RADICAL READ 24

Artists:

Young Identity Contact Creative Experts Sally Gilford Yussuf Mrabty Z-Arts Hebe Purple Louise Wallwein Hot Bed Press Spearfish Thomas Byrne Imagine Design

Main outcomes:

 Production of 15 learning resources, inspired by Peterloo and exploring young people’s involvement in protest over the last 200 years  Radical Read raised awareness of the Peterloo

Massacre with young people, many of whom had no previous knowledge of the event

 The project encouraged young people to read more, by examining historic and current texts, accounts and stories from protests involving young people

 Produced a creative celebration event bringing over 100 young people together from across

Manchester to explore protest and their role to bring about future change at Manchester City

Art Gallery

 A creative writing competition in Manchester led to the publication of The Peterloo Anthology.

A beautifully illustrated book telling poignant stories of Peterloo from a young person's perspective ❝ I have really enjoyed it. I can't believe I was able to write a poem and say in front of all those people. The project is very powerful; my granddad is very proud.

Christiana

Manchester Secondary PRU

Key learning:

Many of the young people had not heard of the Peterloo Massacre or some of the other peaceful protests included in the pack. The project enabled young people to explore new insights into these key historical events.

The event planning, support of young people to take part, and delivery for the celebration event was very time-consuming. It would have benefited from more capacity and time from key staff and partners leading up to the event and on the day.

The distribution of the learning resources would have benefited from more capacity and budget to enable them to reach a wider audience after the project came to an end.

Legacy of project:

 Radical Read is available free online on the

Peterloo website – for schools and others to download and use

 Manchester schools have been provided with a box of books to support their learning and development in using Radical Read

 Groups working on the project have produced an anthology of short stories about Peterloo, written by young people in Manchester and illustrated by pupils from Loreto High School

 The British Council has taken 8 of the 15 themed packs and published them on their own learning portal so they can be shared internationally

SOAPBOX

Manchester Histories Soapbox was piloted, designed and constructed by architect students from Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Manchester and supported by Laing O’Rourke as part of Manchester Histories Festival 2018. Giving people the chance to step up onto the hustings and have their say.

Following the success of this pilot, a more in-depth public engagement project with young people was delivered to encourage young people to have a voice and to explore the impact of the Peterloo Massacre.

Artists from Young Identity were commissioned to work with three youth groups in Oldham to produce new work for Soapbox.

Each group had the opportunity to meet historian Professor Robert Poole, explore digital archives and discuss the historical events of the Peterloo Massacre.

After an eight-week programme of engagement all the young people came together to perform on Soapbox at an outdoor event in Parliament Square Oldham.

Soapbox also showcased at the King Street Festival, June 2019; Clean Air Day, The Northern Quarter Residents Forum, Stevenson Square, Manchester, June 2019; and HOME Manchester as part of the Peterloo Anniversary weekend August 2019.

Over 500 audience members watched local performers get up and have their say around the theme of the Peterloo 2019 programme.

where the project took place:

Parliament Square Oldham; King Street Festival; ‘Clean Air Day’ Northern Quarter Manchester; HOME Manchester.

Partners involved in the delivery of project:

Oldham Council Arts Development Team, Mahdlo Youth Zone, Oldham Youth Council, Young Identity

Artists:

Young Identity: Nicole May and Roma Havers. Young Identity are a Manchester-based collective of young spoken word artists, musicians, actors, Rappers/MC's. They deliver dynamic poetry and spoken word workshops for young people.

Names of Groups/organisations involved:

Oldham Youth Council Making Trails, Oldham Theatre Workshop Mahdlo Youth Zone Oldham