HOME Annual Review 2020/21 An extraordinary year THANK YOU! HOME ANNUAL REVIEW We’d like to say a big thankyou to all our supporters.

FUNDERS WELCOME

It’s a cliché to say this has been an work, we switched events from live We even managed to have some unprecedented year – but it’s also to livestream, took our engagement amazing moments in the building for FOUNDING SUPPORTERS true. At the end of 2019/20, HOME programme online and we reached out the few weeks we were open. It was was enjoying its most successful year to our partners to see what we could do amazing to experience the ambitious, ever. We had nearly 900,000 visits, together to support those who needed exciting live programming, and the around 7,000 events taking place and us. We changed our commissioning number of sold out screenings and CORPORATE SPONSORS DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE Ann Quaife Michael Orland over 20,000 people engaged from our processes to make sure we took into performances showed just how much Auto Trader Tom and Jo Bloxham Lesley Rhodes Jeff O’Toole communities. account the time and effort freelancers people wanted to get back and Bruntwood Brenda & Arnold Bradshaw Gary Shepherd Gareth Palmer put into pitching to us, and with the experience culture in person. Clear Channel UK Meg & Peter Cooper Martin Smith Victoria Pinnington On 17 March 2020, when we closed help of everyone who donated to LWC John & Penny Early Carole Such Helen Pleasance our doors ahead of the first national This annual review contains just some our Response Fund and the Empty Q-Park Brendan Pittaway Andrew Thompson Joe Plumb lockdown, that all came to a sudden of the highlights of a very unusual year Seats campaign we managed to keep Manchester Airport Raj & Reshma Ruia Sue Thurston Lili Porter halt. It was the biggest shock we’ve – there’s so much to be proud of that System One Travel Jane & Stephen Sorrell Nick Tyson Paul Pryke investing in programming and artists. Timpsons Susan Webster Gabriele Reinsch experienced, and I don’t think anyone it was impossible to fit it all in. I’d like Transport for Greater Manchester SILVER FRIENDS Philip Roberts would have blamed us for hunkering We also took time to reflect on the to say thankyou to every colleague, Weightmans PATRON CIRCLE Gerard Allen Susan Rodgers down for the duration. But that’s not diversity within our organisation, artist, contractor, audience member, World Duty Free Simon and Shalni Arora Richard Armitage Malcolm Rolph the approach we took. inspired by the Black Lives Matter supporter and friend who has made WSP Andy Beaden Laura Barry Christine Rolph movement. We had a lot of important it possible. We couldn’t have done it Martin Boulton Michael Biggs Eva Salgado Sanchez Instead, we doubled down on our and challenging conversations without you. CORPORATE MEMBERS Marc and Jennie Duschenes Maria Bota Anthony Seitler commitment to artists, to audiences, to internally, and committed to being anti- Eversheds Sutherland Chris Jeffries Chris Brown-Colbert Dee Sheehan freelancers and to the cultural ecology Dave Moutrey (International) LLP Ashok & Anna Kallumpram Nicholas Clarke Nick Smith racist and pro-equality through the way of our wonderful city of Manchester. First Manchester Alison Ross Mike Cooke Paul Sweeney we work and the work we make and Director and CEO HFL Building Solutions Roger & Margaret Helen Coupland Rachel Tebay We continued to commission new present. Slater Heelis LLP Stephenson Alison Crush Julie Thomas TBWA\MCR Florencia Donagaray Samantha Thorpe PLATINUM FRIENDS Ceri Dornan Tim Turner PROJECT SUPPORTERS Georgina Amica-Carpenter Colin Edgar Alison Vaughan Acción Cultural Española Zac Bearshaw Keith Etherington Beverley Wallace Beaverbrooks Charitable Trust Richard Bircher Thea Euryphaessa Ben Williams Jonty Claypole Joanna Bircher Noel Fagan James Woodhead Richard and Joanna Bircher Stuart Bishop Anthony Galpin-Howarth Dave Woodyer Edwin Fox Charitable Trust Derrick Hodnett Pravin Gorajala CONTENTS Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Fiona Hudson Jack Gray A huge thank you to those 4 Homemakers: A new take on online theatre Evan Cornish Foundation Steve Jennings Amy Gregson who chose to donate Film Hub North Malcolm Pitcher Prue Griffiths the cost of their tickets, 6 Live to livestream Garfield Weston Foundation Robert Sherard Liam Harper supported our Response Instituto Cervantes George Whalley David Harrison Fund and contributed 7 Future 20: From gallery exhibition to virtual reality JMK Trust Kirstie Hartwell when our seats were 8 Our Plague Year and slow digital John Ellerman Foundation GOLD FRIENDS Ian Hemmings empty due to social Jonty Claypole Simon Bennett Peter Huddleston distancing. Thank you for 10 Black History Month at HOME and online Nora Smith Charitable Settlement Jessica Bowles Anthony Jones supporting us during an 11 Pushing the boundaries Office for Cultural & Scientific Affairs - Gary Bramwell Roisin Joyce incredibly difficult year. We Embassy of Spain Alison Bunker Saara Kavanagh couldn’t have got through 12 A moment of joy One Manchester Lesley Chalmers Alex Kimani it without your support. PRS Foundation Michael Cripps Steve Leader 15 A little help from our friends Relief Fund for Victims of the Loss of Marla Cunningham Natalie Lebouleux If you would like to make a 16 How HOME supported freelancers during the pandemic Flight 4U9525 Stuart Dick Polly Low donation, you can do so via Richard & Joanna Bircher Henry Hall John McAuliffe our website or by texting 18 HOME’s £26 million economic impact on Manchester Savannah Wisdom Debbie Hargreaves Stuart McCracken HOMEMCR to 70085. 20 HOME in pictures The Granada Foundation Peter Hargreaves Gwynneth McManus The Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation Rodney Hill James Medd 21 ¡Viva!: A festival of two halves The Leri Charitable Trust Karl Jackson Daniel Mills 22 Insane Animals: A year on The Oglesby Charitable Trust Alex Lourinha Ciara Minnitt The Peter Kershaw Trust Garry Martin Paul Moore The Rix-Thompson Rothenberg Ruth McCann Andy Mycock CREDITS Foundation Derek Munday Emma Nattrass-Daniels Editor Kat Harrison-Dibbits. Copywriting Nancy Hopkins. Editorial Assistant Chloe Beale. Design Gary Clarke UK Theatres Trust Chris Paul Daniels Lindy Newns Photography Drew Forsyth, Paul Karalius, Chris Payne and companies W O Street Charitable Trust Monica Pearl Helen Nicolson Young Manchester Louanne Pellowe-Bailey Thomas Nuhse HOME is a trading name of Greater Manchester Arts Centre Ltd a company limited by guarantee. Registered in England and Wales No: 1681278. Registered office 2 Tony Wilson Place, Manchester, M15 4FN. Charity No: 514719 © 2021 2 3 HOMEMAKERS A NEW TAKE ON ONLINE THEATRE HOME’s series of new lockdown commissions, Homemakers, challenges and expands the idea of what online theatre can be, with artists creating films, games, creative prompts and more.

When the country locked down in March mediums. Ad Infinitum created a commissions, including Chris Thorpe 2020, performing arts venues were triptych of video shorts titled A Small and Yusra Warsama’s game, Tell Me. amongst the first to close their doors. Gathering, having never previously Designed to be played by two or more Across the cultural sector, there was an worked with film. Using mobile phones, friends, Tell Me explored personal immediate recognition that there were home cameras and torches, the end narrative, truth and fictions through a tough times ahead for both venues and result was a collection of darkly comic, series of prompts. Players chose from artists. twisted tales of loneliness that perfectly a list of questions, then answered on captured the anxieties of the nation in behalf of the person they were playing Very quickly, HOME’s team realised Spring 2020. with, leading to unusual and surprising that to support artists we needed to conversations. find a way to commission them to Ad Infinitum’s Nir Paldi said: create new work despite the lockdown. “Homemakers was such a liberating, Two commissions, Plaster Cast Theatre’s And furthermore, we saw an artistic quick and inspiring response to the Homelands and METIS’ Love Letters opportunity. Could we use the pandemic lockdown. It was like a ray of creative to a Liveable Future, used the postal and our collective experience of ‘locking light, a blissful break from the horrid service to interact with audiences in an down’ as a creative prompt to redefine work of cancellation and unproducing. analogue way, while Seriol Davies and the concept of live art, producing works It was our first go ever at making a Matthew Blake’s Actualquest took the that have a lasting, digital legacy? film and taught us so much. There was form of a “choose your own adventure something about seizing that moment game” and David Ellington used the One of the most ambitious Homemakers works The initial release of five fully-funded in time that just made you take the leap short film medium to his advantage with Homemakers commissions for artists was James Monaghan’s Let’s Spend the Night and get on with doing something you the poignant and political BSL poem to create new works at home, for Together, an online durational performance have never done before. The support Liberty. audiences at home became available to we received from HOME was incredible, running from sunset to sunrise last June. Here the the public in early May, just eight weeks Many of the works engaged with the compassionate and generous. The artist talks about how working online challenged after the lockdown. Works ranged from experience of lockdown, from Bryony experience changed us: film and video performances and interactive Kimmings’ I’m falling in love with you him to think about theatre differently. digital work - something we had little games, to handwritten fantasy scenarios and it’s making me do stupid things, experience with pre-pandemic - is an “Online theatre is not new - think Blast Theory’s Kidnapped (1998) and and silent gothic horrors, all to be a sharply accurate portrayal of the exciting new area for Ad Infinitum that I’d Hide You (2012) or Gob Squad’s Room Service (2003/2020). The enjoyed and interacted with from home. monotony of the first UK lockdown, will definitely feature in our work in the digital is simply another space in which to perform and in which we do The series has been extended even and reaching out to exes online in future.” ‘perform’ through everyday online interactions, just like how we ‘perform’ further with plans for new works to be an alcohol fuelled fug of loneliness, in supermarkets, with friends, at weddings or funerals. released into Summer 2021, and there Naomi Sumner Chan, who created the to Ugly Bucket’s ABC (Anything But are now over 30 commissions from blog series Wait I’m From Wuhan, had Covid) which questions how far we’ll “The bonus of online theatre-making is that it challenges us to approach artists creating work across the UK and never worked digitally before, and said: go to oblige the pressures of staying things differently; to dream up new ways of devising that are led by the internationally. “I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of productive in lockdown. medium itself, rather than just trying to do what you would do in the response. I was worried people wouldn’t theatre - but online. That seems such a waste to me because there’s so Some artists featured in the series are The Guardian said of the series that relate to a fictional character or other much potential for exciting discoveries. You could create a long list of the HOME regulars, such as Javaad Alipoor, the works “play with what it means to adoptees would be annoyed that their challenges or make the same list again as opportunities. It just depends Bryony Kimmings and Hot Brown Honey, make theatre remotely, embracing the stories and experiences were being told on how you approach it. are HOME regulars, while by working specificities of online performance. by a person who did not really exist. with commissioning partners across the Messing with the usual temporality “Let’s Spend The Night Together was very much born out of its time. The While the first few days were quiet, soon country – including Music Theatre Ways of theatre, there are pieces that are form was shaped by a desire to bring people together in the only way people started to talk back to Jasmine and London Sinfonietta, Cambridge fleeting… and those that gradually we could (online) to imagine a future at a time when that felt impossible, and I saw that her story did resonate Junction, and Chinese Arts Now among accumulate.” and to do this together, from the confines of the performers’ own homes, and have relevance to people from all others – new artists were brought to a using the very real limitations and restrictions to inspire the content. over the world.” homemcr.org/homemakers HOME audience. “To me, the crucial part of online theatre is to keep live, keep it risky and Audiences were encouraged to actively Clockwise from main image: Ugly Bucket’s ABC (Anything For some artists, Homemakers provided lean into the medium with all its opportunities.” participate with a number of the But Covid), Hot Brown Honey’s Don’t Touch My Hair, Bryony a chance to experiment with new Kimmings; I’m falling in love with you *and it’s making me do stupid things) and David Ellington’s Liberty. 4 5 FROM GALLERY EXHIBITION LIVE TO TO VIRTUAL REALITY LIVESTREAM Initially due to open as a physical exhibition in August Digitally recreating the HOME building and Tony Wilson Place, the artists took 2020, Last Place on Earth became a mesmerising audiences on a journey through different realms that echoed the five classical In November 2020, audiences at a later date, and also to be hand peeled potato or a jam jar of dust. virtual reality piece, created by HOME’s Future 20 elements - Black Light (Light), Bleak Sea used for archive and training purposes Combining the world’s biggest auction entertainment venues Collective in collaboration with Studio Morison. (Water), Surface Cloud (Air), Soft Stone for streaming set-up. site with David’s anarchic performance (Earth) and Nexus Valley (Aether) - each across the UK were forced style made for an evening of spontaneity The enforced closure of HOME in March with its own message and a specially and cutting social commentary. The Future 20 Collective are a group of an increase in choking cities, overheating to close for a second time, 2020 gave Head of Lighting, Sound and curated soundtrack. ten artists aged 18 to 25 who started to climates, flooded communities and Video, Andy Smith, valuable time to Many of the moments in Sh!t Theatre’s in order to combat a rise in work with HOME in 2019, on a 12 month, extreme poverty. If we don’t act now, Future 20 produced an alternative place learn more about streaming platforms, original production of Sh!t Actually cross-art-form training programme. what will happen to our planet? Does for audiences to reconnect with nature, the number of Coronavirus buy the kit and equip the organisation relied completely on audience Future 20 specialise in a range of Last Place on Earth give insight to an through the virtual reality lens. A space for the likely switch to a fully digital participation. As a live audience cases. For HOME, this disciplines including filmmaking, poetry, uncertain future?” for people to think carefully about who programme. experience couldn’t be replicated, meant a quick pivot from spoken word, photography, visual art, they are, the impacts of their behaviours a digital alternative was required to When the world came to a standstill in By using remote PTZ cameras, filming music, theatre and glassmaking. and attitudes towards our planet and performing to socially perform important plot functions and Spring 2020, the underlying themes of could be done at a safe distance in what actions we must take to create real generate a sense of community. Taking as its starting point a future the work felt more relevant than ever. distanced audiences in the a separate room. The cameras could positive change. eco-catastrophe, Last Place on Earth Working with Studio Morison, Future 20 be operated by a single person and WhatsApp proved to be the perfect way building, to a live stream explores what the planet could look like responded to the coronavirus outbreak The process of moving from a physical streamed in HD, ensuring that the to communicate with remote audiences from Theatre 1 for audiences when it is reborn. Inspired by the current by splicing together film and virtual exhibition to the digital realm was quality of the filming matched the and drive the action forward. In practical climate crisis, Future 20 artist Maisie reality to create a new, digital experience guided by artist Ivan Morison, founder quality of the work. terms, it also meant technical issues at home. Pritchard commented: “The whole world where they were no longer constrained of Studio Morison. Ivan said: “Last Place could be instantly shared, without the Live shows scheduled for the Winter Although our artists had started to is collectively experiencing impacts of by the size and scale of a physical On Earth evolved around the central need for social media or emails. season included the World Premiere of plan for the shift to livestreamed climate change and we are threatened by exhibition space. question within the collective: As artists and creatives of all types, how best do David Hoyle’s A Grand Auction of My digital performances, online audience Collaboration was at the heart of the we communicate the urgent issues of Life and Sh!t Theatre’s Sh!t Actually. interaction was unchartered territory, success of using WhatsApp, and by which led to innovative and playful working closely with the production our time - the environment emergency Fortunately, our technical team were outcomes. team on Javaad Alipoor’s The Believers and the collapse of societal norms and well equipped to deliver a livestreamed are But Brothers, which was the civic responsibility - and through our offer at short notice, having piloted it David Hoyle’s A Grand Auction of first show in November to switch to work how do we bring about meaningful on a number of shows over the last few My Life was based around audiences livestream, we were able to better change?” years, including Gutted in 2017 and participating in a live, real-life auction understand how to use social media The ten featured Future 20 artists are Swim in 2019. Developing a live stream in the performance space. When it to create a sense of togetherness. offer has always been a long term aim, became clear that was no longer Khizar Ali, Evie Appleson, Elena Brearley, Audience feedback was positive, and and the technical team had already possible, David and his team proposed James Desser, Saf Elsenossi, Jahday the addition of the ‘make your own done a number of ‘as-live’ recordings using eBay to run a live auction during Ford, Sally Hirst, Connor Milligan, Maisie goody bag’ element allowed further Pritchard and Melissa Sorrell. from Theatre 2, including Future Bodies the show. Audience members could bid interaction from home. in 2018. This was to be shown to on specially curated items, such as a homemcr.org/LPOE

While early Future 20 R&D sessions took place at HOME, the works themselves were transformed into a virtual reality space following the lockdown. 6 7 THREE MORE OUR PLAGUE YEAR AND SLOW DIGITAL “SLOW” A weekly comic series set in a EXPERIENCES fictionalised version of Eyam TO TRY FROM brings the art of waiting back to digital experiences. HOME

THE POETRY HEALTH SERVICE Founded by Manchester-based poet, playwright and performer, Hafsah Aneela Bashir, the PHS champions the importance of art in supporting our mental and emotional health. It is available to access via a dedicated website and phoneline, and users are gifted a complimentary poem – a poetry panacea – following the completion of a colour-based flowchart.

ABSENT TENSE Commissioned by Candoco Dance Company, Jo Bannon’s Absent Tense is an audio essay and accompanying publication which reflects the presence of absence in our lives right now. Inspired It can often feel like the digital world is an overwhelmingly fast-moving place, but when it came to commissioning new artwork The artist himself admits he would like to be able to binge by the first 12 weeks of lockdown and in lockdown, HOME’s Curator Bren O’Callaghan had a markedly different response. the entire series at once, but says that the weekly format fits experienced over 12 parts, it is an in better with people’s busy lives, adding: “We don’t always As a self-confessed ‘wilful soul,’ Bren wanted to (slowly) walk away from the digital noise and commission a piece of work that intimate meditation on solitude, faith, have time to sit down and read a full novel, we dip into it would intentionally drip-feed the slow-roasted coffee equivalent in an episodic narrative. Inspired by the weekly cartoons in loss, breath and time passing. from time to time and read a few pages here and there, long-redundant Saturday newspaper supplements, or waiting all week for a favourite TV show to air a new episode, audiences perhaps at the end of a day, or at the end of the week.” would not be in control. They would wait and in return, would receive a treat. Then wait their turn once more. Bren adds: “To receive an email with original content in Created exclusively for HOME by artist and illustrator Nick Burton, Our Plague Year is an alternative retelling of life in Eyam LOVE LETTERS TO A cartoon form is comparable in these fast-moving times to during the Great Plague of 1665-66, initially released via the HOME website and an email subscriber list in a weekly comic LIVEABLE FUTURE receiving a handwritten note.” strip format over a ten-week period in May, and then extended to last for a full year thanks to Arts Council England funding. Performing arts company METIS take The villagers of Eyam in Derbyshire are best known for their decision to quarantine themselves during the Great Plague, in There are other benefits to breaking down the convention of their Homemakers commission offline order to stop the virus spreading to neighbouring towns and villages. But Our Plague Year is no simple historically accurate art being displayed in a “white cube gallery”. altogether, using old-fashioned snail retelling – it’s a fictional piece of work, drawing on contemporary narratives and making a connection between historical “Fine dining isn’t only a single scallop in a pool of mango mail to send audience members a pandemics aggravated by misinformation, fear and discrepancy of wealth. spittle, it’s a home-cooked roast, a sloppy taco, a child’s pack of postcards with instructions for Using a comic strip format, Nick’s work explores self-isolation and human behaviour and features a diverse cast of characters attempt at baking,” says Bren. “For HOME to present the improvising alternative futures. Designed that challenge received histories of the period. From non-white British citizens, to deaf and disabled characters, Our Plague comic form as a major new visual art commission indicates to stimulate reflection and conversation Year fuses the reactions of today’s society to the coronavirus outbreak, and layers them over a similar event from 350 years that we’re not restricted by convention, and that it’s possible amongst households, families and friends, ago. to enjoy art - even laugh at it - instead of feeling humiliated these cards offer participants the dream by the looming spectre of secret art knowledge you don’t space to imagine how we would like our From stockpiling vinegar to quack remedies made from toads, onions and treacle, essential needs are re-evaluated in 17th know about.” world to be different when we re-emerge century Eyam by a host of characters with varying moral compasses. from lockdown. Participants are also While the characters of Our Plague Year are certainly fictional, As well as food and medicine, friendship, desire and inequality all come under the spotlight. invited to share their visions of a liveable Nick has also teamed up with Eyam Museum, in Derbyshire, future with the METIS team either by Nick’s creative process naturally lends itself to ‘slow digital,’ as each page takes around two days to write, draw, ink and to look at the museum’s collections, and an online Q&A with post, online or via a video call. colour. Releasing the comic strip weekly allowed Nick to respond to current events and work those into the finished product, the museum’s curator, Owen Roberts, discussed the parallels or to make notes for future episodes. between fact and fiction. homemcr.org/plagueyear

8 9 BLACK HISTORY MONTH AT HOME AND ONLINE PUSHING THE October 2020 saw a month-long associated with the Mangrove restaurant, Representation and space were the key celebration of Black art, film, theatre, that exposed police harassment of Black themes of The Future Minority Majority music, and live performance. Britons. Spike Lee’s 1989 drama Do the Wonders – Where Are Our Spaces?, Right Thing completed the trio of films. hosted by Cheryl Martin, artist and BOUNDARIES The programme of activity was curated Co-Artistic Director of Black Gold Arts to question representation and challenge In the Granada Foundation Gallery, artist Festival. narratives, and to champion Black Christian Asare exhibited Love Flows, a Some unusual new works have grown from the artists and Black-led organisations in diptych in oils created during lockdown Cheryl’s theatre work One Woman was Manchester and the North West. to celebrate the creative contributions also available to watch online - a hypnotic lockdown, but one of the most experimental was always of the trailblazing QTIBPOC collective, dreamscape following one woman’s Assistant Producer Sekeenat Karim, intended to be presented digitally – a boundary-pushing House of Noir. wrestle with her identity. who programmed Black History Month 2020, said: “We really wanted to use Digitally, audiences aged 15 to 25 were And on Instagram Stories, the HOME narrative game exploring grief and extremism. our platforms across film, theatre and treated to poetry workshops with Young Sound Sessions presented exclusive visual art to encourage discussion and Identity. Aimed specifically at young performances by Dorcas Sebuyange, Part of HOME’s annual Push give centre stage to Black artists and people from Black, Asian and ethnically Berry Blacc and To!u x Aden. celebration of the North West’s organisations, with an aim to continue diverse backgrounds, the workshops creative talents – which has been working with and uplifting Black artistry explored the Black British diaspora, and extended from a festival to a strand across the year.” the concept of ‘home.’ for one year only, to allow both online and live works to feature – Black History Month was delivered Families enjoyed , Celina and the Spider Closed Hands is an unflinching work digitally and at HOME, with audiences a series of three storytelling sessions by of interactive fiction exploring the enjoying socially distanced performances emerging writer Ella McLeod, specially long-ranging complex effects of from Manchester’s finest spoken word commissioned by HOME. Featuring extremism on a range of cultures and collective, Young Identity. renowned trickster Anansi the Spider, communities. The sprawling 130,000- Celina and the Spider creatively explored Working from Home saw Young Identity word story is presented through bold mortality through handmade puppetry launch their new book of poetry, with a interactive narrative across five core and mythical West African and Caribbean retrospective of the work produced in characters and dozens of additional gods. their first five years at HOME, as resident viewpoints and perspectives. artists. Panel discussions were recorded at audiences, and we really hope that it helps push forward the idea that Closed Hands was developed by venues across Manchester and hosted games should, and can, boldly hold up a mirror to our reality in new and Other highlights in the building included Manchester indie games studio online. interesting ways. The story is deep and complex, and presented in a way three one-off screenings of films that Passenger, formed and directed by that we hope can be explored by both games audiences and those outside were specially selected to reflect seminal The Black Mirror – Representations of artist and writer Dan Hett, recent it, too.” moments in contemporary UK and US Race in Horror Film featured a lively winner of the New Media Writing Black history. discussion between host, podcaster and Prize 2021. The game was made with Closed Hands is the studio’s first work which builds upon the experimental intersectionality consultant Esther Lisk- support from Arts Council England. games series developed by Dan exploring his personal experience of White Riot charts the formation of Rock Carew, film programmer Liz Chege and losing his brother Martyn Hett in the Manchester terror attack in 2017. The Against Racism in the 1970s, while The gameplay is a free-form film curator Adam Murray. studio’s next project will be The Long Night, a commissioned reworking of Steve McQueen’s Mangrove focuses on fragmented narrative, allowing the Ernst Israel Bornstein’s famous holocaust account. the notorious prosecution of activists player to weave their own paths through the story: both forward and backward in time. The story is told through interactive textual fiction, and the player can also engage more deeply in the narrative by exploring the desktops of the characters. This includes reading emails, exploring files, replaying conversations, finding secrets. Presented as an interactive digital story, the game will also challenge wider preconceptions users have about video game storytelling. Dan Hett said: “We’re really excited to present Closed Hands to new

10 11 HOME’s Executive Director Jon Gilchrist talks about the planning that went into HOME’s September A MOMENT reopening following the first lockdown.

When HOME closed its doors to the public in March, we where we consulted with audience members, staff and artists didn’t know how long it would be for. But it’s safe to say that about our plans for reopening. We set up a panel to help at that point no one anticipated the gravity of the COVID-19 inform our programming, and it was so successful that we’ve OF JOY crisis, and the impact it would have on arts and culture in the now built these in-depth conversations with people outside UK. our venue into our ongoing strategy.

HOME was created as a social space, and in its first five Finally – and most joyfully – Welcome HOME saw us reopen years it has triumphed as such. In 2019/20 we had a record- with Mr Wilson’s Second Liners performing an afternoon breaking 900,000 visits to HOME. This is testament to the set outdoors and Mr Scruff playing an evening DJ set. We incredible team, our supporters, funders and trustees. But didn’t really publicise either – we wanted to create a real now we had to reconcile ourselves with an entirely new feeling of serendipity around the event. We also created the challenge: with COVID-19 an ongoing reality, how do we most “HOME” safety video we could – a vogue-through of create a social space in a socially distanced world? the building and our additional measures, starring Darren Pritchard, Mother of the House of Ghetto. We worked hard to look at expert advice, to make sure our visitors, staff and artists were safe – and we spoke to As I write this, HOME is once again closed. But we’re busy colleagues across the UK and analysed examples from across planning our reopening events again, and we can guarantee the world to find best practice. we’ll be HOME soon.

We’re lucky that our design and architecture make it possible to open with social distancing in place – for example our large open space on entry, wide central staircase and toilets on every level. Alongside our catering operator Wardleys, we’ve worked tirelessly to introduce new measures to make HOME safe and welcoming.

We took a three-phase approach to our reopening, that would allow us to move back and forwards between phases as we needed to – which proved useful in November when we had to close once again.

The first phase, HOME from Home, involved delivering as much work online as possible to fulfil our audiences’ needs for the “HOME experience”, and create as much work for freelance artists as possible. Second came HOME Soon,

Safety measures included contactless ticketing, PPE for staff, a one-way system and social distancing throughout the building 12 13 After all the uncertainty, HOME’s reopening weekend was a moment of joy in the city. We made full use of the outdoor space to allow for social distancing, with Mr Wilson’s Second Liners playing a raucous, open-air set, and later in the evening DJ Mr Scruff made a surprise appearance. A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS HOME’s Response Fund was launched on 18 March 2020, after the closure of theatres and cinemas across the country posed a very real threat to the future of the arts and culture industry.

At HOME, up to 50% of our income relies on our Reasons for giving were varied, from those missing building being open to the public and we knew that watching a film or having drinks with friends after work, the economic impact of closing for even two weeks to frequent donors who once again demonstrated their would be huge. Little did we know that we would be loyalty and generosity. facing months of closure, with no clear roadmap for One Response Fund donor said: “HOME was always reopening. the place I would go to after a bad day to catch a film, Promoted through our social media channels and our see a show or simply get a pint. It’s a wonderful place email subscriber list, our message was simple. We with excellent staff and I’m happy to support it as much asked our audiences and supporters to donate so as possible during this difficult time.” that we could continue to be a beacon of creativity Another said: “I was very happy to contribute to the and actively support our independent artists, despite fund and am glad that it allows you guys to continue having a closed building. the great work you do and support your staff and When we launched our online series of work, artists. I look forward to visiting HOME again as soon Homemakers in April 2020, we also used this as as possible when it’s open and things are safe again.” an opportunity to promote giving to the Response Gratifyingly, we also welcomed new supporters during Fund. Proceeds from the Fund went directly into this period. Many of these new benefactors had never commissioning additional work from artists, and visited HOME, but wanted to support the creative by weaving this message into the communications ecology of the city. campaign, we were able to maximise donations from audiences. We were bowled over by the generosity shown to HOME in our time of need, and raised £51,177 for the In addition, some of the proceeds from our pay-what- Response Fund. you-can tickets went back into the Response Fund, funding further work for artists in Greater Manchester. The response to the campaign was overwhelmingly positive, with many messages of support and amazing philanthropy.

14 15 HOW HOME SUPPORTED FREELANCERS DURING THE PANDEMIC

At HOME, we have always been proud to work with some of the employed around managing the The fund was specifically aimed of artists, technicians and creative very best freelancers across Greater Manchester and beyond, to response to, and recovery from, the towards those who were ineligible practitioners. coronavirus crisis in the performing for, or were unsuccessful in applying “Over the past 12 months, HOME has deliver our internationally renowned creative programme. arts sector. Darren’s presence on for, the Government Self Employment worked with partners across the city the Task Force will ensure that Income Support Scheme. Financial to support freelancers in a number of voices usually left out of the bigger assistance was targeted at those who ways. We’ve continued to commission conversations are amplified and heard had reduced demand for, or capacity those who hadn’t previously engaged new work, including the innovative Throughout this unusual year, HOME’s the aim of the Freelance Task Force is with special attention paid to QTPOC to deliver, their services. Freelancers with HOME, but wanted to support Homemakers digital projects, and commitment to supporting freelancers to strengthen the influence of the self- voices. who worked in parts of the sector that expanded the Push commissions for has remained a core part of our the creative ecology of the city. A employed theatre and performance were unable to trade as a result of And in January 2021, we launched a regional artists. We’ve worked with mission. significant proportion of this went community. coronavirus were also encouraged to directly into commissioning more £500,000 hardship fund for freelancers colleagues across the city region on Without freelancers, the arts and Using an open call process, we apply. work from freelance artists. in Manchester, working in partnership developing the GM Artist Hub. And, culture sector could not function, but appointed performer and theatre with Manchester City Council and From setting up a dedicated helpline thanks to an incredible donation from We also worked with cultural it doesn’t end there, as Dave Moutrey, maker Darren Pritchard as our made possible by a generous gift from to answering queries on social media, the Savannah Wisdom Foundation, organisations across Greater our Director and CEO, who is also representative at national level. the Savannah Wisdom Foundation. our team were there every step of the we’ve worked with Manchester City Manchester to form the GM Artists Director of Culture for Manchester A native Mancunian, Darren is a The fund was part of ongoing efforts way to help freelancers through the Council to deliver a £500k hardship Hub. The project was conceived to City Council, explained. director, producer, choreographer, to support the freelance population of application process. The response to fund for freelancers who have support the independent performers, and vogue house mother. Darren has He said: “Freelance artists, creatives, Manchester’s vibrant arts and culture the hardship fund was overwhelmingly not been able to receive support artists and companies that make 20 years of experience in the fashion, technicians, security, and a host of sector, and to prevent the loss of a positive, with support coming from elsewhere. up Greater Manchester’s vibrant theatre, television and performing other advisors and workers are vital generation of talented artists and both freelancers and venues across artistic community by offering free, arts industries. In addition to his “In 2021 we want to do even more, to the health and creativity, not creative practitioners. the region, and beyond. practical advice sessions with artist leadership in the infamous House and we’re committed to placing the only of the cultural sector, but also development producers and directors. of Ghetto and pioneering efforts in The Savannah Wisdom Foundation Jon Gilchrist, Executive Director needs and skills of freelancers at the of our economy, communities and The hub was also a vital source of Black Pride MCR, Darren is also the is an independent foundation of HOME, said: “The impact of forefront of our thinking as we play city because they are an essential peer-to-peer support to a number of co-artistic director for the Manchester- committed to social change for the pandemic on culture has been our role in the cultural recovery of source of the ideas, challenges, skills freelancers who were feeling isolated based arts organisation Black Gold a better world. They created the extraordinary, but it’s in the freelance Manchester and the UK.” and insights that make inspirational as a result of losing work due to the Arts. discretionary fund to support ecology within our sector where the projects happen.” pandemic. freelancers working in the creative damage has been most visible. The The Task Force has created ongoing In April 2020 we launched our and cultural sectors and grants of up closure of venues and the subsequent We also signed up to the Freelance points of connection between Response Fund to supplement lost to £1,500 were made available to cancellation of projects has left Task Force in May 2020. A national freelancers, organisations, funders revenue and raised over £50,000 individual freelancers. thousands of skilled professionals initiative of over 100 performing arts and government. The initiative seeks with generous donations from our without work, and risks seeing the arts organisations and led by Fuel Theatre, to amplify the voices of the self- audiences, existing supporters and industry haemorrhage a generation

16 17 LOCAL EMPLOYMENT

113 onsite Full Time Equivalents (FTEs). FTEs for GM residents 52 induced FTEs. Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) £12.3m Total annual Gross Value Added (GVA) from direct and induced FTEs HOME’S A GREATER MANCHESTER VISITOR ATTRACTION £19.7m visitor spend in the local economy £11.2m Annual GVA from visitor spend in the local economy £26 MILLION LOCAL SUPPLIERS

£2.4m spend in the local supply chain £1.4m Annual GVA from spend in the local supply chain ECONOMIC BENEFITS

320 FTEs £24.9m Total impact in the Greater Manchester Economy ECONOMIC IMPACT

PROVIDING VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES 8,149 volunteer hours delivered by 285 volunteers £77,600 of social capital generated as a result of volunteering at HOME ON MANCHESTER

HEALTH AND WELLBING

343,000 visitors to visual arts projects and exhibitions, cinema screenings and theatre performances HOME had an economic impact to the city of £26 million in 2019/20 £1.0m Health and Wellbeing NHS cost savings from engaging in the arts as an audience member

SOCIAL BENEFITS according to a new assessment, including £1 million in health and £1.1m Total Social Value wellbeing cost savings for the NHS.

Report completed by ekosgen, August 2020. Assessment draws on multiple information sources, including information held by HOME and Wardley Ltd, 2019/20 visitor surveys, official ONS datasets, HCA’s latest additionality guidance and sector specific reports by Cebr and Oxford Economics. The resulting findings reflect both facility specific intelligence and the application of recognised assumptions and benchmarks to allow the gross impacts of HOME in the Greater Manchester economy to be recognised. On the day we were planning to firm Ekosgen and took into account The social value was calculated by reopen in December 2020, HOME HOME’s role as a provider of local looking at the value of volunteering released a report detailing the employment, as a driver of visitors hours delivered by the organisation, economic and health benefits of arts to the city and the organisation’s and using research which highlights venues like ours to Manchester. purchasing power within local supply the social benefits arising from chains. engagement in arts and culture. The planned reopening was called off when Manchester remained in Through direct employment at HOME In addition to drawing audiences for Tier 3 following the second national and our catering partner Wardley plus our three artforms – film, theatre and lockdown, and Dave Moutrey, our induced employment – jobs in the city visual art – HOME runs an extensive Director and CEO, said: “At a time that are supported by the spending of engagement programme which when it feels more important than employees at HOME – the assessment in 2019/20 worked in partnership ever for arts organisations to show calculated a Gross Value Added (GVA) with 124 schools and colleges, and their worth, this assessment proves figure of HOME as an employer of supported three paid internships, four that not only does HOME play a vital £12.3 million per year. apprenticeships, 364 work experience role in the arts ecology of Greater participants and 2,795 talent Additionally, the report shows just Manchester, it plays a crucial part in development opportunities. Over the what a huge percentage of employees the region’s financial success as well. course of the year, the team delivered at HOME live in the local area – 3,528 sessions engaging 21,910 active “We’re exceptionally proud of the with four-fifths of our staff Greater participants. results of this assessment. The fact Manchester residents while among that these figures are so high despite those working for Wardley, HOME’s Using research by Simetrica and the impact of Covid-19 starting to be catering partner who run our bar and the Department for Digital, Culture, felt in February and March shows how restaurant operation, that figure rose Media and Sport (DCMS) which devastating the loss of arts venues to 100 per cent. identified engagement with the arts would be to the city. as reducing GP visits and the use of As a visitor attraction, Ekosgen mental health services, the report “Without arts organisations cities are calculated that HOME added £11.2 calculates that HOME generated a poorer not just metaphorically – but million to the local economy in visitor cost saving of £1 million per year for literally.” spending, and almost £1.5 million the NHS. added to the local economy through The assessment was carried out by purchasing goods and services in the economic research and consultancy local supply chain.

18 19 HOME IN PICTURES ¡VIVA! A FESTIVAL OF TWO HALVES RashDash’s Don’t Go Back to Sleep was a live verbatim album documenting everyday HOME’s Director of Film and Culture Jason Wood replaces the film posters outside human experiences of lockdown. the building ahead of our September reopening. The 2020 ¡Viva! Spanish and Latin American Festival was unique in that it spanned the lockdown – with the first half taking place under normal conditions, and the second with social distancing.

Stylishly masked visitors attend the preview night of our gallery reopening, featuring MP Alex Sobel, Shadow Minister for Arts, Heritage and Tourism, visits HOME during three simultaneous solo exhibitions from Nick Burton, Joy Yamusangie, and MSR FCJ. lockdown. The exhibition was later moved online when we had to close again.

La Hija de un ladrón Cholitas

HOME’s rooftop bees were so snug and warm that they even melted the snow from At the halfway point of the Argentinian comedy La Odisea de their hive. ¡Viva! 2020 lineup, we were all set for los giles was a very close second in a record-breaking year, with audiences runaway ticket sales.” flocking to a film programme that But on 17 March, just after the start of included a special focus on Latin the pandemic, HOME had to close its American indigenous filmmakers and doors, with the festival unfinished. 15 UK Premieres. Rachel Hayward said: “We were The festival is curated by a team led devastated when the COVID-19 by HOME’s Head of Film, Rachel pandemic struck, forcing us to close Hayward, alongside ¡Viva! Festival our doors slap bang in the middle Coordinator Jessie Gibbs and the Safety measures included contactless ticketing, PPE for staff, a one-way system and of the festival, but there was never social distancing throughout the building University of Salford’s Professor of Oliver Cross performs at a virtual House Party as part of AMP (Accessible Music any question that the safety of Film Studies, Andy Willis. Productions), HOME’s project for music lovers, makers and shakers aged 18-25 with audiences, guests and staff had to different abilities and additional needs. Jessie said: “We couldn’t have been come first. The news that we could La Odisea de los giles prouder of our ¡Viva! 2020 line-up, reopen the building in September and the Box Office stats at the halfway was nerve-wracking but so exciting, could safely welcome back into our point showed we were all set for a with our greater appreciation of the largest cinema screen, all smiling record-breaking year. Our inaugural face-to-face celebration of culture behind their face masks, was a truly film,La Hija de un ladrón, a Barcelona- that we had so dearly missed. We’re joyful moment; it reinforced just how set family drama with a heavy hugely grateful to the colleagues, special and unique a cultural offering emotional punch, was hugely popular, festival partners and loyal audiences we bring to Manchester, and how and it was an absolute pleasure to who made it possible to bring back important the festival is to our loyal welcome new director Belén Funes the vast majority of ¡Viva! 2020 film audience members, some of whom to Manchester on our packed-out screenings to HOME last autumn.” have been attending the festival since opening night. it first launched at the much-loved Finishing the festival felt truly special Cornerhouse building 26 years ago.” “Audiences were clearly in the mood under the circumstances, as Jessie for some feel-good fun too, and the adds: “To see as many people as we homemcr.org/Viva2020 Despite the huge challenges of running a filmmaking project throughout the HOME Resident Artists Young Identity were the first live performance in Theatre 1 Covid-19 pandemic, we recruited 18 talented young filmmakers to take part in our after the first lockdown, when they launched their new book,Working From HOME. 21 ninth BFI Film Academy. Satirical and subversive with a high energy, gloriously camp show dark performances in Insane colourful staging, musicals were a was inspired by themes of survival Animals, as the extra terrestrials new genre for both Bourgeois and and immortality in the Epic of sent to help the human species Maurice, aka George Heyworth and Gilgamesh, the oldest story ever survive sought to figure out what INSANE ANIMALS: Liv Morris, and for HOME. Based on written. makes humans human. fiction, inspired by facts and written The tale features a relationship Packed with songs that were in lipstick, Insane Animals was an between Gilgamesh, a cruel and sharp and salty, notable earworms outrageous, time-travelling musical tyrannical kin, and Enkidu, a gentle included part ballad, part Europop comedy in which two hyper-glam A YEAR ON wild man. The gods tells Gilgamesh anthem Gay for You and the electro aliens arrive from a faraway galaxy to love Enkidu ‘like a wife,’ arguably homage to transhumanism, Meat to rescue present day earth from making this the world’s first queer Machine. Never before has Mother Before we locked down, we were thrilled to stage the world premiere impending political, environmental, love story. When Enkidu is killed Nature been referred to as a basic and social doom. of cult cabaret duo Bourgeois and Maurice’s Insane Animals from 28 by the gods, Gilgamesh goes on a bitch. The recently-released cast quest to defeat death and find the recording has been streamed over February to 14 March. Sound familiar? Little were we to secret to eternal life. 5,000 times. know that Insane Animals would be one of the last shows we would Bourgeois and Maurice translated The Stage called it “a screamingly stage with a full run and audiences these themes for current audiences, camp, epic space opera”, while sat next to each other, before our taking tech and transhumanism as Upstaged Manchester said it was “a own impending disaster. their inspiration to create a hilarious camp cult classic in the making.” retelling of the story. Audiences Directed by Dublin based playwright A year on from the show, George were thrilled by the outrageously and director Philip McMahon, this Heyworth said: “I’m sitting here camp, uplifting and occasionally with Liv now and we both agree the most amazing thing we remember was in the second week, standing on stage and seeing audience members singing along, doing the dance routines and holding pride flags. That’s when we realised people were coming to see the show multiple times and that it was starting to take on a life of its own. It really felt like a shared experience.” Insane Animals boasted an impressive creative team, including award winning composer, performer and multi-instrumentalist Victoria Falconer as musical director, Sydney Theatre Award winning set designer Michael Hankin, lighting designer Sinéad McKenna, twice an Irish Times Theatre Awards winner and costume designer Julian Smith, a long-time collaborator of Bourgeois and Maurice and designer for Beth Ditto. Directed by Dublin based playwright and director Philip McMahon, this high energy, gloriously camp show was inspired by themes of survival and immortality in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest story ever written. homemcr.org/insaneanimals

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