit special and I came all the way from Canada!’

‘Thanks for a very interesting Sunday afternoon. Well done, your research and acting was very good. Hooray for all the girls!’

‘You made my day! Do more like this!’

This event was organised as part of National Takeover Day, specifically as part of Kids in Museums Takeover Day, and made possible by funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

We are incredibly proud of all the young women who took part and we’re looking forward to working with them and others on more exciting projects in the new year… watch this space!

Making Creative Connections at our Training & Networking Event

Posted on July 21, 2015 by enjoyarts

We had a fantastic time delivering a training & networking event with our friends at Tandem Theatre last week. We were pleased to be back at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House, sharing our learning from the Tales of Manchester Life project with professionals from the youth, arts and heritage sectors. It was great to be in a room filled with such creativity, positivity and a real spirit of teamwork as people made new connections and formed new ideas for future projects. We discussed the challenges and benefits of forming partnerships to deliver creative heritage projects with young people as well as getting stuck into some fun creative activities! Thanks again to everyone that attended and we look forward to hopefully working with you all in the future…

Tales of Manchester Life Celebration Event and Short Film

Posted on June 19, 2015 by enjoyarts

We had a fantastic time returning to Elizabeth Gaskell’s House to celebrate the achievements of the young women involved in our Tales of Manchester Life project last night!

All of the young women earned their Bronze Arts Award as part of the project and were given individual medals and certificate packs. We were also pleased to be able to present each young woman with a framed professional photo of themselves taking part in the project as a special keepsake. The young women and their guests – including proud parents, teachers and youthworkers – took their seats for the film premiere of their ‘Gaskell, Interrupted’ performance before enjoying a lovely celebratory buffet. We’d like to say another huge well done to all the participants and a big thank you to everyone who worked so hard on the project!

Here are a few photos of the night:

We couldn’t leave you without a taster, so check out a short Behind the Scenes film about the project here:

And, if is this has left you wanting to know more, we’re running a special training and networking event inspired by the project for youthwork and heritage professionals on Thursday 16th July. The event will take place back at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House (our new home from home!) and you can get tickets here.

Tales of Manchester Life: ‘Gaskell, Interrupted’ Performance

Posted on June 2, 2015 by enjoyarts

15 young women from our Tales of Manchester Life project took over Elizabeth Gaskell’s House in 3 fantastic performances last week! The final piece was called ‘Gaskell, Interrupted’ and encouraged the audience to imagine the different ways in which Elizabeth Gaskell might have found herself interrupted not only by the demands of daily life but by her desire to give voice to those most in need.

The young women worked incredibly hard to develop an extremely slick promenade performance which led the audience through the different rooms of the house and showcased both dramatic scenes and original music created by the groups.

We couldn’t be prouder of everyone involved and look forward to celebrating the young women’s achievements at our project celebration event at the house in a couple of weeks’ time!

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