Manchester Jewish Museum has this week announced the launch season of its ‘Reimagine – Reset – Reconnect’ Trailblazers season in preparation for its reopening in Spring 2021.
The news comes following capital development in the museum – with plans to allow the public more access to its archives so they can reconnect with history.
Creative Producer Laura Seddon said: “Through our trailblazer season, we are thrilled to give audiences a taster of what’s to come in our Thursday Lates when our new museum reopens next year.
“We will be inviting diverse and innovative artists to connect with our audiences in our stunningly renovated synagogue performance space each week.”
The headline event for this month is a quiz night hosted by Chanukah Lewinsky, a proud Jewish Drag Queen with a history of activism in the community.
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Founder and host of queer Jewish cabaret ‘Homos and Houmous’, Lewinsky aims to reconnect people with their Jewish history through song, dance and fun, and describes herself as like “Julie Waters on speed.”
Dex, who embodies Chanukah Lewinsky, said: “Jewish and Yiddish theatre has always been really close to street theatre, it’s all about audience engagement and making people feel part of it. So I am excited to bring the history of the museum to life with camp and chaos and revelry. It’s going to be a new way of attaching that history.”
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Chanukah Lewinsky photographed by Ray Filar
This series flies in the face of the suggestion that religion and queerness cannot be safely and positively intertwined, all whilst keeping you entertained and educated.
Dex said: “I went to an orthodox Jewish secondary school, and I found that people valued discussion and were on the whole really open and supportive and the two identities of being queer and being jewish should not feel at odds.”
Once reopened, the Manchester Jewish Museum will continue to expand this cultural programme with ‘Thursday Lates’, consisting of live and online experiences throughout the rest of the year.
Thursday 26 November 2020 – Chanukah Lewinsky’s Big Quiz Night
Price: pay what you feel, all funds go to supporting the museum’s community art program and re-development of the museum.
A combination of camp quiz rounds and a ‘guess the celeb’ beamed straight into your living room, hosted by the fabulous Chanukah Lewinsky this one is a must-not miss. Including guest appearances from drag king wrestling duo Men Brûlée and Glasgow’s emerging queer, yiddish café Pink Peacock, and drag poet ‘That Ray’.
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Thursday 10 – Monday 14 December 2020 – What does the future sound like?
A series of musical digital conversations about the British Museum music scene, with musician Francesca Ter Berg and the Museum’s Creative Producer Laura Seddon, with special guests Carol Isaacs, Anna Lowenstein, Polina Shepherd and Ana Silvera. An exploration of history and music, made even better by a daily musical film gifted straight to your email for the first five days, and the opportunity to join the conversation on social media and the chance to get an extra gift in the post.
Thursday 28 January 2021 – After School Activists
An opportunity for the next generation of artists aged 16-18 to respond to the theme of 2021’s Holocaust Memorial Day: ‘Being a light in the darkness’.
Described by the Manchester Jewish Museum as: “A powerful piece of collaborative action that considers how we learn from history whilst looking to the future. A generation is standing up – why not join them?”
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Thursday 25 February 2021 – Eat the Archives
Theatre Chef Leo Burtin leads a cooking and eating journey in person and online, and will be teaching and telling the food stories of times past via the museum’s archives for example why many Jewish evacuees became vegetarians.
Thursday 25 March 2021 – Historic Jewish Quarter Experience
The Bare Project Theatre Company lead you on a multi-sensory walk around Manchester historic Jewish quarter and Cheetham Hill Road. With the area still remaining one of the most diverse in the country, discover areas of worship, work and play on this walk.
Learn more about the latest events happening in Manchester via the What’s On section.
What's On
‘Breathtaking’ new 360° immersive dinosaurs exhibition to open in Manchester later this year
Emily Sergeant
A ‘breathtaking’ new immersive dinosaurs exhibition is set to open in Manchester later this year.
Fresh off the back of announcing its programme of events for the upcoming autumn-winter season last week, Factory International has now revealed that another new Lightroom experience will be arriving later this year, and it’s one any budding paleontologist will want to keep an eye on.
Prehistoric Planet: Discovering Dinosaurs blends iconic moments from Apple TV’s Emmy nominated Prehistoric Planet with never-before seen content.
It’s set to take audiences back in time to experience dinosaurs closer than ever before.
Narrated by critically acclaimed actor, Damian Lewis, the new 360° immersive experience is a celebration of our natural world told through captivating storytelling, breathtaking visuals, and groundbreaking technology, with visitors will be transported back in time, 66 million years ago, to experience dinosaurs up close.
Damian Lewis guides audiences through the fascinating role dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures have played in shaping our world – from Ammonites and Mosasaurs, to the Tyrannosaurus rex.
Lightroom’s state-of-the-art 360 projections will allow viewers to see these majestic animals at an awe-inspiring scale and travel alongside them through volcanoes, soaring skies and the deep sea.
As escapist as it is educational, audiences will not only experience some of the most beloved scenes from seasons one and two of Apple TV’s Prehistoric Planet, but they will also be immersed in exclusive extended CGI sequences and bespoke illustrations that bring the show to life in entirely new ways.
And to make it even better, the experience is set to an original score by multi-Academy Award winner Hans Zimmer, alongside Anže Rozman, and Kara Talve for Bleeding Fingers Music.
Prehistoric Planet: Discovering Dinosaurs opens at Aviva Studios, and tickets go on public sale tomorrow (Friday 26 June).
Featured Image – Supplied
What's On
Prestigious Edinburgh TV Festival to move to Manchester for first time in 50 years
Emily Sergeant
Greater Manchester will become the new host city for the TV Festival from 2027 onwards it was announced today.
For the first time in five decades, following an extensive consultation and competitive bidding process – which was launched in 2025 – the prestigious festival is set to move from its home in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh to our region from 2027 onwards, beating out other major northern cities like Newcastle in the process.
As part of a UK-wide strategic review into the event’s long-term future, the Festival’s board of directors say the review was undertaken in order to ‘examine how the TV Festival could continue to grow’ amid increasing challenges around accessibility, affordability, and sustainability across the television industry.
Greater Manchester‘s ‘successful and comprehensive’ bid included commitments around affordability, infrastructure, industry partnership, and long-term growth potential.
Plans include holding the Festival in locations in the newly developed St. John’s creative and cultural district.
“Greater Manchester presented a vision for the Festival that combined genuine creative ambition and future-facing energy with practical accessibility and affordability for delegates,” commented Campbell Glennie, who is the CEO of the TV Festival and The TV Foundation.
“This means we can radically reduce the costs associated with attending the Festival as well as the cost of passes.
“The city reflects the expanding ambition of the UK television industry, while still offering the scale, connectivity and unique cultural identity needed for an event of this significance – it gives us the strongest platform to grow the Festival’s reach and impact in the years ahead.”
Cllr Bev Craig, who is the Leader of Manchester City Council, said being chosen as TV Festival hosts is ‘brilliant news’ for Greater Manchester, adding: “It speaks to the growth, success and strength of our screen sector in the city region and the strong partnerships and talent we have here.”
The final Edinburgh edition of the TV Festival will take place this August, and dates and further details for the TV Festival in 2027 will be shared later this year.
Gemma Bradley -
23rd November 2020 
