Manchester Jewish Museum

Creative Activists

Using ART, CREATIVE WRITING AND PERFORMANCE TO UNCOVER HIDDEN HOLOCAUST STORIES

Join our exciting Creative Activists project and help us develop an original performance for Holocaust Memorial Day 2023. It’s a great opportunity to meet new people, work with professional artists and learn new skills, whilst exploring lesser-heard stories from the museum collection.

We are exploring how the Holocaust continues to affect people today, and the different ways in which people remember, whether it’s through writing, baking, performance, or textiles.

Here is a video that the Creative Activists have done last year for Holocaust Memorial Day 2022:

We are now looking for new people to join the project as we work towards a special performance for HMD 2023.

The meetings are informal, with tea, coffee and a welcoming, relaxed atmosphere. No previous experience necessary, we are looking for enthusiastic people, aged 16-30, who can commit to two or more sessions at the museum.

If you’d like to know more about the project please e-mail dara@manchesterjewishmuseum.com

Here is what we’ve planned:

Wednesday, 14/09/2022, 4pm-6pm
Introduction to the project, and workshop with artist Len Grant, exploring telling stories through photography

Wednesday 28/09/2022, 4pm-6pm
A creative writing/visual arts workshop with MJM curator, Alex Cropper, exploring the stories in the museum’s collection

Sunday 2/10/2022, 11am-3pm
Story collection workshop, using interview techniques to find lesser heard stories

Wednesday 12/10/2022, 4pm-6pm
Creative writing workshop with artist Becky Prestwich

Monday 24/10/2022, 4pm-6pm
An artist-led workshop exploring telling stories through textiles

Wednesday, 2/11/2022, 4pm-6pm
Early run-through of script, testing staging and setting

Sunday 13/11/2022, 11am-3pm
Zine workshop to create a zine-style brochure to be distributed at the final event in January, including stories and original work

Wednesday 23/11/2022, 4pm-6pm
Performance rehearsal & set, costume, and music creation

Sunday 11/12/2022, 11am-3pm
Wednesday 04/01/2023, 4pm-6pm
Wednesday 11/02/2023, 4pm-6pm
Wednesday 18/01/2023, 4pm-6pm
Wednesday 25/01/2023, 4pm-6pm
Rehearsals for the final event

Thursday – Sunday 26-29/01/2023
Holocaust Memorial Day 2023 – final event

PROGRAMME

Creative Activists: Gathering stories and interview practices

This September we are resuming our Creative Activists project and are looking for enthusiastic, creative people, aged 16-30 to join us and work with us towards a special event for Holocaust Memorial Day 2023. During our third session this autumn we will be talking to some people with connections to stories in the museum collection. This will be a perfect chance for the group to try some interview techniques for gathering oral histories, and for to talk about how we want to share different stories at the Holocaust Memorial Day event in January. It will be a relaxed and informal session with hopefully a lot of nice chatting! 

Creative Activists: Creative writing with Becky Prestwich

During our fourth session this autumn we will be working on creating some written content for the final performance during Holocaust Memorial Day. There will be a lot of creating writing activities, which will involve looking at how to creatively respond to the stories from our collection. 

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