Institute For Cultural Practices- University of Manchester

20/05/2026

MA Arts Management and MA Creative & Cultural Industries Careers Event will this week Thursday


Please Join us for our MA Arts Management and MA Creative & Cultural Industries Careers session 5 - 7pm this Thursday 21st May, to hear from a panel of inspiring alumni about their career journeys and experiences working in creative industries in and around Manchester. Take this opportunity to gain practical advice about starting a career in a creative industry, ask questions and network with alumni. Thursday 21st May, Room C1.18, Ellen Wilkinson Building


Register to attend MA Arts Management and MA Creative & Cultural Industries Careers event here:

Join us to hear from MA Arts Management and MA Creative & Cultural Industries alumni about their experiences of building a career journey

22/04/2026

Join us for a special lecture by our Gail Day, Pilkington Visiting Professor in Art History at The University of Manchester.

Roda Gigante: Carmela Gross, Lina Bo Bardi, and Objective Form in Brazil

📅 Wednesday 29 April 2026
🕟 4:30pm
📍 Mansfield Cooper Building, G.22

In this fascinating talk, Professor Day explores what happens when artworks move across contexts and histories. Focusing on Roda Gigante (Big Wheel) by Carmela Gross, she examines its evolution between exhibitions and its dialogue with architect Lina Bo Bardi. The lecture also engages with key debates in Brazilian critical theory, including ideas of “objective form” developed by thinkers such as Antonio Candido, Roberto Schwarz, and Luiz Renato Martins.

About the speaker:
Gail Day is Professor of Art History and Critical Theory at the University of Leeds. Her book Dialectical Passions: Negation and Art Theory (Columbia University Press, 2010) was shortlisted for the Isaac and Tamara Deutsche Prize. Her new book Amphibious Realities: The Documentary Poetics of Allan Sekula, co-authored with Steve Edwards, has just been published by Verso Books (2025).

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from a leading voice in art history and critical theory.

All are welcome!

02/03/2026

Inaugural Lecture 📣

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: England’s Cultural Policy Landscape under Austerity and Devolution
📍 SLG.12, Samuel Alexander Building, University of Manchester
📅 11 March
🕟 4.30pm Reception | 5.00–6.30pm Lecture

We are delighted to invite you to join us for the Inaugural Lecture of our colleague, Abi Gilmore, Professor of Cultural Policy at the University of Manchester.

What makes a place culturally vibrant — and who decides?
Which arts venues, cultural amenities and heritage spaces should communities be able to access?

How do these resources shape liveability, identity, and belonging?

What happens when cultural infrastructure is shaped by austerity and devolution?

In this timely lecture, Professor Gilmore explores the spatial politics of cultural policy in England and the tensions they create for cultural placemaking and democracy.

Travelling northwards from Macclesfield in Cheshire through Greater Manchester to Mytholmroyd in West Yorkshire, the lecture traces two decades of research into cultural infrastructure, governance, and funding systems — revealing the stark geographical inequalities in cultural access and provision.

Drawing on long-term engagement with so-called “crap towns” and “cultural deserts,” alongside pioneering Mayoral Strategic Authorities and Cities of Culture, this lecture reflects on how austerity, devolution, and politics are reshaping England’s cultural landscape.

It asks:
What kinds of cultural policies are needed — and how might they better honour the structures of feeling and dynamics of place — when cultural infrastructure sits between the rock of local precarity and the hard place of methodological nationalism?

🎟 Register for free tickets here:
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/universityofmanchester5/1953004
We warmly encourage colleagues, students, partners, and friends to attend this important and thought-provoking event.

Austerity PublicPolicy

02/03/2026

Inaugural Lecture 📣

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: England’s Cultural Policy Landscape under Austerity and Devolution
📍 SLG.12, Samuel Alexander Building, University of Manchester
📅 11 March
🕟 4.30pm Reception | 5.00–6.30pm Lecture

We are delighted to invite you to join us for the Inaugural Lecture of our colleague, Abi Gilmore, Professor of Cultural Policy at the University of Manchester.

What makes a place culturally vibrant — and who decides?
Which arts venues, cultural amenities and heritage spaces should communities be able to access?

How do these resources shape liveability, identity, and belonging?

What happens when cultural infrastructure is shaped by austerity and devolution?

In this timely lecture, Professor Gilmore explores the spatial politics of cultural policy in England and the tensions they create for cultural placemaking and democracy.

Travelling northwards from Macclesfield in Cheshire through Greater Manchester to Mytholmroyd in West Yorkshire, the lecture traces two decades of research into cultural infrastructure, governance, and funding systems — revealing the stark geographical inequalities in cultural access and provision.

Drawing on long-term engagement with so-called “crap towns” and “cultural deserts,” alongside pioneering Mayoral Strategic Authorities and Cities of Culture, this lecture reflects on how austerity, devolution, and politics are reshaping England’s cultural landscape.

It asks:
What kinds of cultural policies are needed — and how might they better honour the structures of feeling and dynamics of place — when cultural infrastructure sits between the rock of local precarity and the hard place of methodological nationalism?

🎟 Register for free tickets here:
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/universityofmanchester5/1953004
We warmly encourage colleagues, students, partners, and friends to attend this important and thought-provoking event.

27/01/2026

Welcome Back to Campus – Semester 2 Seminar Series Now Underway!

As we welcome you all back to campus and begin the second semester, we are delighted to share the Semester 2 programme for the AHCP Research Seminar Series and Brown Bag lunchtime talks.

Following a stimulating Semester 1, this semester features a rich and diverse range of seminars exploring cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary research in Art History and Cultural Practices. The programme brings together leading researchers and practitioners from the UK and internationally, offering perspectives that speak to interests across our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, as well as to colleagues and the wider academic community.

The Research Seminar series is not only intellectually engaging but can also be valuable in shaping and informing MA and PhD research.

📍 Research Seminars: Mostly in person (with one exception), with most sessions starting at 4pm
💬 Brown Bag talks: Hybrid format

📅 Please register via Eventbrite to attend Research Seminars and receive reminders:https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/department-of-art-history-and-cultural-practices-115441163851

We warmly encourage students, staff, and anyone with an interest in art, culture, and research to join us for a thought-provoking and inspiring Semester 2.

25/12/2025

Compliments of the season from us to all our students, staff, alumni, and partners who are celebrating today, we wish you a joyful Christmas and a prosperous New Year. 🎄🎄🧑‍🎄🎅

15/12/2025

✨ Departmental Research Seminar spotlight ✨

Still on our ongoing departmental seminar series this semester, last Wednesday we were delighted to host Dr Morag Rose (University of Liverpool) for a Research Seminar titled “The Feminist Art of (Not) Walking in Manchester”.

Drawing on almost twenty years of practice with The LRM (Loiterers Resistance Movement), Morag reflected on standing, waiting, and walking in Manchester, sharing what she has learnt and unlearnt about the city, as well as the incredible walking artists she has encountered along the way.

It was a rich, engaging session, and we thank Dr Rose for such a thoughtful and inspiring talk.

02/12/2025

In continuation of our seminar series for this semester. Last week Wednesday , we were delighted to host Dr Katie Beswick (Goldsmiths, University of London) for a powerful and thought-provoking AHCP Research Seminar.

In her talk, Dr Beswick explored how the figure of the “slag” speaks to issues of class, s*x, and desire, drawing on her project Slags on Stage. Through a rich blend of cultural analysis, poetry, and art criticism, she offered valuable insights into practice-based research and working-class studies rooted in everyday experience.

Thank you to Dr Beswick for such an engaging seminar, and to everyone who joined us for the discussion!

01/12/2025

We are excited to share that our 2025–26 Research Seminar Series has been very successful so far , bringing inspiring conversations on art, culture, and history to our academic community.

The series opened on the 15th October with a brilliant first session featuring Dr Niko Munz, who delivered a fascinating and thought-provoking presentation titled:

“Who Deserved an Image? The Ethics of Early Modern Portraiture.”

Dr Munz explored the social and moral dimensions of portraiture in the early modern period, sparking engaging discussions on who was considered worthy of representation and how power, status, and identity were expressed through images. It was an excellent start to what promises to be an exciting semester of seminars.

A big thank you to everyone who attended, participated in the discussion, and helped make the opening seminar a success. More updates on engaging sessions to come stay tuned!