Wonder Women festival launched – from suffragettes to women’s football
| 2nd March 2018
A unique collaboration between feminist queer collective Moist; sound artists Lauren Palmer and Amy Horgan and transgender performer Grace Oni Smith launched the Wonder Women Festival 1-31 March 2018.
The feminist takeover, in the atrium of Manchester Art Gallery, was inspired by the radical Manchester-born artist and feminist campaigner, Annie Swynnerton (1844–1933).
In celebration of the current Annie Swynnerton exhibition, Instigate Arts invited some of Manchester and Salford’s feminist queer creatives to present themselves on their own terms – see video above.
8 MARCH: Suffragette – Charity Screening.
Join us to commemorate the incredible suffragette women 100 years after they fought for, and won, the vote for women in the UK, just yards away from 62 Nelson Street where the first meetings took place. Book: https://t.co/SHrtxllAyD pic.twitter.com/9k7e4cFhKf
— the Whitworth (@WhitworthArt) February 16, 2018
Anne Louise Kershaw, of Instigate Arts, said: “Women have equal vote but we are still a long, long way off having equal shares in culture, in society, in the world. Even in terms of our own history and narrative because it is so often told for us or painted for us.”
Helen Antrobus, programme and events officer at People’s History Museum, said: “The Wonder Women Festival was conceived to lead up to this centenary year. That’s the reason why we started it and why we’ve had it for the last five years. It has had a massive impact on celebrating hidden women in Manchester.
“The programme this year is incredible in getting those voices out. Even though we are going to see a statue of Emmeline Pankhurst this year and we have been talking so much about suffragettes, who championed the women of Manchester, what the Wonder Women Festival does so fell is show thousands and thousands of other women across Manchester who are radical as well.”
Coming up in #March! Two very exciting shows in unusual places – #ContactYoungCo perform #SheBangsTheDrums at @msimanchester https://t.co/dxBbefVLDn
& @Ranirasatheatre take over @alankarsarees with #Handlooms https://t.co/ifGQqghraZ#ContactInTheCity pic.twitter.com/xEAK5tq6uy— Contact, Manchester (@ContactMcr) March 1, 2018
As well as the People’s History Museum, venues include the Contact Theatre, the Working Class Movement Library, the Museum of Science and Industry, Castlefield Gallery, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, The Whitworth art gallery and Manchester Museum.
Events during the Wonder Women Festival include Upfront and Onside: The Women’s Football Conference on 8-9 March; and Unlocking the Hidden History of Women’s Football at the National Football Museum on Monday 19 March, click on video below for more details.
Watched our #HiddenHistory interview with @ManCityWomen and @Lionesses star @JillScottJS8 yet? Learn more about her inspirations, playing career and the future of the women's game here >> https://t.co/nHH0ir5rbB
— NFM Learning (@NFM_learn) February 21, 2018
Exhibitions include Lost Voices at Quarry Bank, Styal Rd, Styal, Wilmslow SK9 4LA, is suitable for all ages and is free admission – until Sunday 7 October 2018 10.30am-4.30pm.
For more details on Wonder Women Festival 1-31 March visit: creativetourist.com/event/wonder-women
NEW: A powerful exhibition @QuarryBankNT recaptures the lost voices of the many women who were still denied the vote after the passing of the Representation of the People Act in 1918. Explore as part of @WonderWomenMcr 2018 https://t.co/8XdCsekLYf pic.twitter.com/DX7i4u5sKw
— creativetourist.com (@creativetourist) February 20, 2018
To celebrate the start of Women’s History Month and @WonderWomenMcr Festival, we have compiled a list of must see visual arts events and exhibitions happening throughout March: https://t.co/lvI78vaJ88 #WonderWomen #WomensHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/bAy2Hct2NK
— Castlefield Gallery (@CastlefieldGall) March 1, 2018