It’s a disappointing start to the year for Manchester. As chief executive Vaughan Allen tweeted recently, it’s sad that the Urbis is closing at the end of a decade when it was supposed to be a millenium project.

So to commemorate its eight years of groundbreaking popular culture exhibitions, the team are putting together one last exhibition. So can you put your hands together for Urbis has left the building: six years of the best exhibitions in pop culture.

Vaughan Allen, chief executive of Urbis since 2005, said: “No other gallery space has provided popular culture with a serious platform in the way that we have, with a genuine passion that made us unique, consistently giving credibility and backing to subjects that most galleries and museums would overlook. I am very proud that in such short period we have earned a global reputation for our work.”

And he’s right. As I’ve previously mentioned, I don’t know of any other venue that delves into our popular and urban culture in the same way that Urbis has. It is said that there will still be space for Urbis exhibitions in among all those stinky old football t-shirts, but obviously it just won’t be the same. It goes without saying that this is a massive backwards step for the arts and culture in Manchester, and also takes away one of Preston’s popular attractions.

The last exhibition will be a retrospective with five sections: international artists; design, fashion and architecture; Manchester’s creative community, music culture and family shows.

The exhibition will be on from January 21 – February 27.
Urbis is open daily 10am-6pm
Entry to Urbis is free
Urbis, Cathedral Gardens, Manchester, M4 3BG
Tel: 0161 605 8200 www.urbis.org.uk

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Our beloved Urbis is due to incorporate Preston’s Football Museum and will be closing on February 27, 2010.

Go and check out its Homegrown exhibition, while it’s still there. This is a fascinating look at the UK hip hop scene, and is interesting regardless of what music you listen to.

See the promo film here: Urbis Homegrown video

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I meant to give Creative Tourist a mention when it launched back in July, but I didn’t get round to it. I should have pretended I needed to read it for over a couple of months to really absorb what it was all about. But really I just forgot.

But I’ve been enjoying the latest issue over a cuppa throughout the last week. Creative Tourist is a joint project between nine museums and galleries in Manchester, as well as the North West Regional Development Agency, Renaissance in the Regions and Visit Manchester. It’s a mighty fine idea to create a joint cultural guide to the city with guest posts from bloggers.

The project is edited by Susie Stubbs, who has worked with most of the museums in arts and cultural sector for 12 years and who also writes Travels With My Baby.

Being a foodie kind of gal, I enjoyed reading Simon Webbon’s guide to museum cafes – surely the reason we go to galleries? Although a trip to the gift shop at the end has to be my favourite (I say with only a little sarcasm).

It’s inspiring to read about all the good stuff happening in Manchester, and a bit of history to give it all context. Manchester Museums Consortium seems to be working together for a united front to showcase our super city to the rest of the world – I bet other cities wish they’d thought of it first.

www.creativetourist.com

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Did you know staff at Urbis were such a creative bunch? No, I didn’t either, but a new website has just been launched to showcase the collective creativity of Urbis staff in their outside-work projects.

Encouraging creativity and out-of-work interests is a fantastic idea, and of course it promotes Urbis itself because it is supposed to be a forward-thinking hub of creativity and new thinking.

Have a look at the website www.urbiscreatives.org, which was launched last night with a party (which I wasn’t at but it sounds great). The evening showcased the varied creative talents with original artwork as well as live music, DJ sets and burlesque.

The site tells you a bit about each staff member and their outside talents, which include a freelance community musician, film installation, photography, and of course art.

I’m looking forward to seeing what other work and ideas come from this collective in the future.

MORE INFO
www.urbiscreatives.org
E: urbiscreatives at urbis.org.uk

(Image take from the Urbis website)

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Organised by Urbis, the Best Of Manchester awards launched in 2007 and do a marvellous job in rewarding creativity and innovation in this great city of ours. And there are now just 10 weeks to drum up as many applicants as possible.
Manchester has always been noted for creativity in its people, so it’s important to encourage and develop this as much as we can.

There’s a fine set of judges this year, which includes among others: Peter Saville; Wayne Hemingway; Turner prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller; Tim Marlow (White Cube, London); journalist Miranda Sawyer; Yvette Livesey from In The City and Luke Bainbridge, from Observer Music Monthly and former City Life editor.
The press release says the categories have been left deliberately broad to include as many people as possible.

For example, the art category includes graphic design, photography, installations, illustration and fine art. The winner will get a cheque for £2,000 and the chance to be involved in a major exhibition at Urbis, which is a pretty good way to kickstart a career.
The awards are open for entry until midnight on May 1, 2009, and is open to anyone who lives or works in Greater Manchester. Entry is online, at www.urbis.org.uk/thebestofmanchester.
Also look at the Best of Manchester blog for the latest updates.

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I haven’t been to the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester since I was about 11 and my, has it changed! The big shed full of places and engines is still there, but now there are four buildings in total full to the brim of exhibitions.

Since then it has also undergone some re-branding and transformed into the Museum of Science and Industry – but shortened to MOSI. There was something about the long original version that sounded British, Northern and down to earth. I have to admit that MOSI sounds all American, and well a bit posey (or should that be POSI, haha?). But I am a busy girl, and who has time to say Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester – MOSI will do me fine.

In the spirit of this blog, the important thing is that it’s FREE! And good value for (no) money it is too. The site of the museum used to be Liverpool Road Station, one the oldest passenger railways in the world. According to the lazy Googler’s bible, Wikipedia, the station opened in 1830, and was a passenger railway for just 14 years when it was used for industry for goods coming in from Liverpool before closed down in 1975.

We were there for about two hours but still only saw three of the buildings – and then I was all museum-ed out and thinking about cocktails. I don’t think that anyone could possibly see all the exhibitions in one day – so I wouldn’t recommend trying to do so.

We started in the Air and Space Shed, which was full of planes, cars and engines. Moving on to the next building, we saw an exhibition about cotton and the part it played in Manchester’s development. This history is really important to remember, and is always fascinating to me to find out how people lived.

My house was built in 1891, and I’d love to see how it was then and who lived there. I think my life is hard now because I can’t afford loads of things, but people then really did have tough lives. Can you even imagine having to walk to the end of the street to go to the toilet – yuk!

Moving onto the 1860 Warehouse, we saw Underground Manchester, which was all about the Victorian sewer system, and included descriptions of how people pooed and weed in the olden days – great for kids.

Upstairs there was another exhibition called Little Italy which I’ve read about and was looking forward to seeing. Ancoats used to be known as Little Italy because of the large influx of Italian immigrants from the mid-1800s. With them they brought their ice-cream making experience, where some families still make ice cream today. Think they should bring some samples in for visitors though!

MOSI was a fun day out, and was full of people of all ages – so if you’ve not been since you were a kid, give it a go.

WHERE: Liverpool Road, Castlefield Manchester M3 4FP
WHEN:MOSI is open seven days a week from 10am-5pm.
HOW: Entry to the permanent galleries is free.
www.msim.org.uk

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