Another bit of very well-deserved recognition for our city as the Manchester Museum has been shortlisted for the 2024 Art Fund Museum of the Year.
Organised by the independent and membership-based British charity, which raises funds through the collection of important works and artefacts, it’s world the single largest museum prize in the world.
Shining as one of the crown jewels in Manchester’s cultural scene, the museum has been named among five other impressive finalists for this year’s award, which is evaluating inspiring projects from autumn 2022 through to winter 2023.
This wonderful news comes at a good time for Manchester Museum, which recently welcomed its one-millionth visitor since reopening to the public in February last year, following a £15 million values-led redevelopment. It really is back with a bang.
With Art Fund keeping audiences and communities at their heart, the highly revered accolade has a particular focus on community engagement, sustainable ways of working, and demonstration of ambition by reinventing what it means to be ‘the best’ museum for the audiences of today and tomorrow.
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For context, the Manchester Museum (which sits as part of the University of Manchester) was the most visited indoor museum in the North of England throughout 2023, despite being shut for an entire month, welcoming a total of 790,332 people through their doors.
Speaking on this year’s selection, director Jenny Waldman, who heads up the 2024 judging panel, has applauded each of this year’s finalists for delivering “something for everyone” and keeping “community at the very heart of their programming.”
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“Their commitment to innovative partnerships whilst operating within an extremely challenging funding environment is incredible”, she added. “I’m so pleased to see the way they support and centre young people through their work.
“Across a wide range of size and scale, these organisations are all real leaders in their field. I urge everyone to go and visit these extremely special spaces.” So do we.
We’d recommend going along to Stand the T-Rex aloneYou’ve got to see the giant Japanese spider crab(Credit: Manchester Museum/Matthew via Flickr)
As for the museum themselves, DirectorEsme Ward said of the announcement: “Manchester Museum’s redevelopment was the result of 10 years’ collective endeavour, so being shortlisted for Art Fund Museum of the Year is a moment of joy for everyone to share in, from staff and partners to our communities and Manchester itself.
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“It is an affirmation of museums’ power to bring people together in building a more inclusive, hopeful future.”
Built on self-proclaimed values of “inclusion, imagination and care”, the museum’s recent reopening has positioned it at the forefront of the sector here in the UK, with new galleries, partnerships, visitor facilities, sector-leading programming and digital innovations.
These updates, along with their existing and award-winning South Asia Gallery – the largest and first permanent gallery in the UK to celebrate the experiences and contribution of the South Asian diaspora co-curated by members from the community itself – are what have helped put it in the running for this prestigious prize.
Visitor numbers for the first year following reopening were up 157% on 2019/20, with 57% of those being new attendees and more than one in seven’s first trip to a museum ever.
The other four shortlisted museums are the Craven Museum in Skipton, North Yorkshire; Dundee Contemporary Arts, the National Portrait Gallery in London and the Young V&A – Victoria and Albert Museum, also in the capital.
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The winning museum will be announced at a ceremony at the National Gallery in London on 10 July and will receive £120,000 to put towards internal projects and cultural work. Better still, £15,000 will be given to each of the four other finalists, so everyone’s a winner in a way.
Congratulations again to everyone at Manchester Museum and well done for all your incredible hard work – we can’t wait to be right about you again in a couple of months when we’re confident you’ll be rightly named as the winner of the 2024 Art Fund Museum of the Year.
Full list of road closures set to be in place for Manchester Day 2024
Emily Sergeant
Manchester Day is back for 2024 this weekend, and the full list of road closures set to be in place has been confirmed.
Now that schools are officially out across Greater Manchester, and the summer holidays are well and truly here, the hugely-popular Manchester Day is making a return once again this Saturday 27 July, and as always, it’s set to be “the day summer officially starts” in the city centre – with a massive celebration of “all things Mancunian” on the cards.
The theme of this year’s annual event is ‘Let The Games Begin’, and it’s inspired by the international summer of sport, just 2024 Olympics kicks off over in Paris.
The day will be packed full of free events and activities to get involved with.
Some city centre roads will be closed on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 July for Manchester Day.
These will include:
🛣️Deansgate 🛣️St Ann Street 🛣️St Mary’s Gate 🛣️Market Street 🛣️King Street
— Manchester City Council (@ManCityCouncil) July 21, 2024
But of course, in order for the all the fun to go ahead as safely as possible, and as tends to be the case for events like these, Manchester City Council says it will need to make some temporary road closures to facilitate it.
The full list of road closures has now been confirmed by the Council, and there’s some major city centre thoroughfares set to be out of action.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Manchester Day is back for 2024 to celebrate the international summer of sport / Credit: Manchester City Council
Manchester Day 2024 – Road Closures
Saturday 27 July
From 6am to 11:59pm, Manchester City Council has confirmed that the following roads will be closed:
Deansgate (Manchester Cathedral to John Dalton Street) – access will be maintained to Marks and Spencer’s car park and Number One Deansgate.
St Ann Street (Deansgate to Cross Street)
St Mary’s Gate (Exchange Street to Deansgate)
St Mary’s Street (Southbridge Street to Deansgate)
Market Street (Exchange Street to Cross Street)
Fennel Street (Corporation Street to Cathedral Street) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cathedral Street (Fennel Street to Exchange Square) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cateaton Street (Exchange Square to Deansgate)
Barton Square (St Ann’s Square to St Ann Street)
King Street (Cross Street to Deansgate) – no access for deliveries.
All accessible bays, bus lanes, and taxi ranks within the closed areas will also be suspended during from 6pm on Friday 26 July to 11:59pm on Saturday 27 July.
The parking suspensions set to be in place are:
Deansgate (Manchester Cathedral to John Dalton Street)
St Ann Street – including the bays outside St Ann’s Church (Deansgate to Cross Street)
St Mary’s Gate (Exchange Street to Deansgate)
St Mary’s Street (Southbridge Street to Deansgate)
Southgate (St Mary’s Street to King Street West)
Market Street (Exchange Street to Cross Street)
Fennel Street (Corporation Street to Cathedral Street) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cathedral Street (Fennel Street to Exchange Square) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cateaton Street (Exchange Square to Deansgate)
Victoria Street (Cathedral Approach to Deansgate)
Todd Street (Corporation Street to Station Approach)
King Street (Spring Gardens to Southgate)
South King Street (Ridgefield to Deansgate)
Barton Square (St Ann’s Square to St Ann Street)
King Street West (Deansgate to St Mary’s Parsonage)
St James’s Square (John Dalton Street to South King Street)
Cross Street (King Street to Corporation Street)
Museum Street (Peter Street to Windmill Street)
Marsden Street (Cheapside to Brown Street)
Manchester Day 2024: Let The Games Begin! will take over the city centre on Saturday 27 July from 12pm-6pm.
Check out everything you need to know ahead of the event here.
‘Complex’ Metrolink repairs to the Rochdale via Oldham line could take weeks to complete
Emily Sergeant
Work currently underway on the Rochdale via Oldham line is expected to take several weeks to complete.
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has confirmed that land movement affecting the Metrolink network near Derker has now “slowed”, and this means that detailed ground investigations and temporary repair works have been able to get underway.
In order for trams to run again on the crucial line from the city centre to the two major Greater Manchester towns, TfGM says that a small section of track has to be moved back – also known as ‘slewed’ – into its original position.
The overhead line poles also need to be repaired too, the transport operator revealed.
Rochdale line update
Land movement affecting the Metrolink network near Derker has slowed, enabling detailed ground investigations and temporary repair works to get underway.
To get trams running again, a small section of track has to be moved back into its original position… pic.twitter.com/byERjitdi1
Unfortunately though, due to the “complex” nature of these works, and despite the fact that TfGM says it’s actively looking to “accelerate” the repairs, the project is expected to take up to five weeks to complete in full.
On top of this, the detailed ground investigations will also establish whether any further work to strengthen foundations beneath the track will be needed at a later date.
TfGM has apologised for the inconvenience caused to passengers.
‘Complex’ Metrolink repairs to the Rochdale via Oldham line could take weeks to complete / Credit: TfGM
Speaking on the scale of works currently underway, and how long he expects them to continue for, Pete Sommers, who is TfGM’s Network Director for Metrolink, said: “I’m sorry for the impact this is having, and will continue to have, on people’s journeys.
“We are working to get trams running through the area again, but this remains a complex and challenging issue and it could still be a few weeks before this happens.
“We will of course keep passengers updated, and I’d encourage people to check our social media channels and website for the latest information and advice.”