Manchester Art Gallery’s refugee family project vies for top award

A unique project at Manchester Art Gallery that creates a welcoming space for families with small children who are seeking sanctuary in the city has been shortlisted for a prestigious award by the Museum’s Association.

The Association’s annual ‘Museums Change Lives’ awards recognise and celebrate the outstanding work by UK museums in delivering social impact and promote best practice by museums and individuals that supports communities and engages with contemporary issues.

Manchester Art Gallery’s Families of the World project which has been nominated for an award, is focused on refugee children and families, and creates a space within the gallery for them to come together and to share their culture and experiences with each other.

It has its roots in the spirit of welcome, improving access and inclusion to cultural and civic spaces, and the idea of a trauma-informed dimension to cultural activity.

Cross cultural learning and sharing – particularly through food – is also a big part of the project and families regularly bring in food or share the making of food with others in the group as a way of connecting with each other and learning about each other’s cultural heritage.

Connecting in this way through food has also seen some of the recipes brought in by families introduced to the wider public through the art gallery cafe and via on-line cookery demonstrations – where visitors are embracing the chance this brings for them to learn more about cultures other than their own.

Inbal Livine, Senior Creative Lead Manchester Art Gallery, said: “We’re thrilled to be nominated for this award. We are a Gallery of Sanctuary, and Families of the World exemplifies our commitment to making the Gallery somewhere everyone is welcome, respected and represented. As an organization we gain so much from working with the families that engage with the project and this nomination is as much theirs as it is ours.”

Working in partnership with Sure Start, Read Manchester, Manchester Public Health, and the City of Sanctuary, the gallery’s Families of the World project welcomes displaced families who are living in the city to a weekly Stay and Play session. At this joyful playgroup families are connected to vital services and signposted to other cultural venues and to the city’s wider offer for its youngest residents.

The project also explores how the gallery can be used as a platform to extend a positive message to its visitors about Manchester being a place where refugees and asylum seekers can live safely – and where they can continue to make a valuable contribution within inclusive and resilient communities.

Councillor Garry Bridges, Deputy Leader Manchester City Council, said: “Families of the World is an amazing project that reflects everything that we want Manchester to be – a place of welcome, warmth, safety and opportunity for everyone. It’s making a real difference to our newest and most vulnerable families in the city who in turn have so much to teach and share with us.”

Manchester Art Gallery’s Families of the World project is generously funded by The Oglesby Charitable Trust.

Louise Magill, The Oglesby Charitable Trust ,said: “We’re delighted that the insightful, creative work of our friends at the Gallery’s Families of the World programme has been acknowledged by being shortlisted for this award. The programme demonstrates the vital importance of cultural organisations in modelling a culture of welcome and belonging, and shows us that by bringing together the best resources our city has to offer, museums and other essential organisations really can change lives.”

This year’s Museums Association awards take place in Leeds on Tuesday 12 November as part of the Museums Association annual conference.

There are four award categories: The Championing Social Justice Award, Best Small Museum Project Award, Radical Changemaker Award, and the Best Museums Change Lives Project Award – which is the award Manchester Art Gallery’s Families of the World project has been nominated for.