This is our Newsletter of 24 February 2022. If you’d like to receive our semi-regular round-up into your inbox, sign up here.
In this bumper issue … Join our Board / Be a heritage artist / Get help with your tax return … and more.
An invitation to join Islington Mill Foundation.
Islington Mill is seeking trustees to join the board of our new charity – Islington Mill Foundation.
Trustees will work on a voluntary basis to support the charity’s ongoing development. We are looking for individuals who can make a commitment to the ethos and values of Islington Mill and our charitable objectives. The core mission of Islington Mill Foundation is arts education, and bringing artists and the public together. Read more about our mission here.
We welcome applicants with a range of diverse skills and interests, including but not limited to those with experience in these areas:
•Sustainability and the environment
•Diversity, equity and inclusion
•Governance
•Finance
•Human Resources
•Advocacy and activism
•Culture
We would particularly love to hear from members of the Salford community, creatives, and young people (aged 18–25).
If this opportunity is something you want to explore please submit an expression of interest and your CV. If successful we will contact you to arrange the next steps of the process.
Please send to stef@islingtonmill.com by 21 March 2022.
Exploring Workers Rights through writing, poetry, performance.
Through ongoing social history research we aim to better understand the historical significance and communal value of Islington Mill. We are searching for an artist or collective who will produce work in response to the theme of Workers Rights. We wish to form the following areas of focus into a creative writing project / show / event to share with our audiences:
•The development of workers rights in Manchester and Salford.
•Birth of trade unions.
•International context of the global textile trade today.
The Islington Mill heritage team will support the Creative Practitioner with research, producing an exhibition / publication / event to showcase the work and interpreting it digitally for our timeline and resource tool kit. By working with the research the Creative Practitioner will also provide the national context (pre-social welfare) and how workers’ rights developed from this time in their piece. It will also provide an international context of people’s rights today and a link to the story of the global textile trade.
Creative Practitioner
We would like the Creative Practitioner to have previous experience in exhibiting their poetry and creative writing. We want the Creative Practitioner to use existing and new documentary research into workers rights over the 200 year period to deliver a piece of creative writing which we can use firstly in an exhibition then to digitally collate into a living archive. Islington Mill will have the right to use the final piece in future exhibitions and on their digital platforms.
Timeline
Submission of interest by 10.00am, 15 March, written work to be completed by 29 April for presentation (performance or exhibition) in May 2022.
Fee
£800 (inclusive of materials)
Contact
Jess Coulson jess@islingtonmill.com
Tax Club & Summer School
Are you part of our WEAVE programme? Would you like to be?
WEAVE is our free creative business support programme for Greater Manchester artists, creatives and SMEs, part funded by The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and delivered in partnership with Salford City Council and The Women’s Organisation.
Coming up in our programme we have:
* Tax Workshops
* Summer School
WEAVE Tax Workshops.
Are you newly self-employed?
Or perhaps you’re well-established but just can’t stand doing your tax return?
We are running a series of events aimed at supporting you with the completion of your HMRC self-assessment.
Our workshops are designed to be entry-level – with no questions off-limits – so whether it’s your first time filing a HMRC self-assessment tax return, or you’ve done it before but are looking to grow your confidence, these sessions are for you.
1) Preparing For Your Tax Return
These workshops will take place in March, giving you time to prepare everything for the start of the new tax year in April. We are running both an in person and online version of this workshop, for more info and to sign up:
In person workshop @ Partisan Collective, 23 March, 6-7pm
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/…/weave-preparing-for-your…
Online workshop, 30 March, 6-7pm
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/…/weave-preparing-for-your…
2) Tax Club
The first rule of Tax Club is … we talk about Tax!
All WEAVE participants are invited to join us for our Tax Club drop-in session, taking place IRL at Partisan Collective on 13 April, 4-7pm.
We want everyone to start their tax year off on the right foot so we’re hosting an informal work session for WEAVE participants to come together and make a start on their tax returns in good company.
We’ll be creating a pleasant stress-free environment for you to work in with tea, coffee and refreshments – and most importantly with fellow creatives who are in the same boat.
There will be experienced self-employed facilitators on hand to try and answer any questions you might have about your tax returns.
This is an ideal follow-up to Preparing For Your Tax Return but it is not necessary to have attended this workshop to come along to Tax Club.
Sign up to attend here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/…/weave-tax-club-tickets…
WEAVE Summer School.
Taking place 23 – 27 May, the WEAVE Summer School will be a week-long series of workshops and masterclasses. The modules are being chosen and developed through conversations with our WEAVE and wider Islington Mill community, and are designed to support creative individuals and organisations. Whether you are a freelance performer yet to fill in your first tax return, a mid-career artist, or maker with an established business, we will have classes to support your development and help you grow in confidence.
If you are interested in attending the WEAVE Summer School and want to find out more please fill in this expression of interest form and we’ll be in touch with more info:
https://forms.gle/3Gfz37Lux6TLrS2U9
If you have any questions, would like to sign up, attend any sessions, need more info, or would like to chat please just get in touch: emily@islingtonmill.com
Thanks to our funders European Regional Development Fund, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council England and Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
SLAP-DASH-NETWORK with Short Supply.
This event follows on from SLAP-DASH, a one-day residency and resulting exhibition on the theme of space/place, how creative people use it, and how empty spaces can better serve the people that live and work around them. Short Supply will be hosting conversations across artists and industry professionals, providing nibbles and chatting about what our dream affordable artist studios could look like. This event is be open to all so bring pals if you like.
We think artists will really benefit from connecting with other artists and space owners in Manchester and throughout the region, and gaining knowledge of how other artist-led spaces operate and artists’ relationships to them. We’d really like to connect artists in St Helens with other artists and artist-led groups, so we’d love it if you could come along and support them, bring your expertise or just get some free tea and biscuits and listen in!
Location: St Mary’s Market, next to B&M (58 Church St, Merseyside WA10 1AD), 5 March, 10am–4pm.
Jamie-Lee Wainman / Wainman Design, is an interdisciplinary practitioner who uses playful and creative thinking to inspire her work. Her passion for digital technology, specifically 3D printing, helps her to design innovative and engaging experiences. Jamie-Lee is neurodivergent and aims to use her unique perspective to facilitate learning experiences for different minds – utilising play and creativity as a tool, in addition to producing an outcome. With her collection of 3D Printers, Jamie-Lee continues to explore how she can use bioplastics to create sustainable work while also teaching CAD/CAM skills via workshops.Wainman Design is located on the ground floor of Islington Mill within the Salford Makers studio. Salford Makers are a collective of artists, designers, and makers who work individually and collaboratively on a variety of commissions and design projects.
Are you a queer-identified artist in Manchester?
The Queer Artist Talking Circle will be hosting their next in-person get together on Wednesday 16 March in the top floor event space at HOME on First Street from 6.30pm. No registration required, please do a lateral flow ahead of arrival. The Circle is designed to offer community support, inspiration, community and networking for any queer creatives in Manchester or passing through.