Meeting and Thursday Late Introduction With Kate Day, Kate Jesson and Dave Griffiths @ Manchester Art Gallery

Session Plan: Launch Meeting

1.30pm -

• Welcome
• Introduce staff
• Ask students to introduce themselves and say one thing about why they chose this particular project.
• Evaluation so far of 'Art School Whitworth'
• Intro to the project, handbook and timetable
• Slides and video of last year's 'Centre for the Imagination'

2.00pm -

• Intro to 'Design for Living' and 'Eastern Exchange' exhibitions

2.45pm -

• Introduction to public engagement programme at MAG including introduction to learning programme, Thursday Lates and collaboration.
• Discussion, how might students respond?

3.15pm -

• Gallery tour/walk through

3.30pm -

• Practicalities - calender, how to book onto sessions, meetings and expectations.

Above is a breakdown of what the schedule and structure of the meeting was, and we were handed a sheet that contained this information prior to beginning discussion. It was interesting to find out why people had chosen this particular unit and project and really made me realise just the breadth of experience that I would get out of taking part and contributing. Personally, I chose Unit X - College 1: #2 Engagement because I wanted to gain further experience in areas within the arts other than being a practitioner that I could apply my Fine Art degree to.

          Kate Jesson had put together some mood boards focusing on the exhibitions that will be running prior to and during our Thursday Late, focusing on some key pieces and ideas from these exhibitions which we could respond to when thinking about the kind of event we want to plan. I was particularly drawn to the way that she compared the economy of the 1930s to the economy of today, and how she imagines years in the future, they will be comparing this decade to the '30s, because of correlating issues such as the depression and the recession. I also liked the focus of finding that bridge between art and design, something that is both an example of art and design and blurs the two practices, for example, if a piece of art also has a function. I found this to be a particularly useful concept in generating ideas that I could contribute to the group. Can you design a piece of artwork? How do you design a piece of artwork? Can a table still be a work of art?

          We discussed some of the logistics of the event as well, such as opening and closing times, if we could store items, which rooms we could use and to some extent how we could play around with the exhibition. To get a better idea of how this event may manifest, we looked at last year's Thursday Late for ideas and inspiration and focused on what worked well and why.
        Kate Day then gave us a small talk/presentation reiterating what Manchester Art Gallery was all about in terms of being a cultural, educational and critical hub in the heart of the city. She condensed this into the following points:

What - Art Upfront: showing you art you know and art you don't yet know.

Why - Extraordinary Encounters: igniting curiosity and conversation.

How - Radical Popularity: big hearted, audacious, inclusive.

Being Brilliant

We want to be a brilliant gallery for Manchester - rooted in our city but connected with the world, putting art upfront and making sure our collections are at the heart of everything we do.

In keeping with the ethos of the city, we've crafted our own radically popular way of doing things: big hearted, audacious and inclusive.

Known for our experimentation and surprise, we regularly juxtapose the traditional and the cutting edge, the provocative with the familiar. Always putting art up front to create extraordinary encounters and ignite curiosity and conversation.

Delivering Brilliance

We'll achieve our ambition by being a gallery where:

• people have encounters with extraordinary art, discover art that is new to them and revisit art that they know
• everyone can have conversations about at, can learn and enjoy themselves
• our historic connections connect people to today's Manchester
• there's space for popular ideas to be communicated, making us the best gallery in the city
• we're willing to take risks with our visitors and make bold choices about what we show
• we combine local resonance with international reach and connections

And we'll make that happen by being both radical and popular.

Our manifesto sets out what we do, why we do it, how we do it and where we're trying to get to. it acts as a guide for all decision making in the gallery.

As a daily mantra, we must ask ourselves, is this a brilliant thing to do? Would a brilliant international gallery do this? What will I do to help transform things? Is the work we're doing, the art we're showing, the events we're organising both radical and popular?

Manchester Art Gallery Learning Team - Making Art Personal

Who are we?
We are a team of gallery educators who have honed our skills and expertise to work with a range of ages, individuals and groups. We cherish creative and open-minded learning and seek to engage our audiences in the cultural life of the Gallery. We place Manchester Art Gallery's connections, exhibitions and audiences at the heart of what we do. We learn with our audiences to build up expertise, knowledge and skills. We are learners too.

What do we do?
We believe art enables people to see beyond their horizons; to escape, to play, to create, to tell stories, to see beyond the obvious. Manchester Art Gallery's learning programme creates multiple ways for audiences to engage with art. With our audiences we talk about, analyse, create and share art. We interact in workshops, drop in sessions, events inside and outside the gallery walls and by creating a social space where all visitors feel welcome.

We particularly value:

• helping our audiences create aspirations and expectations - and then exceeding them
• recognising that personal learning journeys start and birth and continue throughout life
• never being didactic. Instead we work with our audiences to gain more knowledge and expertise
• seeking out the original and the unique
• recognising that the search for meaning and understanding is as important as the meaning itself.

We are committed to using our expertise to make the best and most effective use of our resourses for the greatest benefit of our audiences.

At the end of the discussion we went for a short walk around the gallery and had a look at the permanent exhibitions and the spaces for future exhibitions so as to get a feel for the place and start to imagine the gallery being filled with an event like that of a Thursday Late.

Before the end of the session we independently made a Facebook group and planned an independent meeting with the group in the interactive studio to go through some initial ideas and to see what everyone's first response was.