Audience Development in Manchester Gets the Comic Touch

A new comic book is launched in Manchester this month…but there’s not a
masked superhero or manga monster in sight. Instead, the specially
commissioned book features Black and Asian people from Greater Manchester,
as they explore the world through the region’s outstanding selection of art
galleries and museums.

The book is conceived by internationally acclaimed artists Grennan &
Sperandio and supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It features nine
extraordinary stories of local Black and Asian people, based on visits to
the nine galleries and museums taking part. Participating organisations
include Imperial War Museum North, Gallery Oldham and Manchester Art
Gallery.

Created as an audience development tool, What in the World? offers Black
and Asian people the chance to tell their own stories about their
experience of Greater Manchester’s culture. And those stories serve to
debunk the perception that museums and galleries aren’t relevant to all of
Manchester’s diverse communities.

For example, one story tells of schoolgirl Heena Rana, and how excited she
felt to feature in Touchstones Rochdale’s recent promotional campaign,
appearing on banners all over town, whilst another sees Barbados-born
Talitha Higgins helping to hoist a grand piano into Bury Art Gallery and
Museum for a musical recital.

Heritage Lottery Funding and support from Association of Greater Manchester
Authorities (AGMA) has paid for 50,000 copies of the 28-page full colour
perfect bound comic book, which will be distributed free of charge via
community and educational groups, coordinated by Arts About Manchester.

Tony Jones, Heritage Lottery Fund Regional Manager for the North West, was
delighted to process the bid, saying: "Not everyone would think that
funding for a comic book is the sort of thing the Heritage Lottery Fund can
support.

“But we want people to be involved with their heritage, and this project is
just the kind of creative approach that helps bring this about.

“The book is designed specifically to reach groups who can often feel
excluded from museums, and it lets people celebrate their own heritage in
all its many forms. We're delighted to have played our part with funding."


Katharine de Lisle from Whitworth Art Gallery has been involved in the
project from the start and is enthusiastic about how the book can introduce
the Greater Manchester museums and galleries to a wider audience.

She explains: “The comic book features some wonderful stories, and serves
to highlight the wealth of material that can be seen in our museums and
galleries. I find it fascinating to discover how different people respond
to these collections and hope the book will inspire
people to visit somewhere new”.

Artists Simon Grennan & Christopher Sperandio are fully aware that how
influential individuals from within the Black and Asian communities talk
about the museums and galleries is key to communicating with the
communities as a whole.

“People who are similar to the target market can deliver the most effective
communication,” Grennan articulates.

He continues: “For example, in our comic book, the story tellers are like
the readers”.

This philosophy is further supported via the distribution of the book,
which will be through specifically targeted Black and Asian education and
community groups.

“The comic is to be used as a catalyst, “explains Grennan. “It is a
teaching aid, a starting point, a catalyst for the totally unexpected”.

Anyone wanting to know more about the project can contact Nadine Andrews,
Cultural Diversity Project Manager at Arts About Manchester on 0161 238
4522.

What in the World? is launched on Thursday 28 November at the People’s
History Museum, Manchester.

Media information only:
For further information, interviews, a copy of the comic book or images,
please contact Sara Teiger on 0161 434 1302 or 07711 804 692 or
[log in to unmask]






Notes to Editors:
Featured Galleries and Museums
Bolton Museum, Art Gallery & Aquarium
Bury Art Gallery & Museum
Gallery Oldham
Imperial War Museum North
Manchester Art Gallery
Manchester Museum
People’s History Museum
Touchstones Rochdale
Whitworth Art Gallery

Arts About Manchester
Arts About Manchester (AAM) is Greater Manchester’s audience development
agency - a membership-based organisation with 45 members from across
Greater Manchester including Royal Exchange Theatre, The Lowry and Bury Art
Gallery. As well as supporting its members audience development and
marketing efforts through the gathering and analysis of audience
information, AAM regularly develops projects with its member to develop
new, potentially excluded, audiences.

Grennan & Sperandio
Notorious for their fusion of High and Low Art, Grennan and Sperandio make
comics and animated films for museums internationally including: Museum of
Modern Art/PS1, New York's Public Art Fund and London's Institute of
Contemporary Art.  Their last TV venture was a pair of pilots for MTV
Animation. According to the New York Times "Mr. Grennan and Mr. Sperandio
tweak our notion about what art is and who it is for". Grennan and
Sperandio are centred in West Sussex and New York respectively and bridge
the Atlantic via their web site www.kartoonkings.com

Media information only:
For further information, interviews, a copy of the comic book or images,
please contact Sara Teiger on 0161 434 1302 or 07711 804 692 or
[log in to unmask]