A Walk in the Park
A brand-new podcast series from the Whitworth's Cultural Park Keeper Francine Hayfron, each episode takes a look at what is happening inside and out at the Whitworth.
Episode 1
In the first episode of our A Walk in The Park podcast we take a closer look at the new work from Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama called ‘Parliament of Ghosts’, as part of Manchester International Festival 2019 and learn more about the new outdoor health and wellbeing programme, the Natural and Cultural Health Service.
Read the transcript of A Walk in the Park podcast – Episode 1
Episode 2
In this episode of our A Walk in The Park podcast we are introduced to the ‘Queering the Whitworth’ project led by the Visitor Team staff member Dominic Bilton. ‘Queering the Whitworth’ started as an online project, via social media, in the summer of 2018. The project examined works of art from the Whitworth’s Collection that have an LGBTQ+ connection. The Whitworth’s collection spans centuries and is prime placed to tell the history of the LGBTQ+ community through history.
The project was then developed into a tour which expanded into curated tours including, one for LGBT History Month which showed a chronological sequence of artworks from the Renaissance to the present day. Since then, the gallery has conducted over 10 specific queer tours of the collection, which are currently on display.
For our Spotlight feature in this episode, we take a closer look at the role of the Landscape Sustainability Technician at the Whitworth and discover how much work goes into looking after the gallery’s green spaces.
Next, we head to the north-east of England to visit MIMA (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art) to find out more about their gardening project and the impact on the community.
Read the transcript of A Walk in the Park podcast – Episode 2
Episode 3
In the latest episode of ‘A Walk in the Park’ from the Whitworth, the podcast takes a look at how the gallery works with young people. Exploring the latest exhibition “Utopia” co-curated by the Whitworth Young Contemporaries and curator Leanne Green, we hear from one of the Whitworth Young Contemporaries Artist-in Residence Annabel Taylor-Munt to find out what utopia means for young people today.
We chat to Sally Thelwell to find out more about her role as Youth Engagement Coordinator and we also hear about the gallery’s new outdoor arts training programming “Park Pioneers” created in partnership with Walk The Plank.
Episode 4
In our latest episode of our A Walk in The Park podcast we listen to a conversation between Francine Hayfron (Cultural Park Keeper), Dominique Heyse-Moore (Senior Curator, Textiles and Wallpaper) and Alistair Hudson (Director, The Whitworth and Manchester Art Gallery).
Our podcast takes a turn in the road from the usual magazine format, in a series of more issue-based programmes highlighting some of the topics raised recently around the role of museums and galleries in relation to the subject of race.
This week's instalment focuses on the different routes taken that lead Dominique, Francine and Alistair to work at the Whitworth, and what this says about the structures of the art world.
Episode 5
Continuing the discussions raised by the Black Lives Matter movement, in this next episode, we meet and chat with the artist Anya Paintsil. Anya Paintsil is a Manchester based artist, of Welsh and Ghanaian heritage, who works primarily with textiles.
Her powerful and striking work looks at themes of race and identity and so our Cultural Park Keeper, Francine Hayfron caught up with Anya over Zoom, to find out more.