This is our Newsletter of 29 APRIL 2021. If you’d like to receive our semi-regular round-up into your inbox, sign up here.
Loads of creative things have been going on with the Mill community and as the world begins to open up we want to be mindful of the challenges of exclusion and anxiety that the post-pandemic world brings, as well as the joy that awaits us.
We are so excited to welcome a team of brilliant, friendly and super-skilled builders onto the site at Islington Mill who have begun to turn our complicated restoration and expansion plans into real-life bricks and mortar, in partnership with fantastic architects and heritage experts. We are in good hands. The scaffolding is up and we can’t resist a good surface for self-expression so keep your eyes peeled for messages appearing on the building as the works go on.
Our Heritage page is already buzzing with historical insight and forgotten gems from our past. We will be adding to this living timeline forever more and sharing across all our socials so follow us wherever you can.
Also live and set to grow is the Islington Mill Is Queer project, which honours the importance of queer refuge and community as a founding principle of the Mill. In this series you’ll meet some of the brilliant LGBTQ practitioners who call the Mill home. As founder Bill Campbell reminds us, “Islington Mill as you know it is a product of Queer Love.” Long may it continue!
This year we also made the first public introductions of our charity, Islington Mill Foundation, and there will be more to come as we launch the first of our charitable projects. Read more here about the formation and purpose of this vital wing of the Mill which promotes “arts education for the public by providing development and support programmes.”
Our headline story this month is WEAVE. This project is generously funded by the European Regional Development Fund and we are glad to be working in partnership with The Women’s Organisation. The project has gauged the training and development needs of our local artists and creatives and is building a programme of free training and workshops to meet those requirements. Workshops include Funding & Grants, Marketing & Social Media, Introduction to Freelancing, Artists Using Space, with many more to come. If this sounds of interest to you and you’re based in Greater Manchester or at least the North West and would like to attend workshops or maybe pitch a session to us that you might deliver, we would love to hear from you. Please email weave@islingtonmill.com
FatOut and Partisan Collective will clash in a fantastic REAL LIFE event from 27–30 May at the Mill so follow them both for some hot announcements THIS FRIDAY.
We’d like to welcome two new staff members, Emily Marsden, our new Business and Finance Administrator, and Isobel Moloney, with us on an ICP placement from the University of Manchester. Thanks to you both already for your hard work. Welcome aboard!
Two quick artist call-outs before we share a gorgeous new impaTV collaboration.
Joe Smith writes:
“”Hello! Joe here, I’m a Manchester-based photographer looking to start a new project. Working amongst a national collective of photographers and inspired by the UK leaving the EU, I would like to meet and connect with people I’ve never met before to capture their portraits. My aim is to create a modern snapshot of my community and the surrounding area. I’m also interested in hearing about you and your hopes for the future. I would love to hear from everyone. You must be comfortable with the prospect of work being published/exhibited. I’ll be working within Coronavirus restrictions. Please get in touch if you would like to be involved and I can share more information.”
joeolismith@googlemail.com
… and from Hannah Sullivan:
“Myself and the others at Studio Scum (based in Unit 4, Regent Trading) have just released a new zine! They are for sale at studioscum.bigcartel.com and we’d love people to follow us at @studioscum.”
… AND FINALLY …
Singer, songwriter, producer, DJ, trans pioneer, friend, sister, comrade, beloved spirit; SOPHIE tragically lost her life in January this year and a group of artists at the Mill joined forces to pay tribute with an audio-visual spectacular, riffing on some of SOPHIE’s finest music to keep her in our hearts and minds, ears and eyes. Godspeed You! Peter Andre (Emer & Kaskie), impaTV, Beau Azra, Grace Oni Smith, Lill and Cheddar Gorgeous all feature. RIP SOPHIE your music will never die.
