15 November 2019
Thank you Manchester, the most inclusive city in the world!
- Amanda Sutton, Director, Venture Arts We are absolutely thrilled to announce that Venture Arts have won a Manchester Culture Award for Inspiring Innovation for our partnership ship with Castlefield Gallery and the Whitworth. This exciting partnership between Venture Arts, Castlefield Gallery and The Whitworth is a brilliant example of organisations working together to strive for excellence and equality. They have developed residencies enabling artists to make new work, worked with collections, acquired and presented work by artists from diverse backgrounds in new ways. In so doing, they have broken down barriers to the art world and opened up new dialogues about art and who it is for. Venture Arts were also nominated for Promotion of Talent and Leadership and Amber Okpa-Stother, Venture Arts’ Public Engagement Assistant, was a finalist in Promotion of Equality and Diversity. The Manchester Culture Awards celebrate the very best of Manchester’s cultural offer including the work of individuals, cultural projects and organisations, and recognise the huge contribution that the cultural sector makes to the city’s economy, making Manchester a vibrant place that people want to live in, work, and visit. Manchester is now recognised as the second largest creative city in Europe after London, making a contribution to the city’s economy of £1.4bn. We look forward to celebrating this partnership when we launch our latest project Other Transmissions: Conversations with Outsider Art at the Whitworth on the 14th of February 2020. We will be sharing more information about this soon... The judges of this year’s Manchester Cultural Awards were: Alison Clark – Director North and National Director of Combined Arts for Arts Council England; Councillor Luthfur Rahman, Executive Member for Executive Member for Skills, Culture & Leisure; Dr Ruth Bromley GP in Wythenshawe, the Lead for Ethics & Law at Manchester Medical School and Chair of Manchester Health and Care Commissioning; Rachel Roger – Director of Reform Radio; and Fiona Worrall Strategic Director Neighbourhoods Manchester City Council. Photo: Manchester City Council Pictured above are (left to right) awards host Ria Meera Munshi, Patricia Keating from UK FAST, who presented the award, Alastair Hudson, Director of The Whitworth and Manchester Art Gallery, Venture Arts Director Amanda Sutton, Castlefield Gallery Director Helen Weiwora, and host Jenny McAlpine. Read more about the events of the evening via Manchester Evening News
