A sunny weekend in Manchester for UNION 24, weekend 2!

This weekend was planned in collaboration with participants from Manchester – Jo Lane, Oleks Derevianko, Flematu Sessay, Abir Tobji, Becky McGillivray and UNION alumni – Rosarie Walsh, Gulcin Bulut

Day 1

We arrived on Friday evening at Grit Studios for check-ins, catch ups and burritos.

Starting our check-in with the exercise…

• Full pocket – what are you bringing to the weekend that might be useful?
• Empty pocket – what are you hoping to take away?

We the reviewed our Group Agreement and Collective Wellbeing before a show and tell, an opportunity to talk or show something that tells the group about what you are up to right now, inspired by, moved by?

Day 2

Our second beautifully sunny day was at Hulme Community Garden Centre, with lunch from the Sorrel Cafe

We had a busy day with visits, lunch with local guests and a panel discussion around the questions for the weekend…

Local visits:

• NIAMOS—meeting Maria Corrigan
• Factory—meeting Yatie Aziz
• Gorse Hill Studios—Caroline Gleaves

Panel Discussion participants: 

• Zoe Cox—Reign Collective (UNION 19 Alumni)
• Louise Wallwein
• Gulcin Bulut—North West Turkish Community Association (UNION 19 Alumni)
• Kevin Edward Turner—Company Chameleon
• Gerri Moriarty
• Nasima Begum

Following the panel we gathered for table discussions to delve deeper into our themes and questions for the weekend

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to talk to us and share your stories!

After a great day we continued into the evening with food from Kim’s Kitchen and an Activism walking tour of Manchester City Centre led by Megan Griffith

Day 3

Sunday at Stretford Public Hall with lunch from The Tea Room at Victoria Park

Starting the day by checking in and arriving with movement and/or words/visuals

We spent some time in the morning feedbacking from visits and panel discussions before a Physicalising Change workshop by UNION 23 alumni Rosarie. This involved drama exercises to explore the theme of power.

In the afternoon we explored ‘What is my identity as an artist/activist?’ with an activity of choosing 2 words – an adjective and a noun – and creating collage images.

With prompts… To make effective change:

• What do I have that can help others?
• What do I need?

We’re looking forward to weekend 3 in September and catching up in between at our next Alumni camp in July.

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Video and photos by UNION 24 participant @wyszynski.karol

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