Steering Group

The festival steering group was set up to ensure both historic and present-day histories around climate change and action were fully represented in the programme and its support and guidance was invaluable to making sure the design and delivery of the festival was open, diverse, and aligned to Manchester Histories core values.

Together, this group of people brought skills and expertise of specific topics around histories, heritage, climate change, and operations which helped the festival team to make strategic decisions about the delivery and content of the festival. It also acted as a sounding board for ideas and discussion and connected the festival to a wider range of contributors and a much broader audience.

The steering group was so important in helping us to develop the festival. The collaborative approach, the sharing of decision making and the sheer knowledge of others made it possible to deliver a more rich, thoughtful, and creative programme for everyone.

Karen Shannon, CEO of Manchester Histories

The steering group for Manchester Histories Festival: A History of Climate Change brought together a range of voices from across the region to help develop the festival programme. Local knowledge through activists and policy makers helped open up the broad range of issues that sit within what we commonly refer to as climate change. These include social justice, colonisation and health and wellbeing. [...] The festival’s approach was to encourage the reuse of materials and projects and it was brilliant to see cultural responses originally developed for the C-Change: Art and Culture Leading Climate Action in Cities appear again to a wider audience. Overall, the programme was wide-ranging and engaging, across many venues in the city. The steering group made new connections that will continue to evolve as we all grapple with the scale of the challenge we face.

Simon Curtis, Convenor, GMAST The steering group took time, thought, and energy to set up and manage, but it also accomplished a great deal and was essential to the success of the festival. Manchester Histories realises the benefits of working with others and will continue to set up project or festival steering groups to truly include all sectors of the community to ensure that the organisation continues to engage and reach a widening audience.

Simon Curtis, Convenor, GMAST