Building a Bright Future

Working in the local community is an important part of day to day life at Manchester Communication Academy.  We have already set up a number of projects that will ensure all members of the community surrounding the Academy can get involved and become part of the exciting work taking place.

Manchester Communication Academy has developed two exciting community projects. Once Upon a Time will capture and showcase the history of Collyhurst and Harpurhey. Changing Places will help local schools and voluntary organisations plan and deliver new community initiatives - from buildings and community gardens to after school care.

Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time will be a living multi-media exhibition created to capture and showcase the biography of Collyhurst and Harpurhey.  Older adults will become ‘peepholes’ into this community’s rich memory and will allow us all to see, experience, celebrate and crucially to ensure that this wonderful legacy is the Academy’s starting point.

If there are any Harry Potter fans reading this, you will remember the ‘pensieve episode’ and Dumbledore’s words to Harry:

‘This memory is everything and without it we leave the fate of our world to chance’.

Initially, 30 young reporters will work with 30 older adults.  They will use various methods to gather the memories.

• They will design, issue and train the older adults to use the ‘Memory Box’.  This will contain a simple recording device (MP3), images, artefacts and question cards, so in the comfort of their own homes, in their own time, they can ‘chat and record’ their memories
• They will be trained to film interviews and will do this with individuals and groups, possibly in the context of social events organised for the purpose
• They will work with a professional photographer to gather stunning images of the traces of the participants’ memories, buildings, activities and the older adults themselves.
• They will gather a collection of precious objects, maps and models as directed by the older adults

The project will then employ a number of freelance professionals to work with the older adults and young people.  These will include a researcher, photographer, an artist, a media consultant, a poet/writer, a storyteller, music, drama and dance practitioners.  Together they will build a living exhibition.

Anybody visiting the exhibition will experience:

• Fixed exhibits:  These will all be articles that people can handle, pass round, discuss, write and think about, photograph and sketch
• Storytelling:  People visiting the exhibition will come together at programmed times to ‘overhear’ the storytellers’ thoughts, conversations, jokes or even arguments!
• Film:  This will be tailored to the venue.  Community centres, galleries, schools, libraries will be transformed as powerful moving images fill every inch of wall, ceiling and floor to tell the stories
• Performance:  Community members young and old will work with actors, musicians, historians, poets to translate the memories into compelling live performance
• Art work:  A memory album will be built by those who attend and will provide a living and dynamic backdrop to the exhibition.
• Photographs:  A gallery of faces, buildings, remnants and traces will be captured and portrayed
• Guest appearances:  Some surprises!

Changing Places

The second exciting new scheme, Changing Places, will give a number of local primary schools and voluntary sector organisations the chance to work together for a year, and with professional support, to design, fund and deliver a community project each.  Their project ideas are very exciting!  The leaders of these organisations are certainly up for the challenge of developing much needed community projects.  The project ideas include new buildings, community gardens, performances, learning opportunities for adults, support for parents, after school care and much more.  This time next year the organisations will present their successful community projects in a huge showcase event!