Change of scene: Supporting emerging artists with Guts Gallery and Short Supply

In-person exhibitions, international travel and reliance on zero-hour contracts are unsustainable foundations for the traditional gallery model. The pandemic has highlighted their fragility. As the restrictive realities of multiple lockdowns set in, belt-tightening measures were implemented by those at the top of large arts organisations whilst the lowest-paid staff – and countless freelancers – were…

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MIF’s Factory will help young people transform the city’s art scene

Manchester International Festival (MIF) has occupied the city for 18 days every other summer since 2007. In seeking out Manchester’s creatives and hidden spaces, it has premiered up-and-coming artists and given them a global platform. MIF’s pieces are not limited to a specific art form and include theatre, dance, fine art and music. The Festival…

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Cartoonist Isabella Croker: “With a good storyline you have the freedom to make anything happen”

Isabella Croker is an up-and-coming Manchester-based artist and cartoonist. Her digital artwork ‘Buzzy Manchester’ is a whimsical depiction of the Printworks with a Piccadilly line metro whizzing past and bees buzzing overhead. Manchester’s influence is also evident in her recent piece ‘Imaginary Friends’. Its protagonists, two daydreaming children, wear the uniforms of St Joseph’s Primary…

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