John Lyons: Carnivalesque
Poetry Commission Open Call
(now closed)

The spring begins with the first major retrospective exhibition of Caribbean British artist and poet John Lyons.

The Whitworth is working with Manchester Poetry Library to commission two poets from the North West or West Yorkshire region to produce new creative responses to John Lyons’ paintings and poetry. The commissioned work will be shared digitally by the Whitworth and each poet will be given the opportunity to perform their work at a curated ‘Thursday Late’ public event at the Whitworth.

We are now closed to applications:

View the commission brief, reference only>
Please note: The submission deadline (21 April 2024) has passed. We will share news of the commissioned poetry later this summer.

Find out more about the Whitworth's upcoming exhibition John Lyons: Carnivalesque and Manchester Poetry Library.

Image: John Lyons, Before Ash Wednesday in Trinidad, detail, 1988
Oil on canvas (1590 x 2030 mm). Courtesy of the artist © John C.M. Lyons. Photo: Anne-Katrin Purkiss