Manchester Histories Festival 2014 Evaluation Report

MANCHESTER HISTORIES FESTIVAL 2014 EVALUATION REPORT

Produced by Vittoria Caradonna Kate Campbell-Payne with Dr Abigail Gilmore, University of Manchester

Omi Sculpture, Belle Vue: Showground of the World Photo: Sorrell Higgins

CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... 3 1. INTRODUCTION ...... 8 2. EVALUATION METHODOLOGY ...... 10 3. GOVERNANCE, MANAGEMENT AND FUNDING ...... 11 3. THE FESTIVAL PROGRAMME ...... 16 4. MHF AIMS, OUTCOMES AND TARGET AUDIENCES ...... 19 5. FINDINGS ...... 21 5.1 Audience numbers, reach and origin ...... 21 5.2 Festival experience ...... 26 5.3 Education and learning ...... 28 5.4 Media profile and coverage ...... 31 Case studies ...... 36 6. CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 44

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Manchester Histories Festival 2014 (MHF) was the third edition of this bi-annual festival which celebrates and commemorates the rich histories and heritage of Manchester and its surrounding area. It took place over the ten-day period, 21st – 30th March, 2014 and consisted of over 190 events, up by 80 on 2012. These events were produced by a range of Greater Manchester-based cultural and heritage organisations and institutions, independent and community organisations, companies, and individuals led by Manchester Histories. Events ranged from the more traditional formats such as exhibitions and public lectures to more unusual activities, such as interactive digital games, public debates and community theatre. As with the 2009 and 2012 events the Festival culminated in the Celebration Day held at Manchester Town Hall, with an audience of around 4,000 to meet, learn, share and celebrate the wealth of histories in the city-region.

MHF 2014 was funded by a mixture of grant aid from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and Arts Council England, financial support from two local Universities and other project funding, sponsorship funding and in-kind support from other (mainly regional) sources. This amounted to a budget of c.£202k of which c.£119k was earmarked for specific projects. As with the 2012 Festival, there was also a significant amount of in-kind support from volunteer value-in-kind amounting to c.£32k, providing a conservative estimate of value leveraged through this funding. Additional in-kind value was generated through the facilities and spaces offered by host organisations, and the administrative support and additional marketing which these organisations provided to the Festival.

The evaluation’s key outcomes show how much MHF has grown in the past two years & how this has been reflected in both the increasing number of events and the public’s engagement.

In 2012 the total estimated number of attendees was 10,000. In 2014 attendances (i.e. individual visits rather than visitors) have been estimated at around 24,000. As with the previous event, over a third (37%) survey respondents were new to heritage events. Visitors were also new to MHF - 70% of visitors said this was their first time – and were keen to explore the programme, with 53% stating they would be attending more than one event.

Visitors rated events highly: over 90% of surveyed visitors gave the event they attended 4 or 5 stars and 98% said they would attend the next Festival. The responses to the evaluation suggest the Festival is highly successful in engaging audiences:

 when asked how they had been inspired by the event 62% indicated they would share their experience with friends;  48% also indicated the event had inspired them to research the subject further;  almost 89% said they had learnt something new from MHF2014.

The Manchester Histories Festival has developed innovative formats for programming and events, which bring in and inspire new audiences. It works in partnership with a broad base of heritage organisations and community groups, which form the infrastructure and basis for the celebration of several important anniversaries including women’s suffrage in 2018 and the Peterloo Massacre in 2019. Manchester Histories has been, with People’s History Museum, leading on community consultation for the development of commemoration events for Peterloo.

<3 Mcr Big Saturday at Manchester Museum, Photo: Drew Forsyth 4

Key legacies

 Recognising good practice: The recognition, reward and ongoing development of innovation and good practice through the Community Histories Awards. For example, this year’s winner of the Community Award, Lauren Murphy, has been able to continue with community consultation and the development of her project around Bradford Pit following on-going support from Laing O’Rourke. Her project, Remembering Bradford Pit was entered for the award for intergenerational work with Beswick Library and St. Brigid’s Primary School. The sponsors of the Community Histories Award, Laing O’Rouke, were so impressed by the project that they have provided Lauren with 12 months’ employment in the company to continue her project.

 Engaging new and younger audiences: responses to the evaluation survey suggest that over a third of audiences were first time visitors to heritage events, over two thirds were new to MHF, and for just under two thirds it was their first visit to a particular venue. These new audiences were disproportionately from younger age groups, with over 55% of visitors between 16 and 34 years stating that this was their first time at a histories/heritage event.

 Developing sustainable training models: the oral histories training provided during the festival in the Belle Vue: Showground of the World project has led to a pool of trained volunteers. Since the festival, these volunteers have been active in other projects, including the Strawberry Studios project in Stockport and Greater Manchester Coalition of Voluntary Services’ Ardwick Green Heritage project.

 Maximising engagement through digital technologies and strategies: analysis of the online and social media activities throughout the Festival show that it has built up a large audience, who follow Manchester Histories’ programme on as well as offline. For example, the Bring Back Belle Vue Facebook group membership increased significantly in the weeks leading up and during the Festival, and the @McrHistFest twitter account now has over 11,000 followers. These communities are now mobilised to engage with and share their histories and heritage through digital media.

 Valuing local and social histories: the Festival offers a platform for projects which are close to local communities’ hearts but seldom part of conventional heritage narrative. Exhibitions such as the Belle Vue: Showground of the World in the Flatiron Building brought these histories into the public domain and t the city centre and led to MHF being described as “an event without barriers - topical or geographical - MHF was peerless in its scale” (Manchester Evening News, 2014).

The future

In 2014 Manchester Histories Festival has cemented its reputation, and through the formation of Manchester Histories (MH) is leading practices in community histories, public histories and public engagement in research. It has the potential to be a major player in Manchester’s heritage landscape through innovative projects such as Belle Vue: Showground of the World and an initial driving force in new partnerships such as SHOWT (Small Heritage Organisations Working Together).

With interest in local histories remaining high, Manchester Histories Festival is now an established item on the city’s cultural calendar. The challenge will be to develop ongoing, year-round programming, under continuing difficult conditions for small cultural and community organisations in a time of austerity and funding cuts. Future priorities include the professionalisation for the Festival’s wide volunteer base, building long-term relationships with the city region’s local authorities and cultural institutions while retaining those with smaller organisations and local communities, as a dynamic and respected part of Greater Manchester’s cultural offer.

Creative Threads at Museum of Transport, Photo: Drew Forsyth

1. INTRODUCTION The third Manchester Histories Festival (MHF) took place between the 21st and 30th March 2014 and celebrated the heritage and histories of Greater Manchester, with the purpose of raising educational aspiration, community cohesion, interest in environment and local pride. This year marks a significant step forward for the Festival and everyone involved in its delivery. The success of the previous festivals confirmed MHF’s status within the cultural landscape of the city of Manchester, primarily thanks to its diverse and high quality programming. In order to cement this status and to keep increasing the quality of its offering, a conscious effort was made towards creating a bigger and more stable organisation: Manchester Histories.

Manchester Histories (MH) is the trading name for the limited company and a registered charity which produces the Manchester Histories Festival. The Festival itself began in 2009 as partnership between the University of Manchester (UoM) and Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). This partnership was made possible by the passion and dedication of Professor John Pickstone, founder of MHF and of the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine at the University of Manchester. Sadly, Professor Pickstone died just before the festival. His commitment towards the sharing of knowledge will however remain at the centre of the event’s vision.

Manchester Histories aims to celebrate and build on the wealth of localised knowledge and semi-forgotten memories that enrich and enliven the official histories of a city region. Although important for consolidating sense of place and community identity, these types of histories can often escape conventional forms of heritage conservation, promotion and recording. The Festival, MH’s main output, has been shaped by a simple but powerful idea: to unearth and bring these stories to life, thereby widening the access to histories and heritage and championing the sharing of knowledge among institutions, community organisations and individuals.

Greater Manchester, with its history of unique contributions to the formation of Modernity and its portfolio of dynamic cultural institutions, is the perfect (play)ground to experiment with this approach to heritage and shared learning. Through a programme designed to cater to everyone from habitual heritage visitors to new audiences, MHF offers a wide range of opportunities for people to engage with their histories. Individuals and groups of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds can learn, explore, discover, and interpret history 8 through an ever increasing range of events, including performances, interactive games, talks, tours, workshops and exhibitions.

The inaugural Festival in 2009 took place on two successive days in Manchester Town Hall. The 2012 event built on this experience by extending the festival period to ten days and increasing the sites where festival activities took place. Now during the third festival, MHF 2014 presented the most ambitious and rich programme so far: during its ten day run with almost 200 events staged across Greater Manchester. Among these Belle Vue: Showground of the World, a project about the heritage of the Belle Vue amusement park in Gorton, Manchester, attracted almost 3000 visitors alone.

This report examines the factors and issues connected to the planning and delivering of an intense and engaging programme. It documents the responses from participants, organisers and volunteers and assesses whether and how the MHF met its initial objectives, benefiting its targeted groups and producing new outputs.

Filling out evaluation forms at the Working Class Movement Library, Photo: Drew Forsyth

2. EVALUATION METHODOLOGY The festival evaluation has been carried out by Kate Campbell-Payne and Vittoria Caradonna, graduates from the MA in Arts Management, Policy and Practice, under the supervision of Dr Abigail Gilmore, Director of the Centre for Arts Management and Cultural Policy, at The University of Manchester.

The methods for data collection were: • visitor surveys (self-administered, print ); • volunteers and organisational feedback surveys (self-administered, online only); • follow-up interviews with the Festival Team and external organisers/contributors; • film and photos of events; • social media and website analytics; • economic valuation through in-kind support leverage and volunteer hours; • community consultation; • case studies, including interviews with organisers.

CAVEAT Throughout the report we refer to figures from the Visitor Surveys distributed at various events held over the ten days of the festival. 1612 respondents completed questionnaires distributed at these events, and their responses have been analysed and used here. As there was no systematic attempt to undertake probability or randomised sampling, the responses from the survey cannot be assumed to be representative of any particular population, other than ‘people who came to events and who agreed to fill in a survey.’ However, the large number of responses presents a good indication of the opinions and experiences of large proportion of participants and audience members, and their answers produce valuable data for formative and summative evaluation.

3. GOVERNANCE, MANAGEMENT AND FUNDING Manchester Histories is a limited company with charitable status. It functions as the delivery body whose main output is MHF, alongside on-going annual events, projects and sector development throughout the year.

The MHF 2014 management team comprised:

- Claire Turner; Chief Executive; - Ella Byford, freelance Project Manager for Showground of the World; - Jennifer Dean, freelance PR Consultant; - Zoe Willock, volunteer Festival Coordinator; - Tatiana Kondruchina, Volunteer Festival Co-ordinator and University of Manchester MA Placement; - Nichola Jacques, freelance Project Manager for the Belle Vue Show and Tell digital game.

Of these roles, only that of the Chief Executive is permanent full-time; all other roles are dependent on project funding and are part-time and freelance or voluntary.

Since inception, the festival’s core team has remained small, comprising only of Chief Executive Claire Turner on a permanent basis. As Chief Executive Officer the Trustees have delegated authority for operational matters including finance, employment and creative development to Claire, within the overall strategy agreed by the Board. It should be noted this is a potential weakness: by relying too much on one person and on her knowledge and contacts, MH and the festival could become vulnerable in case of absence due to leaving or sickness. The Board has recognised the need to secure more funding in order to expand the Festival’s team to mitigate this risk and thus ensure its long-term sustainability.

The Manchester Histories Board of Trustees is composed as follows:

- Professor Hannah Barker, Professor of British History, The University of Manchester (Chair); - Dr. Kostas Arvanitis, Senior Lecturer in Museology, The University of Manchester - Erinma Ochu, Wellcome Trust Fellow and Engagement Specialist 11

- John Williams, Heritage Consultant;

Advisory Non-Executive Members - Professor Melanie Tebbutt, Reader in History & Director, Manchester Centre for Regional History, Manchester Metropolitan University - Dave Haslam, Musician, DJ and Author

Funding is sourced by MH to fund different elements of their activities including key events during MHF 2014. This financial support was sourced from a range of partners including key funding bodies and commercial partners. For example, the Belle Vue: Showground of the World project was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Manchester City Council’s East Manchester Regeneration Team; the Manchester Community Histories Awards was sponsored by Heritage Project Management and developer Laing O’Rourke; the Manchester Music Map Project, developed in partnership with the University of Manchester, was funded through its innovation development fund, UMI3; and Monkey Games was a creative partnership with immersive theatre company The Larks funded by the Arts Council of England.

St Augustine’s Primary School, Community Histories Awards Photo: Drew Forsyth

After three years as a partnership organisation between the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University, both universities continue to support the newly constituted charity Manchester Histories on an annual basis. Both institutions provide funding and in-kind support: for example, the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures within the University provides office space and IT services. Additional funding towards specific events and projects was awarded through the following organisations:

- Arts Council England (Monkey Business) - Co-operative Community Development Fund - Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF Belle Vue) - Heritage Project Management - Laing O’Rourke - Manchester City Council (East Manchester Regeneration) & Community First - University of Bolton

Partners The Festival is also made possible by the additional support, both direct and in-kind, provided by institutional and commercial partners. For example, Manchester City Council made available the spaces in the Town Hall for the Celebration Day and the Community Histories Awards. For the 2014 festival, MHF’s partners were: - Heritage Project Management - Laing O’Rourke - Manchester City Council - National Fairground Archive at the University of Sheffield - University of Salford - Laing O’Rourke - Heritage Project Management

The MHF’s official suppliers were: - Barefoot Wine (MHF launch) - Chittenden Horley Limited, accountants - Epigram, a creative design agency, - Glitterfish, a web design company, - Marble Beers (MHF launch)

Income and in-kind support

Total income to Manchester Histories was c.£202k for the first 18 month accounting period from 1 November until 30 April 2014, of which c.£119k was restricted project funding. Through volunteer value-in-kind, the MHF also levered at least £32k value of additional support. To gain an estimation of volunteer value in kind, we multiplied the number of volunteers by the average number of hours by the average hourly wage (the gross average hourly wage for full-time employees in England in 2013 was £13.03, ONS). We also added in other known values of additional in-kind support (for example, consultancy value of university contribution to evaluation).

Manchester Histories Festival 2014 - Income

In-kind support 14%

Income 86%

This calculation of in-kind support is likely to be very conservative. It is based on the responses to volunteers’ surveys and event logs which attempt to capture the value in kind of volunteers. However involved the proportion of completed event logs is only a small sample of the large number and variety of organisations involved, and the true value of volunteer contribution is likely to be much higher.

The figure below maps out the income and leveraged in-kind support plus the relative size of each organisation’s contribution:

Manchester Manchester City Council Metropolitan £8,649 University University MCC of £10,000 Cultural Manchester Team £48,095 £5,000 Donations £1,253 University of Bolton £500 Arts Council England The Cooperative £10,727 Community Heritage Fund £1,882 Lottery Fund Belle Vue: Showground of the World Consultancy £97,800 Income £13,589

Sponsorship £4,000

Figure 1: Income sources for Manchester Histories 2014

3. THE FESTIVAL PROGRAMME In six years Manchester Histories Festival has evolved from a two-day event into a full- scale ten day festival, whose brand has become increasingly recognised within the city of Manchester and its surroundings. This year’s festival consisted of almost 200 events over the ten days. This achievement was made possible by an innovative approach to programming illustrated in the diagram below.

Individual histories and heritage events and projects delivered by a wide range of organisations and individuals, promoted under the banner of MHF

Partnership projects with museums, galleries, archives, libraries, arts and community organisations etc.

MHF commisioned projects

Figure 2: The Manchester Histories Festival model

This model represents the Festival’s multi-layered programming strategy: during the initial phase the Director develops a signature programme of events specifically designed for the festival; some of these events will be commissioned and/or co-produced with heritage partners and local cultural institutions. Concurrently, through an open call to third sector and local interest organisations, societies and individuals, more events are added to the formal programming: these are marketed under the banner of MHF but autonomously produced and delivered by the organisations and individuals, with marketing support from MH and some support from MHF volunteers in certain instances if required.

This diagram aims to show how, through community consultation, the programme is developed in partnership with a range of organisations and groups, who also produce their own bespoke events which become part of the festival. For MHF 2014 over 30 community organisations lent their time and expertise towards the production and delivery of their own events. Local historians, tour guides, theatre companies, historical societies, schools, local authority venues, local interest groups, Friends groups, sports clubs and academics were all involved and supported by the festival’s team and volunteers, leading to the most comprehensive and inclusive programme yet for MHF.

During the consultation phase, one place in particular kept resurfacing in the memories of those who spent many happy days there: Belle Vue, a showground and zoological garden located in Gorton, one of Manchester former industrial districts. A range of events was planned around the histories of this much loved site, now almost completely disappeared: an exhibition examining Belle Vue’s histories and significance, a celebratory day at Gorton Monastery, oral histories collection, pervasive games, an interactive walking tour, and a programme of talks and workshops.

In addition to Belle Vue, talks, tours, exhibitions, online activities, film screenings, workshops and performances explored many of the stories that have shaped the past and present of Greater Manchester: from the city’s ties to the Suffragette Movement, to its relationship with minorities and refugees, to its industrial heritage, to the protagonists of its music scene, to vital contributions to science and technology, to life during wartime. As shown in the graphic below, the events were spread over the 10 days, fluctuating between a minimum of 18 events held across the city region during the first day of the festival and a maximum of 66 during the Celebration Day. Aside from Greater Manchester’s many cultural institutions, several events took place in unusual venues, often closed to the public, e.g. the Godlee Observatory and Manchester Racquet and Tennis Club. Moreover, with the intention of extending the festival’s reach beyond the city and representing Greater Manchester histories, events were held in the neighbouring boroughs of Bolton, Rochdale Salford, Stockport and Trafford: e.g. talks and tours around the famous Strawberry Studios in Stockport and their music heritage, or a concert set in Salford’s Working Class Movement Library, and activities around the Worktime Archive at the University of Bolton.

Figure 3: the Manchester Histories Festival in events daily (note: includes some events which were repeated)

FRIDAY 21  18 SATURDAY 22 38 SUNDAY 23 35 MONDAY 24 28 TUESDAY 25 30 WEDNESDAY 26 32 THURSDAY 27 42 FRIDAY 28 25 SATURDAY 29  66 SUNDAY 30 22

Archives+ Photo: Drew Forsyth

4. MHF AIMS, OUTCOMES AND TARGET AUDIENCES The newly constituted charity has the following mission and vision:  to reveal, explore and celebrate the histories and heritage of Greater Manchester for the benefit, engagement and learning of individuals, communities, organisations and visitors;  to be recognised locally, nationally and internationally as the leading agency in the development, learning, exploration and celebration of Greater Manchester’s histories and heritage for both its residents and visitors to the City Region.

MHF is currently Manchester Histories’ main output, and its objectives mirror those of the charity: 1. to ADVANCE education and learning about local histories and heritage through the provision of a high-quality programme of activities; 2. to INSPIRE a lasting pride and a sense of place in all communities and age groups across Greater Manchester through a co-created narrative built around their memories and histories; 3. to ENGAGE individuals and groups in a dynamic experience, increasing their understanding of their past as shared inheritance and of the city’s future as shared commitment; 4. to DEVELOP and enhance skills in the formal heritage sector, educational establishments and with community organisations and individuals; 5. to SUPPORT the exchange of knowledge and expertise by brokering partnerships among cultural institutions, educational bodies and community organisations;

It has two main stakeholder groups

Organisations and institutions from public, private and third sector with an interest in reaching new audiences through histories and heritage:

- Histories and heritage organisations across Greater Manchester - Schools across Greater Manchester - Relevant cultural organisations e.g. theatre companies, film societies - Established Greater Manchester commercial organisations

Members of the public/audiences:

- Existing histories and heritage attenders - Families - Visitors new to histories and heritage - Heritage tourists - Culturally diverse audiences

In section 5 below, we discuss the project’s outputs and outcomes in relation to their original aims and identified beneficiaries, and make recommendations based on the learning points gathered from the feedback received through the surveys administered to visitors and organisers.

Print-making with Gorton Visual Arts Photo: Joseph Price

5. FINDINGS

A total of 1612 questionnaires were received from visitors and a further 22 from venues and organisers. Data and figures drawn from the surveys helped us measure how the festival performed against its original aims and which areas present learning points for the future.

5.1 AUDIENCE NUMBERS, REACH AND ORIGIN The estimated total number of attendances at MHF events (i.e. included repeat visits and shared audiences across events) is just over 24,000.

This is calculated by extrapolating from the known attendance of 20 events, of different in type and scale, which was recorded by surveys distributed to venues and organisers to estimate audiences figures for the main MHF programme at 17,180. To this we can add an estimate of over 4,000 Celebration Day attendees and 2,825 participants of Belle-Vue related events (see Showground of the World: the histories of Belle Vue Evaluation Report) making a total of 24,005. This is likely to be a conservative estimate in terms of the reach of festival events programmed across the Greater Manchester area.

The high volume of visitor feedback forms gives a good indication of the profile of visitors to the MHF. Even taking into account that a proportion of visits were repeat or by the same visitor at different events, this comprises a large sample of visitors with which to draw some assumptions about how the MHF is attracting new audiences to histories and heritage events.

Of the 1,612 people who completed a Visitor Feedback form: - almost 37% of them had were first time visitors to a history/heritage event; - 29% were infrequent attendees; - 68% of the respondents had not attended MHF in 2012; - almost 65% of them were new to that particular venue.

While the first two festivals saw a high concentration of events around the city centre, MHF 2014 sought to expand and diversify its locations: many unusual venues were lent to the festival, contributing to the sense of discovery and amusement of visitors. Additionally

21 many events took place in the neighbouring boroughs of Bolton, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport and Trafford, and led to exploration of new resources and places across Greater Manchester. For example, the University of Bolton workshop on Mass Observation of everyday working-class life in Bolton focused on the Bolton Museum's Humphrey Spender's Worktown Collection of social documentary photography, and included a fieldtrip by from Worktown (Bolton) to Cottonopolis (Manchester) by train, bus or car.

To identify visitor origins, we asked for postcodes in the questionnaire survey: 623 individual postcodes were collected from survey respondents (63% of the total number of collected survey). The majority of these - 196 or 80% - are Greater Manchester postcodes, with the remainder being from around the North West, notably Cheshire and Merseyside. There were also visitors from Dublin, Newcastle, Swansea, Birmingham, Norwich and Brighton, and even further afield from Hong Kong, China and from Nashville, Tennessee.

The age profile of the audience according to our survey response is shown in the chart below.

16-24 65+ 9% 25-34 25% 12%

Your age 35-44 12%

55-64 26% 45-54 16%

MHF’s audience lies predominantly into the older age bands, with 51% of attendees being over 55. This is not out of line with national statistics on heritage tourism which suggest larger numbers of older visitors to heritage attractions (see below).

Have visited heritage site in 2013-14 by age group (Taking Part, 2014)

76.9 77.7 73.3 67.2 57

16-24 25-44 45-64 65-74 75+

However by cross-referencing responses of younger participants and infrequent attenders suggests that MHF attracts new audiences from people in lower age bands: over 55% of visitors between 16 and 34 years stating that this was the first time they had attended a histories/heritage event.

The first chart here shows that attendees of MHF were predominantly white (92% with less than 5% self-identifying with other ethnic groups). This is generally representative of the demographics of the UK, although with a lower proportion of Asian or Asian British compared with both the national average of nearly 7% and the population of Greater Manchester 6.5% (UK Census 2011). This would seem to follow patterns of heritage visiting as identified through national statistics – where last year 74.4% of White British visited heritage site compared with 57% of Asian or Asian British (Taking Part, 2014).

Asian or Black or Chinese Asian Black or other Prefer British British ethnic not to 1% 1% group 1% say Mixed 3% 2%

Ethnicity

White 92%

The responses to the evaluation survey suggests that more women than men attended the festival, 56% compared to 43%, following similar patterns to MHF 2012. This is a significantly different pattern to normal heritage visiting, where Taking Park data suggests a higher proportion of men visited a heritage site – 73.7% - last year compared with women - 71.2% (Taking Part, 2014).

These findings imply that marketing and programme should be targeted at reaching Asian communities, as well as other under-presented ethnic groups, and men if the Festival wishes to have audiences more representative of local and national populations.

Bradford Pit exhibition, Beswick Library, Photo: Joseph Price

5.2 FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE The visitor survey respondents rated the events they attended highly: nearly 90% gave the event they attended four or five stars; 48% gave five stars.

If you were rating MHF for tomorrow's papers, how many stars would you give it? ** * 1% 0% *** 9%

***** 48% **** 42%

The ‘star system’ provides an accessible means for participants to review their experience quantitatively, but as ever qualitative data reveals more about individual experiences and emotional responses to the Festival. When asked what the highlight of the Festival was almost 20% specifically mentioned ‘Belle Vue’ as their highlight.

Open text responses to the question of festival highlights include: “Being back home and learning more about my wonderful city and its amazing history” “This has been my first event but it will resonate with me for a very long time” “Bradford award being sponsored and being able to gain so much for the history of miners” “Finding this building - such a hidden gem” “This & Belle Vue talk & exhibition & Manchester news via twitter - sense of community” “All the events fabulous. The play (Lip Service) was super, the music tour at Victoria Baths was amazing and very moving” “Godlee Observatory; I joined the Manchester Astronomical Society after the tour”.

When asked what they thought might improve the Festival, over 30% of respondents cited advertisement and publicity. The desire for wider and more effective marketing was already signaled after 2012 and in fact measures were taken in order to diversify and expand MHF’s marketing strategy. This included an increased spend on marketing with new billboard posters throughout Manchester City Centre, an increased print and distribution run for the printed programme, and a more effective PR campaign. However, in events and festivals, this is frequently the commonest complaint about events despite the size of the marketing budget. In 5.4 below, we examine the media profile of MHF and consider aspects for improvement.

One of the clearest indicators of visitor demand for programmes like MHF 2014 was that almost 50% of respondents expressed a desire for more: more events, more items on display, more venues opened to the public, over a longer period of time. This signals that Manchester Histories’ objective of becoming “the primary agency in Greater Manchester driving awareness, learning and experience of its histories and heritage” is met by a strong demand for more events and activities of this kind. Another element supporting this statement is given by the answers to the question in the chart below: the overwhelming majority of respondents (97%) plans to attend the next festival.

5.3 EDUCATION AND LEARNING Part of MHF’s mission is to support deeper engagement in histories and heritage and undertake audience development in the sense of education and learning.

Have you learnt something new at today's event?

No 12%

Yes 88%

As indicated in the chart above, over 88% of respondents who answered this question felt they had learnt something new from the event. Below a selection of comments gives an insight into what exactly participants thought to have learnt: “All of it was new. As they said in the talk, so little done or said about women's history” “Michael Wood's family history in the context of Manchester's changing landscape/cityscape” “Generational aspect to urban immigration” “How to interpret my own family history in a geographical way” “How history repeats itself” “Other peoples' definition of heroes and what it means to them” “Had previously just been to buildings in local area, walked past, know more about their History & will keep eyes open more now” “Never handled Roman artifacts before” “History doesn't need to be about big important things - I loved this talk!” 28

A text analysis of the responses shows that the themes visitors learnt about ranged from the generic ‘Manchester’, ‘history’ and ‘heritage’ to specific stories or topics, e.g. the Peterloo massacre, Belle Vue and its zoo, gardens and speedway racers, or ‘women’ and’ Pankhurst’.

62% of respondents stated that participating in an event inspired them to share their experience with friends while 48% were inspired to research the subject further. This data seems to indicate that MHF works for many people as a catalyst: almost all participants learn new information whilst attending the festival and many had an experience positive enough to propel them to further explore the subject and share their discoveries with friends. This result is extremely positive for a festival and a charity whose principal aim is to advance education and learning about heritage and local histories.

The festival’s educational aim is also cemented by MHF’s strong links with local universities. Besides being key funding partners, many scholars and students of both Manchester Metropolitan University and University of Manchester have participated in the

29 festival either by delivering events and talks, volunteering, or lending general support. Students from MMU volunteered as the Festival’s photographers and students from the University of Salford provided a film crew to document events. MA students provided support in developing the digital marketing for the festival. MHF 2014 included participation from primary schools. Children from St Richards Primary School had produced their own project about Belle Vue and performed at the Belle Vue exhibition for the general public. Pupils from two primary schools in Bury, Chantlers Primary School and Hollymount RC Primary School, performed as part of the Community Histories Awards ceremony in Manchester Town Hall as part of a project in partnership with Greater Manchester Music Hub.

Has this event or any other Manchester Histories Festival event inspired you to do any of the following:

Other Join a society Share experience with… 0 200 400 600 800

Michael Wood, University of Manchester’s Professor of Public History Photo: Drew Forsyth

5.4 MEDIA PROFILE AND COVERAGE A third of respondents to the visitor survey said that they felt the Festival didn’t receive enough formal marketing or publicity. When asked how they did hear about their event, the highest response was ‘word of mouth’ (41%), followed by 29% who had found out about the event through the MHF website. The print marketing brochure accounted for 25% with social media and venue websites comprising the other responses.

How did you hear about this event? Twitter Facebook The venue's website Print marketing The MHF website Word of mouth

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

MHF received a good spread of coverage across local media channels, featuring particularly in events previews and family friendly listings. There were also a number of event-specific articles in both print and online. The success in securing media coverage is tantamount to the local public interest value of the festival, since Manchester Histories has limited marketing and PR budgets and resources, relying on volunteer marketing and temporary PR support, and as suggested by the respondents, word of mouth. Further investment into marketing for future activities is highly recommended, to extend the reach of the Festival and its impact.

The text box below shows a breakdown of media channels which featured MHF related stories.

TELEVISION Guardian Guide The fiver BBC North West Tonight Waitrose Weekend Mancunian Matters Quays TV Salford Advertiser Salford Star City Life Extra Tusk Newsletter RADIO Jewish Telegraph Go See This newsletter BBC Radio Manchester Bolton Advertiser Creativetourist.com All.FM Manchester Evening News NorthManchester.FM ONLINE Published 19 Mar 2014 Pure.fm Messenger online Manchester Histories Gaydio Chorlton Good Neighbours Mums & Dads Magazine BBC Radio Lancashire Care Group Contrary Life The Shrieking Violet JLife Online PRINT Mancunian Wave Blog Stockport Express Online Manchester Evening News Institute for Cultural Practices Babies and Kids in the City Stockport Express Mumsnetlocal History@Manchester Discover Your History Mums in the Know Manchester Wire Magazine St Philip’s RC Primary School Bolton News Lancashire Magazine Blog Visit Manchester Cheshire Magazine netmums Manchester Confidential Family Tree Magazine theguardian About Manchester Best of British Magazine ILoveMCR Too Late for Cake blog MCR The Co-operative College MMU, institute of Humanities Backtrack Magazine NWFED & Social Science Research Speedway Star Chorlton Life Belle Vue Aces Website

WEBSITE Data for the period of 15/02/14 to 05/04/14 provides a general picture of the increasing engagement with the MHF website during the lead up to the event and the post-festival decline in engagement. There were 193,419 visits in total, 23,416 of which were unique visitors. 43% of those visits occurred during the ten days of MHF. Of these, 43% were returning visitors while 56% were new visitors.

The largest proportion of visitors came from Google searches (40%), this means that people were actively searching for the MHF site, rather than coming across it by chance. 20% of visitors were already aware of MHF’s website while the rest of came from referral from social medias and other websites.

Sources of website hits

Manchester Bing Visit Dept of Arts, Evening News 2% Manchester Languages, 2% 1% Manchester Cultures City Council University of 1% Manchester 2% Facebook 7% Facebook Google (mobile) 38% 9%

Twitter 9%

Direct 29%

Visitors stayed on the site for an average of 1 minute, which is relatively low but also refers to the fact that most people use the MHF’s website as a listing page, an ‘online programme’; the top ten most popular pages that visitors engaged with seems to suggest: they were looking for “what was on”. Once they found the event they were looking for it is likely that they went elsewhere.

FACEBOOK In the same period, the activity on the festival’s Facebook page steadily increased. MHF engaged its audiences by regularly posting links to new events, responding to people’s questions and comments, and updating the page with photos, links, and videos both in the months coming up to the festival and especially during festival week. The commitment to create and share interesting content translated into a wider reach: in the weeks before the festival the number of likes kept growing, until it reached and surpassed 1k; on the first day and the Celebration Day the page’s reach peaked respectively with 1,374 and 1,315 organic views. This is an interesting example of how existing social media activities can be integrated with other marketing activity. It will be important to keep the page alive and dynamic, and further expand its reach during gaps between programming: for instance, since MHF’s brand is more recognizable, the page could be used as a platform to promote Manchester Histories’ future events and activities

TWITTER Like Facebook, the Twitter account was a valuable tool for audience engagement, promotion of key events, and building buzz during the run-up to the festival. There were up to 7 tweets per day before. During MHF 2012 the account reached 882 followers. Thanks to a daily Tweet about something from Greater Manchester’s histories that happened on that day, and through an open online dialogue with participants, attenders, and other organisations, the account has reached over 11,000 followers in 2014.

Additionally Twitter was an integral part of this year’s digital strategy with the Belle Vue Show and Tell digital game. This participatory game was intended to explore the use of Twitter and the web to engage new audience with a historical time period. It set ‘tasks’ for the participants to undertake each day during MHF, with the incentive of winning Belle Vue-themed prizes. Being a pilot project the game did not connect with wide audiences, but if still low in numbers the quality of the engagement bodes well for future plans featuring Twitter. .

YOUTUBE As well as being integral to recording the 2014 festival on film and stills photography, students from the University of Salford also produced three short films. One focused on the importance of Belle Vue and its legacy, celebrated this year in the special project, Belle

Vue: Showground of the World. Another focused on the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 and how that might be commemorated in future events and projects by MH, and the final was a summary of events and activities during MHF 2014. These remain promoted on the homepage of the website and are available on Manchester Histories Festival’s YouTube channel. Between them, they have obtained 452 views. Along with other videos produced over the last two festivals, they create another digital promotion channel.

All of the videos are accessible through the MHF website’s homepage www.manchesterhistoriesfestival.org.uk

Recording Celebration Day, Photo: Drew Forsyth

CASE STUDIES

Belle Vue:Showground of the World

The Showground of the World (SOTW) project took place over seven months, culminating during the MHF 2014. The project focussed on the histories and community legacy of Belle Vue, a theme park that once occupied 165 acres in East Manchester. Activities consisted of 23 events including talks, a digital mapping project, performances, walking tours and screenings taking place in and around two main hubs: an exhibition located in central Manchester and the Belle Vue Roadshow event at the Gorton Monastery. In the spirit of the Festival, SOTW’s range of events were designed to uncover and make visible the wealth of memories, personal stories and informal histories of Belle Vue and explore opportunities for capacity building around the value and legacy of these histories to Manchester communities.

The project was made possible by the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Several events were led by local historians, collectors or by the people who had worked at Belle Vue. In addition a number of MHF’s volunteers and local residents were trained in exhibition invigilation, oral history recording and acting. An interactive game run by performance company, The Larks, and the interactive walking tour in partnership with the Manchester Guided Tours and Lip Service Theatre Company were highlights of SOTW, facilitating intergenerational exchanges in a relaxed, fun atmosphere. Key legacy activities include:

 the development of a Steering Group that wants to continue working together and developing the Belle Vue legacy and the on-going recognition of the local skills, knowledge and experience already in the community;

 the continuation of elements of the project in Gorton, for example the Gorton performers continuing to work together and forming a drama group; Gorton Local History Society continuing to conduct oral histories on the local area following the training they received;

 the on-going development of the digital mapping project and links with Chetham’s Library’s digitisation of its own Belle Vue archive;

 the commitment from Gorton Monastery to host a Gorton local histories week each year after seeing the success of the project;

 the use of the Belle Vue elements in a new local histories publication to be published by Manchester City Council Regeneration team in partnership with MH, during the Gorton carnival and at Gorton Monastery during community events.

 wider recognition of Belle Vue, for example students from Manchester School of Art utilized the exhibition to inspire their final year project and producing an exhibition based on their oBelle Vue inspired work. then produced a further exhibition at New Century House.

“I am so pleased that Belle Vue has been featured as people loved the place so

much & very little information has been

available until now.” - Belle Vue: Showground of the World exhibition Showground of the World in numbers attendee 2825 total attendances 2100 exhibition visits 645 Belle Vue Roadshow visitors 80 walking tour participants 276 participants in the Monkey Business interactive game (including Belle Vue Roadshow and Town Hall performances) 23 Belle Vue related events during the Manchester Histories Festival period 12 people were trained to collect oral histories prior to the exhibition, 7 from Gorton 14 volunteers were trained to collect oral histories during the exhibition

Qualitative responses show how the experiences of visitors brought back evocative memories:

“The exhibition brought back memories of day trips to the zoo as a child and in later years dancing at the Elizabethan where I met my husband”. “Seeing things first hand that my partner can remember as a small child & his mother can recall in detail & fondly” “Although history is in the past we can see it living in the memories today” “Memories of happy times at Belle Vue in my childhood and teenage years” “I love Manchester!”

Other comments included nostalgic statements, tinged with sadness:

“An excellent survey of one of the biggest Manchester mysteries - how could Belle Vue fade away like it did?!” “How sad to drive past where the entrance to belle Vue was on Hyde Road and remember and to be aware that Belle Vue no longer exists” “I am so pleased that Belle Vue has been featured as people loved the place so much & very little information has been available until now.” “A real blast from the past, wish I could remember visiting as a child” “I now feel old”

There were some suggesting areas for improvement:

“I found the electric show (Miss Electra) quite sexist. Although it's not personal, the performers were very professional.” “Billboard marketing (if budget allows) to raise awareness. Design of Belle Vue exhibition was a bit disappointing.” “I think overall the Belle Vue week is a fantastic idea. I'm sure the other venues will do the subject justice. Belle Vue was a vibrant place and deserves more than Dale St.”

Belle Vue Roadshow, Gorton Monastery Photo: Joseph Price

SCHOOL INVOLVEMENT

Pupils from Aspinal Primary School, St Francis Primary School, Old Hall Drive Primary School, Chapel Street Primary School and St Richard's R.C. Primary School, 180 in total visited the Belle Vue exhibition. Additionally one of the oral histories recording kits has also been donated to St Richard’s to enable the school children to record family members and members of the community as part of their annual Belle Vue project.

The involvement of St Richard’s began from early phases: as part of English Heritage’s Heritage School programme they chose Belle Vue as their subject, subsequently the festival reached out to the school and included a performance created by the pupils in the Showground to the World exhibit, during which the pupils enacted a play about what they had learnt about Belle Vue. Moreover, during the festival, pupils from Years 5 and 6 visited the John Rylands Library and learnt about mapping in Manchester throughout the ages, and experienced a ‘supporters throughout the years’ tour at The National Football Museum.

Since the festival, Manchester Histories is also in contact with All Saints Primary School on Belle Vue Street who have an ambition to adapt their curriculum to include a local history project about Belle Vue. The charity is currently exploring how the SOTW project can support their aims.

Schools work around local histories has also been recognised through the Community History Awards 2014. MH wants to support more schools to engage in high quality histories and heritage projects.

MANCHESTER COMMUNITY HISTORIES AWARDS

The winner of this year’s Community Award as part of the Manchester Community History Awards was Lauren Murphy and her project- The Bradford Pit Project. Bradford Colliery was a fundamental contributor to the fuel and power throughout Manchester for over 350 years- Etihad campus is what occupies the site, today, on which the colliery once stood. After its closure in 1968 and demolition in 1973 there has been various changes to East Manchester’s physical development and regeneration which has means there has been a lessening awareness of the area’s heritage. Lauren’s Grandfather was a former Bradford Miner and suffered an accident there which affected the rest of his life. After his passing Lauren was inspired to research the history of the place and develop a project for a permanent commemoration.

The project’s exhibition ‘Remembering Bradford Pit’ ran as part of the festival and was nominated for the award because of the earlier work done with Beswick Library and St. Brigid’s primary school. A visit was arranges to ‘tell their stories of the underground’ to the children. The event included activities such as ‘tally’ stamping and coal drawing to capture the children’s responses to the stories. The exhibition and miners visit were aimed to help the Beswick/Bradford community rediscover an important part of the area’s heritage. During the awards ceremony, Lauren was approached by representatives from Laing O’Rourke, sponsors of the Community Award, who were so impressed by the work that Lauren had done that she was offered a 6 month placement during which she would be appointed the role of ‘Regeneration and Community Co-ordinator’. Since then Lauren has been given a fixed term contract with the company to work on The Bradford Pit Project full time to bring the project into fruition. We reached out to her to ask how this experience has changed her daily life and how she intended to spend the money from the award.

‘I have been able to spend full time developing the phases of the project in order to realise its end aim of creating a landmark that is a celebration of this pioneering area. The project is currently in its community engagement phase, in which six months’ worth of activities and creative workshops will run with the surrounding schools and resident. The outcomes of this phase will inform the concept to create a physical embodiment, rooted in of the community’s responses and ideas. We are now about to bring on board a team of creative professionals to take the project forward into its next phase of the commemorations concept creation.’

The prize money has contributed to the development of the project’s website which allows the public to share their stories and memories on the area aiding the development of the project’s archive. The archive is to be housed at Archives+ Manchester Central Library as a permanent resource for generations to come.

The recognition received and whole experience of Manchester Histories Festival, provided the stepping stones and break the project needed in order to realise its full potential and aims. Without the festival’s awards I wouldn’t have been able to propel the project to the stage it is currently at and have even been given the amazing opportunity to do this’

VOLUNTEERING: KEY FIGURES AND EXPERIENCE

44 people volunteered directly for MHF while several others volunteered for partner organisations, devoting their time and dedication to the delivery of 191 events over the course of ten days. We received 33 feedback forms that help us gather an idea of the volunteers’ experience. The data below refers to their responses to the survey.

-5,909 hours spent volunteering

-94% would volunteer again for the festival

Several categories of people of different ages and backgrounds volunteered during the festival, accordingly their reasons for doing so varied greatly from one another. However, almost 80% identified an interest in local histories as the main reason for wanting to volunteer, followed by the opportunity for professional development (45%), and meeting new people (33%). About the benefits gained from the experience (multiple answers question), 80% stated that they connected with new people, had fun and learnt more about Manchester’s histories; 63% networked with people and organisation, 48% learnt new skills and 20% took on more responsibility than usual.

54% of respondents stated that they gained new skills through oral histories training, 38% and 35% improved respectively their customer-facing skills and their team working skills; 25% strengthened their organisational skills and 6% their public speaking and administration skills.

The highlights of the experience included, but were not limited to:

“Seeing all the hard work come together and pay off, creating an incredible experience for all”; “Meeting other volunteers from various backgrounds and sharing their interests and knowledge”; “Doing oral histories interviews, and also presenting my own talk on celebration day”; “Bringing guided Tours around the Godlee Observatory, and telling people the history of the Manchester Astronomical Society and it's place in the science of Astronomy in Manchester since 1892”; “Feeling as if I was making a contribution. (And admittedly, telling Maxine Peake that I loved her performing Masque of Anarchy!)”.

There were some suggestions for improvement particularly around organisation of volunteering: many felt in the future volunteers should be involved and trained earlier; some of them suggested either to cover travel expenses or arrange free parking pass.

Some expressed the desire to widen the profile of volunteers and get more ‘longer term’ Manchester residents involved. Most stated that due to the concentration of events in a short period of time and so many working shifts made it difficult to attend as many events as they had hoped to.

Echoing the suggestions of most visitors, volunteers also made the case for more publicity, a better signage for the entrance of the exhibition, and for a longer festival, in order to spread out events over the course to several weeks or a month.

CREATIVE THREADS

Creative Threads was a series of events that took place on Sunday 23rd March, set in different venues around the city. Free vintage buses provided transportation between the organisations, which were by themselves a highlight for many visitors.

The venues involved were Chetham's Library, Elizabeth Gaskell House, Manchester Jewish Museum, Museum of Transport Greater Manchester, the Pankhurst Centre, Victoria Baths and the Working Class Movement Library (WCML). These 7 organisations, with the help of Manchester Histories, who provided project management and creative support, are working together as the Small Heritage Organisations Working Together (SHOWT) pilot network and successfully applied for an Arts Council England grant that allowed them to deliver Creative Threads.

Each venue worked with artists to explore their heritage and archives in a new way, providing inspiration and new experiences for the venues, artists and audiences alike. Importantly the project demonstrated how the arts and heritage venues can work together to explore and share local histories for new and existing audiences.

Max Dumbar, CEO of Manchester Jewish Museum(MJM) and spokesperson for the network provided feedback for the event:

“The Creative Threads Day attracted 117 visitors to Manchester Jewish Museum (MJM). The average number of Sunday visitors to the MJM is approx 20 and so the project significantly increased number of museum visitors in March.

The profile of these visitors varied greatly from local Cheetham Hill residents to families and members of the Jewish community. A local resident and regular visitor to the Museum of Transport commented that he’d always wanted to visit the Jewish Museum and the Creative Threads Day gave him the excuse to come. The klezmer workshop in the afternoon resulted in families dancing to klezmer music and members of the Jewish community learning about the Eastern European origins of klezmer.

The day attracted a broad range of visitors, from Manchester families to members of Manchester’s Jewish community – as such, the klezmer performances certainly reached a broad audience. We certainly noticed audience crossover as local Cheetham Hill residents who regularly visited the Transport Museum came to the Jewish Museum for the first time, as explained above.

Across the range of SHOWT venues there were similar experiences and audience numbers throughout the day, demonstrating the unique ability of SHOWT to educate, inspire and entertain a range of different audiences by celebrating Manchester’s diverse histories.”

The Big Digital at Manchester Town Hall, Photo: Drew Forsyth

6. CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS This report is able to make a number of conclusions about the key strengths and possibilities for Manchester Histories, based on the evaluation of the MHF 2014.  Embedding good practice: the recognition, reward and ongoing development of innovation and good practice through the Community Histories Awards. For example, one of this year’s winners, Lauren Murphy was supported by Laing O’Rourke. Her project for Manchester Histories Festival, Remembering Bradford Pit’ was entered for the award for her exhibition at Beswick Library, and engagement work with St. Brigid’s Primary School to and ex-miners from the community.  Engaging new and younger audiences: responses to the evaluation survey suggest that over a third of audiences were first time visitors to heritage events, over two thirds were new to MHF, and for just under two thirds it was their first visit to a particular venue. These new audiences were disproportionately from younger age groups, with over 55% of visitors between 16 and 34 years stating that this was their first time at a histories/heritage event.  Developing sustainable training models: the oral histories training provided during the festival in the Belle Vue Showground of the World project has led to a pool of trained volunteers. Since the festival, these volunteers have been active in other projects, including the Strawberry Studios project in Stockport and Greater Manchester Coalition of Voluntary Services’ Ardwick Green Heritage project.  Maximising engagement through digital technologies: analysis of social media activities show that the Festival has built up a large audience, who follow its programme on as well as offline. For example, the Bring Back Belle Vue facebook group membership increased significantly in the weeks leading up to and during the Festival, and the @McrHistFest twitter account has now over 11,000 followers. These communities are mobilised to share their heritage through digital media.  Valuing and validating local social histories: as a platform for projects which are close to local communities’ hearts but seldom part of the conventional heritage narrative. Exhibitions such as the Belle Vue: Showground of the World brought these histories into the public domain and the centre of the city, and led to the Festival being described as “an event without barriers - topical or geographical - MHF was peerless in its scale in 2014” (Manchester Evening News, 2014).

Recommendations:

 The Manchester Histories Festival is reliant on volunteer support and its delivery is highly dependent on finding consistent and quality volunteers, which poses risks to MHF continued capacity to deliver its programme. A year-round, formal basis will provide more opportunities for employability and skills development, engagement with more Manchester residents (presently most volunteers are students), and a bank of training volunteers who could support the community sector e.g. oral historians, archive research, experienced invigilators. As the charity’s activities expand this situation is increasingly untenable, and a key aspect of the organisation’s work in the near future will be to ensure resources to meet the aims and objects. For example the Festival was aiming to become annual by 2014 however this was not possible under the previous operational structure. Now the profile and status of the Festival has been enhanced and its governance and operational structure formed, this has become feasible, but only if the appropriate resources are in place.  Increase cultural diversity of its programme in order to diversify audiences, volunteers and participants. To do so, it should develop supportive partnerships with key organisations e.g. Archives+, My Community UK and also new Heritage Lottery Fund’s Black and Minority Ethnic Network. Working with these partners will help Manchester Histories to identify the barriers and ways to represent the diverse histories and heritage of Manchester.  Develop digital engagement strategy for Manchester Histories and also a wider platform for the sector to reach audiences, building on the existing practices, such as digital games, use of existing social media channels, and a solid and growing digital audience,  Increase Greater Manchester remit by building and enhancing partnerships with local authorities, wider community groups and local histories organisations.  Increase profile and tourism reach of the festival and market MHF 2016 to a wider national audience. In order to achieve this Manchester Histories will need to invest more resources in PR and Marketing in advance of the Festival scheduling.  Develop academic and educational role of Manchester Histories and consider the incorporation of a national/international conference alongside or in close proximity to MHF in the coming years, which could explore the role of Manchester and its historical impact nationally and internationally.

Ordsall Hall Photo: Drew Forsyth