A new public art trail from the team behind the hugely popular Bee in the City is coming to Manchester this month.
Soon enough, Mancs will start spotting gigantic heads across the region, in a new project created to promote mental health awareness and wellbeing.
Wild in Art are behind the latest art trail – they were also the creator of the huge colourful bees that took over the city back in 2018 – working alongside creative studio and multidisciplinary arts collective We are Willow.
Six Places In A Different Light will see six huge head sculptures installed at local landmarks, including Mayfield Park, Greengate Square, the University of Salford’s Peel Park Campus, outside the Imperial War Museum North, and MediaCityUK.
Each head will be uniquely decorated by illustrator and community artist Kelly Ma, illustrator Tom J Newell and painter Ekun Richard, who will work with mental health participants to generate inspiration.
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Each sculpture will respond to We Are Willow’s specially written 12 track album of music and spoken word.
Taking place between 30 October and 11 December, the aim of Six Places In A Different Light is to encourage conversation around mental health.
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The giant head sculptures are at Mayfield Park in Manchester ready for artists to turn them into a public art trail. Credit: Simon Pantling | We Are Willow
The new public art trail is being funded by the Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership, Salford City Council, The University of Salford, LandsecU+I and Arts Council England.
‘A Different Light’ is a project that has been creatively evolving since its inception in 2016. The work originally featured four films, an album of music and spoken word and an edition of 300 bespoke mini head sculptures.
The project also works with three different charities:
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Manchester Mind, is an independent charity, affiliated to national Mind, who have been delivering local mental health services for over 30 years. Last year over 7500 adults and young people received support, information and/or training from Manchester Mind. Their aim is to make it easier for people to ask for help.
START, a charity that has been delivering mental health and wellbeing services in Salford for over 30 years; the organisation uses creativity, connection and recovery interventions to help improve people’s lives.
The Jamie Horrocks Trust, which was established to help prevent suicide through early community engagement whilst working with and supporting those who have lived experience of losing someone to suicide.
The giant head sculpture trail comes from the team behind Bee in the City. Credit: Simon Pantling | We Are Willow
Chris Butler, co-founder and creative lead for WE ARE WILLOW, said: “The opportunity to collaborate with Wild in Art and three inspirational charities, to promote the crucial work they deliver across Greater Manchester through creativity is extremely exciting.
“The previous projects we have produced have raised awareness, but we can always do more. We can make it count for more, bring more people with us and, with collaboration as our guiding light, make a bigger difference.”
The giant head sculptures arrived at Mayfield Park this week where they will remain in a dedicated painting space until they are installed in their locations across Greater Manchester.
Laura Percy, development director for Mayfield, LandsecU+I, comments: “Mayfield is delighted to support ‘Six Places In A Different Light’. This sculpture trail encouraging people to talk about their mental health is a wonderful idea, and where better for this to happen than the city’s newest park, a place for peaceful reflection.
“The blend of culture and nature is integral to Mayfield, and we look forward to welcoming many more visitors to the park over the next few months.
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“This initiative, together with the recreation of the iconic Ian Curtis mural at the Star & Garter to support World Suicide Prevention Day in September, underlines our deep and lasting commitment to using our spaces to inspire, educate and support our city.”
Selfridges Manchester to host an out-of-hours dinner in the middle of the shop floor, plus the city’s chicest book club
Daisy Jackson
Selfridges will be hosting a series of exclusive events in the coming weeks, including a supper club in the middle of a shop floor, and an evening with the city’s chicest book club.
Up first, on Thursday 23 April, Selfridges Exchange will welcome acclaimed local supper club A-Kin for an exclusive dining experience on the menswear shop floor.
Guests will enjoy a five-course menu inside the luxury department store, long after the doors have closed.
You’ll be tucking into dishes like short rib doughnut with horseradish cream, breadcrumbs and chives; bone-in ribeye with cafe de Paris butter and shoestring fries; and a tarta de Santiago.
A-Kin will be bringing together like-minded guests for an evening of exceptional food, music, and style, fittingly in the surrounds of Selfridges Exchange’s menswear department.
Club Culture is Selfridges’ take on what’s bringing people together, now, building on the new movement of hobby-led and community-centric social gatherings and clubs.
But Selfridges has always had its roots as a social space – when the London store first opened in 1909, founder Harry Gordon Selfridge opened a Journalist’s Club with a room equipped with typewriters, telephones and a bar, later hosting an All-Girl Gun Club on the roof in the 1920s and 1930s; and even later, hosting screenings with Club Cine.
Run clubs, a comedy club, boxing club and nightclub have all featured as part of Selfridges creative programming in recent years – and now, a book club and supper club.
Selfridges customers can collect keys for attending Club Culture events and experiences, as part of its membership programme, Selfridges Unlocked. Customers join and collect keys by shopping and spending time at Selfridges to unlock perks at every level.
The Akin Supper Club has now sold out, but you can still book tickets for The Read Room HERE.
Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum announces FREE programme of space-themed activities
Emily Sergeant
National Space Day is coming up, and you can celebrate with a bunch of free space-inspired activities in Manchester this bank holiday.
Ever wondered what astronauts eat in orbit? How they use the loo in zero gravity? Or why crumbs are bad news on the International Space Station? Well, to celebrate National Space Day – which is taking place this year on Friday 1 May – you’ll now get to discover the answers to those questions and so much more down at the Science and Industry Museum early next month.
The popular Manchester city centre-based museum has unveiled a programme of free ‘out-of-this-world’ events and activities this upcoming May bank holiday weekend.
The programme of free events are set to accompany the museum’s latest special exhibition, Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos – which you do have to pay for – and will give visitors more ways to explore the ‘wonders and weirdness’ of space.
The Science and Industry Museum has announced a free programme of space-themed activities / Credit: Drew Forsyth / Science Museum Group
Launching on National Space Day (Friday 1 May) and running through to Monday 4 May, the special bank holiday weekend programme is especially timely following the recent return of Artemis II astronauts from their history-making mission around the moon.
Families can get a taste of space during new live shows by sampling real foods used to feed astronauts, and discover more about how humans live and work beyond Earth, while budding space explorers put their skills to the test in interactive activities designed to ‘spark curiosity’ and ‘stretch imaginations’ to the moon and back.
Stargazers can enjoy the night sky as its projected across super-sized screens, or get creative by crafting their very own constellations and designing a mission patch for an astronaut’s spacesuit.
The events accompany the museum’s latest special exhibition, Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos / Credit: Drew Forsyth / Science Museum Group
“2026 has already been a stellar year for space,” commented Tash Camberwell, who is the Interpretation and Content Developer at the Science and Industry Museum, as the programme of free events was announced this week.
“We’ve been so inspired by the amazing Artemis II astronauts, so I’m especially excited to bring space back down to Earth with an action-packed programme for the May bank holiday.
“Just like the exhibition, our holiday activities have been created for young people and their grown-ups to enjoy together by blending humour, hands-on science and spectacular experiences to spark curiosity in space and inspire the next generation of space explorers.”
More information on the bank holiday weekend activities can be found on the Science and Industry Museum’s website here, and free general admission tickets, as well as £10 tickets to Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos, can also be booked online too – with under threes going free.
Following what was a popular spring school holidays, museum staff say early booking is ‘advised’.
Featured Image – Drew Forsyth / Science Museum Group
Daisy Jackson -
10th October 2023 
