Brighter Sounds Partnership
I am delighted to announce that we just partnered with Brighter Sounds, who will be curating many exciting projects in our Creative Space over the coming months. Brighter Sounds are synonymous with developing and nurturing talent throughout Manchester, and now they will be doing the same for the youth of Wythenshawe. On the 22nd of March we will hosting a brand-new live night aimed at young people interested in performing or learning how to produce events. While planning is still underway, the idea is that Brighter Sounds will host workshops during the day, which will be followed by live performances from 18:00pm. Expect to see our Music Evermore students perform on the night.
The beauty of this Live Night is that it will compliment our new relationship with Brighter Sounds as we have commissioned them to run a 6-week Music production course for young people, which will make use of our performance area and music production studio. This collaboration is due in no small part to the Libraries Connected Microgrant that we received. Watch this space and see more details in next month’s blog.
Plays, Podcasting, and Performances
We held our second play on the 7th of Feb, which was a production called Dark, Beautiful, and Chaste written by the evergreen Marie Greenhalgh. This moving piece of theatre was based upon women’s real-life stories of childhood trauma. A trauma professional was available on the night for any of the audience to speak with her after the performance
In mid Feb we launched a 4 week Podcasting workshop courtesy of the excellent Vic Turnbull who runs MIC Media. These workshops have been funded by Build A Business and are catered to small business owners. At the end of the workshops, we are hoping to work with the participants so that they can use our studio to begin their podcasting journey.
On the 28th of February we hosted our very 1st Live Video Podcast with our Creative Space regulars Paul and Steve Hanley from the Fall who record Oh! Brother – Hosted by Paul and Steve Hanley in our studio. Donald Johnson of A Certain Ratio fame, was the guest for the night. Donald regaled the crowd with stories about growing up in Wythenshawe and many a reference was made about the quality of sound in The Haçienda back in the day. We managed to get Spin Klass to perform beforehand, which interestingly is Music Evermore’s very own Director; Chris Maddon. It was a fantastic night made all the more special due to the all Wythenshawe connections.
We have also been featured on Full Volume: The Manchester Libraries Podcast 2nd episode where the host Alan came out to visit and explore the variety of activities we support. I wanted to give a big shout out to the consummate professional and would be broadcaster that is Central Libraries very own Alan. To finish our flagship groups at the Creative Space; Music Evermore and Wythenshawe Youth Theatre are thriving. We will have more updates in the coming months. Similarly BLOCK Cinema is going very well which run every Thursday from 7pm. See below for a lovely little review:
Fantastic cinema experience! The Block has everything—great movies, lovely staff, and the kind of welcoming atmosphere you don’t find in big chains. – Priya.