Community

History Awar

ds, Manches

ter Town Hal

MANCHESTER HISTORIES FESTIVAL EVALUATION REPORT 2012

Compiled by Jim Ralley (The Big Art People) with Abigail Gilmore, Kate Campbell Payne and Mo Yin Kwok (the Institute for Cultural Practices)

the

PEOPLE

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Manchester Histories Festival (MHF) held its second festival from 24 February to 4 March 2012, following an inaugural festival in 2009. There were 108 events, performances, talks, tours and exhibitions taking place over 10 days of the Festival. These were produced by community groups, venues, tour companies, heritage museums, academics and others. A further 84 organisations exhibited at the Town Hall on the Celebration Day Most of the events were presented in partnership with another organisation or venue, although 30 venues developed their own events, which were marketed under the banner of the MHF. The main festival partners who provided funds, value-in-kind and other forms of support, were the University of Manchester (UoM), Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), and Renaissance North West The other MHF partners who provided additional support, funds, and coordinate special events were: Arts Council England, ModernHistory, ERDF (European Regional Development Fund), Central Manchester University Hospitals, cities@manchester, Manchester City Councils Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, and ESRC Centre for Research of Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC). MHF was governed by the Festival Board and managed by a Festival Director, with a small core team of volunteers, and with support from a larger team of 25 volunteers during the time of the Festival. Evaluation research was commissioned by the Festival Director, Claire Turner to show how the festival performed against its objectives. Visitor, event organiser, venue, and volunteer surveys were conducted over the period of the festival, accompanied by media analysis and an estimation of economic value added through leverage. The main findings of the evaluation are as follows: 10,000 estimated visitor attendances based on event monitoring, of which approximately 3,000 are attendances at the Celebration Day in the Town Hall. Many were new audiences for heritage events: from the profile of respondents to the visitor survey, around a third of these (32%) were infrequent attenders to history/heritage events, and 37% of them had never before attended a history/heritage event. Nearly three-quarters (71%)

TOTAL VISITOR NUMBERS

10,000
NEW TO HISTORY or HERITAGE

37%
NUMBER OF EVENTS

108
CORE BUDGET

80,907
FUNDS LEVERAGED

158,840

were new audiences to the Manchester Histories Festival and nearly half (47%) were new visitors to their event venue. The majority (84%) were from Greater Manchester, with the remainder from around the North West, notably Cheshire and Merseyside, with smaller clusters around London, Bristol, and along the M1. Within the UK, people came from as far afield as Glasgow, Dublin, Exeter, Wales and Norwich. Visitor feedback suggests the Manchester Histories Festival events were very well received. Audiences rated the events they attended highly (over 90% gave them 4 or 5 stars) and event organisers reported higher than expected attendance. Events which featured popular cultural forms with strong links to Manchester (football and music) were highlights of the Festival for new audiences and new types of events such as pervasive games and tours using digital media helped to make the Festival more engaging for broader audiences and added to the rich programme of lectures, exhibitions and walks. The main forms of marketing and publicity for the Festival were print, social and digital media and word-of-mouth through professional and community networks. Visitor feedback suggested that word-of-mouth and online media were the main channels that visitors found out about events, but both visitor and event organisers feedback recommended that there needed to be more marketing activity across the festival. A longer lead-in time and additional resourcing will ensure that this happens in 2014. The Festival had a relatively small core budget of 80,907. It leveraged a further 158,840 in-kind from partner organisations, speaker and volunteer time, and attributable projects, demonstrating an additional 1.96 for every 1 spent on the festival. The evaluation findings suggest that Manchester Histories Festival provides a strong basis for collaboration across the city and Greater Manchester area, particularly for community history and other

interest groups, who benefit from the presentation opportunities, the chance to engage with new audiences and the potential for new links and networks with other heritage groups and institutions in the city. The Festival hosted the first Community History Awards, which promoted knowledge sharing and partnerships between community groups and schools, and universities, museums, archives, galleries and libraries, awarding profile, prizes and recommendations to projects in a celebration evening. Community groups who participated this year are keen to use MHF as a forum for networking and developing shared interests year-round and would be interested in seeing more frequent activity delivered outside of the main festival period. The Festival also offers clear value and benefits to its core partners and funders, especially Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Manchester. It provides a platform for public engagement in research, a vehicle for social responsibility and widening participation, through the volunteering and internship possibilities and by working with schools, community groups and other learning organisations. The Manchester Histories Festival is developing into a strong brand, and its cumulative value is therefore more than the series of events in a ten day programme. With further strategic planning, in consultation with the many partners in Manchesters heritage landscape, it has potential for delivering on the Manchester Manifesto (the Citys history strategy) far into the future.

MHF Opening, Peoples History Museum

CONTENTS
01 03 05 06 10 16 20 26 32 33 36 Introduction MHF Aims & Objectives Governance Programme Audience Reach Marketing Value Partner Benefits Lessons Recommendations Appendices

INTRODUCTION
Manchester Histories Festival (MHF) 2012 was a ten day programme of events and activities between the 24th February and 04th March 2012. Its aim was to engage the people of Manchester with the past (and present) of their city, to celebrate the familiar, and to reveal new and hidden histories by bringing together the knowledge resources of the academic and cultural institutions with the large range of local and special interest societies in the city. The 2012 Festival provided the opportunity for people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds to learn, explore, discover, and interpret history through music, film, debate, talks by renowned historians, performance, walking tours, etc. The use of the plural Histories in the title is an indicator of the ethos behind MHF. In recognition of the plurality of voices, opinions and expertise which give Manchester its identity, MHF sought to provide a platform for spreading and exchanging stories and knowledge. MHF aimed to give the city an opportunity to look back on itself, focus on its past, celebrate its heritage, and to think about the present. The inagaural Festival in 2009 had taken place on two successive days at the Town Hall: an education day on the Friday, and the main events on the Saturday. It was felt that this event demonstrated the range of Manchesters cultural institutions and voluntary associations, their capacity for combined action, and the public demand for engagement with the citys histories. The 2012 festival aimed to build on this by extending the festival period to ten days and increasing the sites where festival activities took place. As well as the Celebration Day, a large programme of events was provided in a variety of venues, developing new collaborations between the festival, the venues and their audiences, and widening involvement and access. This evaluation report examines the key factors and features of organising and delivering the MHF programme, and documents the responses to MHF from participants and co-organisers, through various feedback mechanisms. It considers whether and how MHF met its objectives, and the lessons which can be taken from MHF 2012 for future programmes and activities. METHODOLOGY The evaluation process has been carried out by a small team, led by Jim Ralley, The Big Art People, with contribution and advice from Abigail Gilmore, Institute for Cultural Practices at The University of Manchester. The framework of methods we employed to elicit and collate data on various aspects of the Festival is as follows: Venue/tour guide logs Event logs Visitor Survey (self-administered print and online) Volunteers feedback survey (self-administered, online only) Tour participants survey (self-administered, online only) Bookers data Interviews and personal communication with participating speakers/academics, staff and students from the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the University of Salford Film, photos, and podcasts of key events Social media, ticketing, and website analytics Economic valuation through in-kind support leverage and volunteer hours Community consultation Case studies, including interviews with organisers CAVEAT Throughout the report we refer to figures from the Visitor Survey distributed at the majority events and exhibitions held over the ten days. We received 1,127 returns that were collated and processed by a team of volunteer students from the Institute for Cultural Practices MA programmes. As there was no systematic attempt to undertake probability or randomised sampling, the responses from the survey cannot be assumed to be representative of any particular population, other than people who came to events and who agreed to fill in a survey. However, the large number of responses presents a picture of opinions from a diverse range of participants and audience members at MHF, and their answers produce valuable data for formative and summative evaluation. Where possible we have considered this data in relation to expected proportions for similar populations e.g. audience segmentation, Manchester populations.

01

Participant in Larkin About game, Manchester Town Hall

MHF AIMS & OBJECTIVES

AIMS To encourage interest in local histories across all age groups and communities in Manchester To bring together Manchesters educational and cultural institutions with a range of schools, societies, and community groups To inspire an interest in the citys redevelopment and future, by providing a greater understanding of the citys past To stimulate an interest in local history among children and young people, by building a sense of local involvement and improve educational attainment To reinforce interest in local histories, by encouraging the development of widely accessible resources To inspire the people of Manchester with a lasting pride in their shared inheritance To place the history of Manchester in a national and international context OBJECTIVES To attract more than 5,000 visitors Provide effective publicity through extensive media coverage, programmes, and stands on the Celebration Day To develop the partnerships and increase investment with the universites

For the universities: Effective outreach to potential students (of all ages), schools, and wider publics Public evidence of the universities engagement with schools, cultural institutions, societies, the City council, and with wider publics An on-going resource for local history which will continue to attract potential students and other supporters of universities A two-way sharing of knowledge and expertise between the universities, and local and amateur historians

03

Clarion Cycle Ride, Peo

ples History Museum

GOVERNANCE
MAIN FUNDERS Three organisations produced MHF: University of Manchester (UoM) Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) Renaissance North West The two universities are the official bodies running MHF. They operate under an official agreement with UoM as the lead partner. UoM manages income and expenditure and produces financial reports, as well as providing office space and covering overheads for the Festival Director. Both universities seek to provide administration, marketing, fundraising, publicity, project management, displays, logistics, and web support where possible and needed. MAIN PARTNERS The MHF partners provide additional support, funds, and coordinate special events. They are Arts Council England, ModernHistory, ERDF (European Regional Development Fund), Central Manchester University Hospitals, cities@manchester, Manchester City Councils Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, and ESRC Centre for Research of SocioCultural Change (CRESC). The MHFs official suppliers were Epigram, a creative design agency, and Glitterfish, a web design company. Both companies are based in Greater Manchester. The media partner for MHF 2012 was Manchester Confidential, an online magazine and listings site. BOARD The Festival Board comprises: Emma Anderson, Manager, Renaissance North West Hannah Barker, Professor of British History, UoM Dave Haslam, Musician, DJ, author Martin Hewitt, Professor of History, MMU Craig Horner, Lecturer in Community History, MMU John Pickstone, Wellcome Research Professor, UoM John Williams, Heritage and Exhibitions Consultant MANAGEMENT The MHF management team was small, and relied on a core group of committed volunteers to cover key duties. Claire Turner, Festival Director, was responsible for creative direction, strategic planning, marketing, and fundraising. She was the only permanent member of the team, working 2 days/week between May 2011 and February 2012, going full time just two weeks before the start of the Festival. She has remained full time since the end of MHF. Sara Teiger, Media & PR, was the only other paid member of the management team, on a freelance part-time contract for ten days. There were five key volunteers who were integral to the running of MHF 2012 during the lead up to the festival, and in the festival week itself. These were: Ellie Edmonds, Festival Coordinator Jessica Ings, Festival Coordinator Zora Kuettner, Festival Coordinator Rebecca Lowson, Volunteer Coordinator Jenny Oakenfull, Volunteer Social Media Coordinator There was also a large team of dedicated volunteers who provided support at events throughout the festival. Their names can be found in the appendix. Between festivals the team comprises just Claire Turner. This reduced capacity must be taken into account throughout the future development of the programme.

05

PROGRAMME
The model for programming MHF is best demonstrated by the graphic to the right and the text below. The Festival Director develops a signature programme of events with heritage partners, including commissioned talks, tours and exhibitions, as well as joint partnership projects. These lead up to an exhibition space for community heritage groups and organisations on the Celebration Day, at the Town Hall. This formal programming is augmented by an open call for events and activities, which are led by a large range of different public and third sector organisations to become part of the Festival programme. Organisations plan, produce, and deliver these events autonomously, often with the support of MHF volunteers, and promoted under the banner of MHF. This three-tiered system gives both a finegrain and rich texture to MHF. In 2012, in total there were 108 events, performances, talks, and exhibitions that took place over the 10 days of the Festival, in addition to 84 organisations who exhibited at the Town Hall on the Celebration Day.

The event programme was consistently busy over the ten days, fluctuating between a minimum of 19 and maximum of 84 events within the city at any one day. These events offered a diversity of content, location, and type, with the regular succession of walking tours and exhibitions being supported by one-off talks, pervasive games, film screenings, and debates. The exception to this is the Celebration Day, during which the majority of the talks were held, again giving voice to a hugely diverse set of themes and disciplines. The talks covered archaeology, architecture, Black history, Chinese culture, comedy, football, radical Manchester, science, sport, wartime, and women.

06

WHAT RESOURCES WERE AVAILABLE? The three lead partners contributed the majority of the funds to maintain the core functions of the Festival. There was also a substantial carry over from the 2009 Festival. Further restricted and unrestricted funding was provided through the Arts Council England, Central Manchester University Hosptials, cities@manchester, ModernHistory, the Royal Geographic Society, and income from ticket sales. This combined funding enabled the Festival to leverage significant in-kind support from partner organisations. The graphics below map out the relative sizes of each organisations contribution:

07

In addition to providing almost a third of the total cash funds for the Festival, the University of Manchester provided administrative and accounts support, an office for the Festival Director (including rent, rates, bills, computer, printing resources, phone line). The value of these is included in the leveraged support section below. PARTNERS Most of the events were presented in partnership with another organisation or venue. There were 30 partner venues that, through consultation with the Festival Director, developed, produced, marketed, and ran their own events. These were all presented under the banner of the MHF (see appendix). DOCUMENTATION A wide range of Festival events were photographed by Drew Forsyth from 4sythphotography, and filmed by The Big Art People. Additional photography was by Jan Chlebik. TIMELINE 2011 1 June June - November November 30 November 2012 8 January 27 January 31 January 13 February Festival Director appointed 2 days per week Initial consultations and meetings with key museums, galleries, archives, academics, community organisations Flyer distributed Application packs for Community History Awards launched, Deadline for submission of event details Closing date for entrants (awards presented Friday 2 March) Website completed with all events Deadline for submission of exhibition stands Programme distributed w/c

Due to the available resources, the timescale for finalising the programme and producing marketing for MHF 2012 was truncated with a short lead in time for Festival delivery, resulting in lower awareness of MHF through formal marketing as reflected in consultation and participant feedback. To avoid this, the next festival will have a deadline for submission of events in September/October 2013. This will allow the marketing campaign to launch at the beginning of November 2013, providing four months of marketing and PR.

08

Manchester Police Museum Exhibitor, Celebration Day, Manchester Town Hall

AUDIENCE REACH
HOW MANY DID IT REACH? An estimated 3,000 people attended the Celebration Day at the Town Hall on Saturday 3 March. We can calculate an estimate for the total number of attendances of all MHF events, as follows. The known attendance of 53 (49%) of events recorded by the evaluation and including a cross section of venues, performances, talks, and exhibitions, was 3,348. Taking the mean attendance across these events we can use this figure as a proxy to extrapolate attendance for all 108 Festival events. An estimated total number of attendances for MHF is therefore 9,822. These figures may include people who attended more than one event. It does not however include audiences reached through MHF programming situated in wider contexts and venues, for example the audiences who experienced the MHF exhibition at the Peoples History Museum. We can reasonably assume that the MHF reached a broader range of people than those indicated by event logs, although we cannot assume brand awareness. 71% of the respondents had not attended MHF in 2009. 47% of them were new to that particular venue. Through its diverse programme and emphasis on new methods of engagement, MHF 2012 was effective in attracting a high proportion of nonattenders of heritage events.

Map of events

It brought the Manchester Histories Festival brand to potentially thousands of new people, and introduced almost half of its audience to a new cultural venue. The events were primarily concentrated around Manchester, specifically the town centre and along the Oxford Road corridor. There were also a number of events further out, in Eccles, Salford Quays, Broughton, Cheetham Hill, Ashton-under-Lyne, Hyde, Timperley, Sale, and Didsbury.

WHO DID IT REACH? Of the 1,127 people who completed a Visitor Feedback form, 32% of them were infrequent attenders to history/heritage events, and 37% of them had never before attended a history/heritage event.

Map of visitors

10

Yemeni Roots, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust

Map of visitors

67% of the respondents to the survey provided their postcode, and of these, the majority (84%) were from Greater Manchester. The rest were focused around the North West, notably Cheshire and Merseyside, with smaller clusters around London, Bristol, and along the M1. Within the UK, people came from as far afield as Glasgow, Dublin, Exeter, Wales and Norwich. This demonstrates a clear appetite for engagement with Manchesters histories from an audience outside of Greater Manchester. As the media coverage analysis demonstrates below, the majority of the publicity was concentrated within the county. There is an opportunity here to increase regional and national visitors to Manchester, perhaps with integration and support from Marketing Manchester and Creative Tourist. The proportion of respondents who fall into the older age bands (55-64 and 65+) was higher than the proportion of museum and gallery attenders in those age bands across the general population. Similarly, the proportion of respondents in the 35-44 age band was lower than in the general population [MORI, 2005].

Across all of the MHF events then, the audience who responded to the survey was generally older than those who normally attend galleries and museums.

12

We can gain a more nuanced insight by looking into the motivations and actions of particular segments. For the 16-24 and 25-34 age bands the MHF event they attended was more likely to have been their first time at that venue. It was also more likely for the event to have been the first time they had attended a history or heritage event. We can say, therefore, that MHF succeeded in attracting older people who already actively participate in history and heritage, and introducing younger people to new history and heritage experiences. The majority of the respondents (87.8%) were White, 3.1% were of Mixed ethnicity, 1.9% Asian or Asian British, 1.8% Chinese or other ethnic group, and 1.3% were Black or Black British. This generally reflects the spread of the UK population, with a slightly lower proportion of Asian or Asian British than might be expected [ONS, Ethnicity & Identity, 2005].

This concurs with findings from Visit Britain stating that females are proportionally more likely to attend museums and arts galleries for all age bands, except the 65+ group. (http://www.visitbritain.org/Images/ Foresight%20Issue%2083_tcm29-14817.pdf) WHAT DID THEY THINK? The visitor survey respondents rated the events they attended highly: nearly 90% gave the event they attended four or five stars. Nearly half 48% - gave five stars.

When asked what the highlight of the Festival was respondents tended to focus on the event which they were currently attending with 22% mentioning this event, tour or lecture. Other qualitative responses referred to the highlight being the information or learning received through attending the Festival (4%). Particular events which got frequent mentions included the I am Bert talk, lectures by C P Lee and Dave Haslam, and the Lip Service tour. There were proportionally more women who responded compared to the proportion of the general population. The UK as a whole is 49.4% Female and 50.6% Male, whereas MHF respondents comprised 55.9% Female and 44.1% Male. When asked what they thought might improve the Festival, the most frequent response concerned marketing and publicity a third of responses (32%) mentioned publicity,marketing or advertising and some responded that they had not seen any advertising at all. Others (2%, or 14 of those who answered this question) felt that the festival should be of longer

13

duration and 4 respondents recommended that the festival would be improved by making it annual. 4% (23 respondents) said they felt nothing at all should be changed. NEW METHODS OF ENGAGEMENT WITH HISTORY AND HERITAGE As stated above, over one third of survey respondents said they had never been to a history/heritage event before. This figure demonstrates that there is a real passion for history/heritage but that potentially people often wouldnt attend something that has been defined as that. For certain events it is possible that people attended because it was themed around football or music, rather than specifically history or heritage. The two events on these topics the Football Debate and the Fanzine talk both sold out. Looking at the profile of respondents from these events in more detail appears to confirm this analysis: FOOTBALL DEBATE 29% of audience returned surveys (51 out of 174) 35% of those were 25-34 year olds 45% were new to history/heritage events FANZINES 22% of audience returned surveys (39 out of 176) 36% of those were 25-34 year olds ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC 39% of audience returned surveys (39 out of 100) 35% of those were 35-44 year olds 32% were 45-54 year olds The programme sought to challenge commonly held notions of history and heritage. As well as providing alternative routes to engagement through targeted subject matter, such as football, music, and fanzines, there was a strong progressive digital and gaming element to MHF. HISTORY GAMES Larkin About in partnership with Library Theatre Company hosted a series of pervasive games at the Town Hall. This new movement aims to bring video-type games into the real world, using familiar spaces in new, interesting ways. The games were for everyone, adults, families, young people,

individuals, and groups. During the Celebration Day the five games [Rosys Revenge, True Colours, Lions After Slumber, The Birds, Prarieland] engaged 350 participants. They were played in and around the Town Hall, entering new worlds, meeting fictional characters, creating political parties, running through the streets, and fishing for lost souls. The popularity of these games was such that they were fully booked and over-subscribed. DIGITAL PERVASIVE GAME Playfulness as a route to engagement was also explored in two activities produced by the Institute for Cultural Practices, University of Manchester. Histonauts was a digital treasure hunt played through Twitter. During MHF, at the start of each day there were clues released about events, places, and objects to excite the Histonauts and help them create content and share their findings with the world. It aimed to increase engagement with MHF and its partners, get people excited about history, and produce interesting user-generated content. 39 people signed up to play the game, and 17 actively played during the week. A further 8 signed up to play on the Celebration Day, via the information stall. Between them, the Histonauts uncovered 312 historical facts about Manchester, and logged these online with a picture and short description. Similarly, using Archives Plus digitised images posted on the social media platform, Flickr, Manchester, A 100 years Ago providing a digital tour-game around Manchesters past using smartphones and QR codes. These innovative forms of digital engagement with history and heritage encouraged participants to make their own meaning and interpret the city as they saw it. Future festivals should also seek to explore the possibilities of digital technologies and social media, and to encourage as much active participation as possible. Sitting alongside the more traditional exhibitions, lectures and walking tours, they offer new opportunities for interaction with the histories resources and expertise in the city and create a diverse and inclusive programme.

14

Gorton Monastery

MARKETING
HOW DID PEOPLE GET TO HEAR ABOUT MHF? A third of respondents to the visitor survey said that they felt the Festival didnt receive enough formal marketing or publicity. When asked how they did hear about their event, the highest response was word of mouth (43%), followed by 23% who had found out about the event through the MHF website. The print marketing brochure accounted for 16% with social media and venue websites comprising the other responses. WHAT KIND OF MEDIA COVERAGE DID MHF RECEIVE? MHF received good coverage across a range of local and national media, featuring heavily on events previews and family friendly listings. There were also a number of event-specific articles in both print and online, focusing on the football and music events in particular. Nationally, MHF was featured in: The Guardian Guide events preview The Independent Best Family Events information magazine The Independent sports diary The Mirror Welcome to the Weekend section Radio coverage across Greater Manchester was strong, with the Festival Director and several key speakers promoting specific events and the MHF more generally on: All FM BBC Radio Manchester (x12) BBC 6 Music Gaydio Salford City Radio

Online the Festival was covered by a range of predominantly Manchester-based news sites, listings, and blogs, who promoted specific events and the Festival more generally: BBC News Manchester Chorlton Life Citylife Creative Choices Creative Tourist Guardian Northerner Blog History Workshop Online Kids Confidential Manchester Mule ManCon Mancunian Matters Salford Star Simply Manchester Vintage Manchester We Heart

Locally and regionally MHF featured in: Bolton News Big Issue Manchester Evening News Mums and Dads magazine Sale and Altrincham Advertiser South Manchester Reporter Tameside Reporter Tameside Advertiser Urban Life UniLife

WEBSITE Data for the period of 01/01/12 to 01/04/12 provides a general picture of the increasing web engagement with the Manchester Histories Festival official website during the lead up to MHF and the postfestival decline in engagement. There were 27,502 visits in total, 17,660 of which were unique visitors. 40% of those visits occurred during the ten days of MHF.

16

The largest proportion of visitors came from Google searches, for which the top search terms were manchester histories festival, manchester history festival, and manchester histories. People were actively searching for the MHF site, rather than coming across it by chance.

The site at the moment acts like an online programme, and people visited with a view to attending events in person. 15% of visits were on mobile devices. This demonstrates a clear need for a simplified, mobile version of the site which doesnt currently exist. There were several spikes in visitor numbers to the site that was directly attributable to extra content being pushed through MHF and partner organisations social media channels. The 13th February saw promotion on Facebook and Twitter of the Football Debate in the Town Hall. This contributed to a peak of almost 900 visits to the site. Similarly on the 20th February a promo video for the Larkin About History Game was distributed through the MHF YouTube Channel, Facebook Page, and Twitter account. This coincided with Larkin Abouts call on Twitter for actors, the Peoples History Museums promotion of their MHF events, Northern Quarter Life linking to the MHF homepage, and the Whitworth Art Gallery announcing its first After Hours music event. On this day there were almost 1,500 visits to the site. It is an obvious but important conclusion to draw, that interesting engaging content encourages people to visit an organisations website. In addition to this, an integrated social media strategy with key partner organisations is useful for generating an all-important buzz during the lead up to an event.

Visitors stayed on the site for an average of 3:15, which is a relatively short amount of time when compared to Googles own benchmarked average in the UK of 5:38. However, the MHF essentially acts as a listings and marketing site for the festival, and we can assume that once visitors found the event they were looking for, they went elsewhere. This is evidenced by the top ten most popular pages that visitors engaged with: they were looking for what was on. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Homepage Whats On Whats On Guide Whats On 3rd March (Celebration Day) Register InfraManc (exhibition at Cube Gallery) Information Clock Tower Tours Home of Elizabeth Gaskell Celebration Day

The vast majority of the visitors to the site (94.6%) were from the UK. This is unsurprising when viewed through the lens of the most popular pages.

17

FACEBOOK The volunteer Social Media Manager was responsible for audience engagement and promotion through Facebook. This was done by regularly posting links to new events, responding to peoples questions and comments, and updating the page with photos, links, and videos as the MHF progressed. The page received 252 likes before MHF, and 70 likes during MHF. 92% of likes were from Facebook users in the UK. There is the potential to engage more and younger audiences through innovative uses of Facebook. MHF is now in a good position on Facebook with a substantial audience base. For the next festival it needs to work hard at creating interesting and engaging content before and during the ten-day program. In a busy digital social space organisations have to work hard to be heard above the crowd. Appealing to the interests of its existing online audience base will deepen their engagement and could reap rewards offline. TWITTER Like Facebook, the Twitter account was a valuable tool for audience engagement, promotion of key events, and building buzz during the run-up to the festival. There were up to 7 tweets per day before MHF and a regularly updating stream of links, photos, videos, and audience engagement during the festival. The account has 882 followers at the moment, but activity has predictably slowed with the departure of the volunteer Social Media Manager and the lack of MHF events. The account is well placed to pull together and promote Manchester histories events throughout the year, and to sustain an open online dialogue with participants, attenders, and other organisations. YOUTUBE Prior to MHF three promo videos were produced to be distributed before the festival. These short teasers were designed to support the text and picture based website and engage potential audiences with some of the people behind MHF.

The three videos have received 648 views to date, suggesting there is a clear appetite for consumption of video content amongst the MHF audience. It is increasingly important for arts, cultural and heritage organisations to produce video for online consumption. MHF in its role as a promoter of hidden histories in Manchester has the potential to widen access to these in the future through more and better video content.

18

MHF Volunteer, Manchester Town Hall

VALUE
IN-KIND How much in-kind value did the core funding leverage?

From its relatively small core budget of 86,613 MHF leveraged a further 158,840 in-kind from partner organisations, speaker and volunteer time, and attributable projects. The above graphic shows the different sources of in-kind value, showing that the development of strong partnerships is important for unlocking resources, and providing mutual benefits for MHF and the partner: The total value of the in-kind support from MHF volunteers was worth 10,418 The 37 free talks delivered by academics and other speakers had a value of 11,100 The value of support from volunteers through partner organizations was 28,921 Partner organizations also kindly gave support in hundreds of staff hours, to the value of 66,344

These, added to goods and services that were given and donated, give a total in-kind value of 158,840 This, added to the total income of 86,613, makes the true cost of the Festival stand at 245,453

EDUCATION MHF 2009 featured a Schools Day where Primary and Secondary schools across Manchester worked with history and heritage partners around the wealth of stories in the city. Due to the changing offer for schools regionally and nationally, it was decided that the schools programme would be dispersed throughout the ten-day festival. Projects developed the educational offer around stories of Manchester, working with schools and more broadly with heritage partners to produce new content that would be

20

showcased during MHF but which produced legacy on an ongoing basis. For example, a number of new initiatives were developed through the Museums Learning Consortium programme, funded by Renaissance North West, which tested new activities, including MOSIs Romans tour. The Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (University of Manchester) produced an online Welcome Pack for Schools, which suggested both topics and materials on the Manchester Histories of science, technology and medicine. CHSTM also obtained a grant from the Central Manchester University Hospitals Trust endowment covering work with schools around Health Histories and the preparation of further on line material. There were particularly effective collaborations with Communications Academy in North Manchester, and the Health Academy in Wythenshawe which the Trust sponsors. The Communications Academy is close to the site of the former infectious disease hospital for Manchester, Monsall Hospital, and CHSTM was able to arrange much appreciated visits to the Academy by Howard Shilton, a senior lecturer in Nursing, who has researched the history of the hospital and was himself once employed there. The work with the Health Academy involved Health History Walks by Emma Fox, one of the Manchester guides. CHSTM also prepared a substantial learning pack on Monsall hospital, which will be available for future Festivals, and indeed for use by all Manchester schools. These lively health history projects created much interest in the participant schools and at the Festival. They were particularly effective in linking different disciplines, notably history, science, and health education. Like the online material they served to

develop partnerships and to: Enrich the curriculum Develop key thinking and learning skills Enhance the Gifted and Talented curriculum Demonstrate how local history connects with wider social change WHAT WAS THE VALUE OF THE FESTIVAL? For Audiences The visitor feedback from audiences reports a very positive experience with high levels of satisfaction for events. MHF successfully engaged with audiences who usually attend history and heritage events, as well succeeding in attracting new audiences to history and heritage. 31% of respondents were frequent attenders and 32% were infrequent attenders. For 37% of the respondents, the MHF event they attended was their first ever history/heritage event. The MHF appears to provide impetus for a broader segment of the population to get involved in history, and brings potential benefits to partner organisations through audience development. For 47% of respondents the MHF event was the first time they had ever visited that particular venue suggesting a successful means of attracting new audiences for the partners engaging in MHF. The evaluation research with partipating venues also reports very positive feedback regarding the events they produced and hosted, with higher than expected visitor numbers for many of the venues and an overwhelming satisfaction with the performance of their events.

21

Creative Tourist presents Lip Service: The Hysterical Historical Walking Tour

For Community Groups MHF saw one of its key aims as providing a platform and showcase for smaller community groups. For them it was an opportunity to build relationships with a wider public and to network with a wide range of other history and heritage organizations. The feedback forms, along with anecdotal evidence from the day, show the importance of the Celebration Day as an opportunity for networking between small and large heritage organisations. The 84 organizations who exhibited represented a huge range of local, regional, and national history and heritage interests. However these were only a proportion of the potential interest groups who are active in the Greater Manchester region, and many organisations (an estimated half as many again) had to be turned down due to insufficient space at the Celebration Day. From the interest shown in the Celebration Day and from event feedback, there is need for more centralised research and coordination to identify the common needs and potential opportunities for community groups and venues in the city-region. This will help them to connect up, and raise their profiles through this mechanism. Many smaller community groups benefitted from the increased profile of MHF. The regional media coverage and buzz generated through word of mouth and online by MHF and partner organizations brought their work to a much wider audience than usual. Gaskells House is a good example of this. Ann OBrien, organiser said:

many times over the years and were delighted to be able to come in. A number said they would come back again. All in all a very good result!
HOW DO COMMUNITY GROUPS CONTINUE TO BENEFIT AND REMAIN AT THE CORE OF THE FESTIVAL? To ensure that the full range of opinions came through in the evaluation process we conducted a consultation session for the community groups who were involved in MHF 2012. We presented some preliminary findings from the visitor feedback, using the results to prompt discussion and debate around the key issues with MHF moving forward. We posited that the visitor and event feedback suggests MHF is a great potential vehicle for engagement of new audiences in the heritage landscape and resources in Manchester. We asked the community groups what we might do differently to ensure success, and what they envisaged happening. Taking their insights into account, as well as feedback from the Festival Director, volunteers, and partner organisations, the following themes emerge. MHF as a network There was clear sense that the networking and collaborative opportunities provided by the Celebration Day and the wider programme were incredibly useful. This view was expressed by small and large organisations alike, and by funding bodies like the Heritage Lottery Fund. MHF is well placed to act as a central node around which conversations can happen and partnerships develop. Widen the geographical scope of MHF MHF 2012 was largely a Manchester City event, with the majority of the events taking place in the city centre, and along the Oxford Road corridor. However, many of the organisations who exhibited on the Celebration Day came from other boroughs

There were so many people [and] so much else going on there wasnt the time to record anything. It was literally non-stop. The ladies involved were exhausted by the end of the day. We made over 830, as well as getting new members for both the Gaskell Society and Friends of the Gaskells House. People said they had passed the house
23

of Greater Manchester, showing that the appetite for engagement with history and heritage is present further afield. There is the potential to spread more events throughout Greater Manchester during the week of MHF with the aim of engaging a much wider public. There is also an opportunity to provide Greater Manchester groups with access to over 3,000 visitors on the Celebration Day.

MHF having a presence throughout the year There is the sense that a biennial festival model is inflexible, and risks missing potential anniversary and partnership opportunities that might arise during the 103 weeks that MHF is dormant. Building some flexibility in programming, or planning for one or two annual events would perhaps be beneficial, and would have the added benefit of keeping the MHF brand in the public consciousness.

CASE STUDY 1 - VOLUNTEERS

We sent out a post-event survey to all of the volunteers who were known to the MHF management team (there were many more volunteer contributions associated with community groups, heritage partner organisations and others, however a mailing list of all voluntary contributors is not currently available). Just under a third (32% of the total number) responded. The quantitative data shows them to be a diverse group, with varying levels of history interest and heritage event attendance, different employment statuses (included retirees and students), and varying levels of current volunteering. Qualitative responses were illuminating about the responsibilities, benefits and value of their experience as volunteers. Why did you want to volunteer with the Histories Festival? I was interested to work on an event that involved so many cultural institutions, had such a range of topics and aimed to reach out to people who would not normally interact with museums. Im fascinated by social history and was hoping to gain more experience in the heritage sector and have some fun learning local history. What was the highlight of your experience volunteering? I was able to learn a lot from Claire, the Festival Director, and it was good that she trusted me with certain tasks and gave me a specifc role in the Festival - rather than just vaguely asking me to help out! Getting a chance to see places I didnt previously know were there Meeting different organisations and people interested in their local history. Discovering smaller community projects which do exciting things. Do you think you acquired any new skills that enhance your employability? managing volunteers time management skills insight into how big events are organized it reminded me of the skills I have which arent being used in my job The volunteers viewed the opportunity as both a learning and social experience. They had prior interest in history and heritage but werent necessarily frequent attenders of history and heritage events. They saw the Festival as an opportunity to indulge their interests and contribute to something of worth. Some volunteers also felt they had developed transferrable skills that they felt would serve them well in the future jobs market.

24

Larkin About participants, Celebration Day, Manchester Town Hall

PARTNER BENEFITS
HOW DOES THE MHF BENEFIT PARTNERS? With no standard model of partnership or organisational collaboration, the benefits of being part of MHF varies according to the amount of cash and in-kind support given, the resources made available, and the willingness to open up and engage with the general public. UoM The University of Manchester contributed the largest amount of cash funds to MHF 2012 (40,000 in total), as well as donating resources for the 22 events which they co-produced. The MHF is now being recognised within the University as one of its major outreach initiatives. It provides a platform for academics and students to showcase their work to wider publics, and to gain from involvement with a diverse range of talks, games, family friendly activities, music gigs, original films, and archive film screenings. The university partnerships help advertise the Festival and bring in audiences. Of the 1,127 responders to the Visitor Feedback survey, 9% (101) were current students, and 7.8% (88) were staff at UoM, MMU, or Salford. The highest proportion of students and staff came from University of Manchester and made up 10% of the survey respondents. Two UoM MA students placements worked alongside the Festival Director. These placements not only strengthened the links between MHF and individual UoM programmes of study, but also provided students with valuable skills development opportunities, generated a large amount of inkind support for MHF, and made a significant positive impact on some small community history organisations. The university partnerships also brought student audiences to the Festival. Of the 1,127 responses to the Visitor Feedback survey, 9% (101) were current students, and 7.8% (88) were staff at UoM, MMU, or Salford. The highest proportion of students and staff came from University of Manchester and made up 10% of the survey respondents. As they

CASE STUDY 2 - MA PLACEMENTS

The Pankhurst Centre sits in the historical home of Emmeline Pankhurst and her family, who led the Suffragette campaign for votes for women. The building is dual purpose, housing a womens community centre providing a space for activities, events, organisations, and projects that support women. In addition to this it contains a small public heritage area with information about the Pankhurst family and the movement in general. The physical space of the heritage centre is very limited, so the management team sought support, on advice from the MHF Festival Director, from two UoM MA students, each on a 20 day work placement. The students set up and ran social media accounts, developed events for International Womens Day, designed a display for the Jewish International Womens Day celebration, and ran a one-off Easter celebration event. Their work had demonstrable value for the organisation, with clear tangible outputs and increased levels of online and offline engagement. Alison Backhouse, Development Coordinator at the Pankhurst Centre said:

The MA placements were really valuable, we would have been lost without them. Their work gave us such a boost to visitor numbers.
26

produced more events, it is unsurprising that the majority of the students who attended were from UoM and demonstrates that university involvement also operates as a form of informal marketing for the Festival.

Archaeology dig, and talks by MMU academics. The NWFA contributions played a significant role in MHF, with Art & Artists on Film screening at the Whitworth Art Gallery, the historical films screening on the Celebration Day, and the popular All About The Music archive screening at Band on the Wall. The students and staff from MMU made up 4% of the respondents to the visitor survey. Now the model of public and student engagement has been proven, there is scope for MMU to co-produce many more events, to open up its valuable sources of historical and contemporary knowledge to a wider public, and to give its students the opportunities that UoM MA students had during MHF 2012. University of Salford The success of the three events produced by UoS demonstrates the benefits which MHF brings to academic partners. The Archaeology of Communications conference, which was organised and paid for by the UoS, was well attended; and the two talks delivered by UoS academics received some excellent feedback from the Visitor Feedback forms. Other routes to participation came through Andrew Cooper, Academic Director MediaCityUK at the University of Salford, who was one of the judges for the MHF Community History Awards. He said:

As both a festival provider and an organization that promotes history on a continual basis through its communities and schools work and its digital presence, the Manchester Histories Festival is unique and provides a fantastic social engagement opportunity for universities. It gives academics of all disciplines, as well as students, librarians and curators, a direct link to the public. The ability to create meaningful relationships between university researchers and schools and community groups is one of the things that makes the Festival particularly special, as is its attraction to audiences that do not usually take part in history, heritage and cultural events. These elements will form a focus of our activities in the coming years, alongside our strong relationships with the City Council and Manchesters cultural institutions which have led to us assisting in the development and delivery of the Citys history strategy.
Hannah Barker, Chair of the Manchester Histories Festival board and Professor of British History, University of Manchester

MMU MMU contributed 5,000 in cash funds for the sponsorship of the new Community History Awards, and supported events through their community engagement programme, student volunteering, the North West Film Archive (NWFA), Birley Fields

This is an excellent example of how the academic community of universities can connect with a variety of other communities to develop and enhance shared interests across a range of areas. The sharing of expertise from all concerned is hugely beneficial. More specifically, the approach taken by the MHF ensures that there is active participation in a range of activities that enrich shared knowledge of histories pertaining to the Manchester region, as well as given excellent exposure to how
27

collaborations of various kinds sustain enthusiasm. Greater involvement in the MHF would be welcomed by the University of Salford. We can support the event by playing an active role in collaborations, through staff and student participation, as well as providing content for a variety of events and master

classes. The University also has a range of facilities that could be of benefit to the festival, including the highly technologized environment at MediaCityUK.
There is clearly an appetite here to increase the level of collaboration between UoS and MHF. The evidence so far suggests that these kinds of partnerships are mutually beneficial.

SUMMARY OF PARTNER BENEFITS

University of Manchester UoMs contribution was 40,000 plus an estimated 15,764 in-kind contribution (in volunteer and academic time, plus accommodation & overhead costs) 23 events were delivered by UoM academics and departments during MHF 2012 The Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM) engaged with schools through the production of a downloadable resource pack, the creation of a new heritage trail and a joint project with Manchester Health Academy 8 talks presented by academics at the MHF Celebration Day 15 students were involved in placements or as volunteers contributing towards UoMs goal of 100,000 hours of student volunteering time by 2015 Introduction to, and engagement with, the MA placement scheme by community organisations 7 events presented at Manchester Museum 2 events delivered/partnered by Whitworth Art Gallery 3 events delivered involving John Rylands Library The Confucius Institute delivered a talk as part of MHF 3 vox pops video podcasts funded by cities@ manchester and published on the MHF website and YouTube showcasing projects, including the CHSTM schools health project and an introduction to MHF by Professor John 28 Pickstone from UoM 2 research and development projects using digital technologies in public engagement produced by the Institute for Cultural Practices: Histonauts & Manchester 100 years Ago Frances Lockett Britains First Queen of Cotton exhibition and talk with Tameside Local Studies & Archive Centre, Dr Rebecca Conway (History)

Manchester Metropolitan University 5,000 direct MMU funding plus an estimated 2,110 in-kind contribution through volunteer and academic time 4 academics delivered talks at the MHF Celebration Day Support for the Manchester Community History Awards 5 students were involved in MHF as volunteers North West Film Archive presented a day of films for the MHF Celebration Day and a further talk in partnership with Whitworth Art Gallery; supported the Band on the Wall event The Birley Fields Community Heritage project was linked into MHF University of Salford 2 academics delivered talks for MHF, contributing an estimated 600 to their inkind contribution The Archaeology of Communications conference was partnered with MHF

Manchester Community History Awards, Manchester Town Hall

Opportunities Partners have successfully used MHF events as a vehicle for public engagement, the impact of which has been to increase awareness of the partner organisations work, and to take part in interesting and important collaborations. The festival has acts as a node for collaboration across the partner organisations, providing an opportunity for cross- and collaborative marketing, showcasing new work and gaining new audiences. For universities it has the potential to act as a milestone date in the calendar around which public engagement and research dissemination activities for histories and heritage work can be coordinated. It also acts as fantastic platform for volunteering, placements and internships, speaking to both social responsibility and employability agendas for university staff and students. Andy Spearpoint from the One Education Music ran a song-writing project with a primary school in Wythenshawe. The children spent time examining the murals in the Town Hall, working with tour guide Jonathan Schofield to explore the history of the building and of the city. After developing the song with in collaboration with Andy, the children performed at

MHFs new Community History Awards on the second Friday of MHF.

It was nice to have the opportunity to connect children with the history of important institutions in Manchester. And great that they got the opportunity to perform in front of an audience outside of their school: an audience full of adults. We [the Manchester Music Service] developed some interesting partnerships through the MHF and wed really like to do it again.
How might commercial partners benefit? Whilst there is no precedent set for developing partnerships with commercial organisations, MHF is focused on engaging with the wider business community in Manchester. They see a huge opportunity to explore the story of individual business growth in relation to the development of Manchesters history and heritage and its national and international impact.

CASE STUDY 3 - FANZINES PROJECT

During the run-up to Manchester Histories Festival, Board Member Dave Haslam initiated a project, funded by the Arts Council of England, with several groups of students, designers, and other partners, looking at the history of Manchesters alternative fanzines. In response to this history, and inspired by it, they created several brand-new fanzines. Workshops were a key part in this process; looking at an archive of historic fanzines and then finding ways of developing and shaping the contemporary equivalents. Dave ran eight workshops in total with 40+ people attending and contributing. They were aged between 11 and 40, from diverse backgrounds and skillsets. There were journalism students, designers, illustrators, writers, artists, developers, editors, and young musicians. During the Festivals Celebration Day (3rd March), Dave Haslam delivered a talk in the Friends Meeting House which sketched the history of Manchester alternative music press, and later the same day he chaired a panel featuring Mike Don, Liz Naylor, and Bob Dickinson. The panel event took place in the Town Hall, and was hosted in partnership with the Manchester District Music Archive. 176 people attended the event. The final part of the project is the ambitious attempt to digitise Manchesters fanzine archive. This material will be brought together as an online exhibition to be launched on the Manchester District Music Archive in the Autumn of 2012 with a number of events planned to coincide with the exhibition, including one at the refurbished Manchester Gallery at the Manchester Art Gallery.

30

Celebration Day Exhibitions, Manchester Town Hall

CASE STUDY 4 - COMMUNITY HISTORY AWARDS

The Community History Awards entries were shortlisted by a Panel of Judges chaired by BBC North west Tonights Ranvir Singh. Cash prizes (750 to winners and 250 to recommendations) were awarded at the Awards evening on Friday 2 March to two different groups: Community Awards WINNER: Zion 100. Community Z-Arts and Terry Wyke, MMU A year long project to celebrate the centenary of what was the Zion Arts Centre at the time. Terry Wyke was Historian in Residence. JUDGES RECOMMENDATION: Once Upon a Time. Manchester Communication Academy & Collyhurst Tenants Association gathering memories of Collyhurst JUDGES RECOMMENDATION: Cheetham Church of England Community Academy & the National Football Museum. Exploring migration in Manchester through poetry. School Awards WINNER: Meet the Guernsey Evacuees of World War Two. Community Archive for Channel Island Evacuation and Gillian Mawson, University of Manchester JUDGES RECOMMENDATION: Platt Fields Centenary History Project. Friends of Platt Fields and the Centenary History Project celebrating the centenary of the park JUDGES RECOMMENDATION: A Portrait of Bury. Derby High School and Bury Museum & Art Gallery. Exhibition exploring the diverse history of Bury.

32

LESSONS
This section pulls together the quantitative and qualitative data from the Visitor Feedback forms and the Venue Feedback forms, distilling it into a set of lessons that MHF should bear in mind going into the the next phase of its programming. Many of the comments arose in answer to the question: What do you think we could do to improve MHF? Marketing / Publicity The vast majority of the comments on the Visitor forms mentioned a lack of marketing and publicity for MHF. Visitors said that they would have liked more notice before the festival week to better plan their attendance. Many also mentioned the need for more and wider spread publicity outside of the city centre in the suburbs and Greater Manchester more widely. Many visitors also noted the lack of content on the MHF website during the run up to the festival week. Branding Some visitors were unaware that they were attending an MHF event, until they were handed the evaluation form. This is a risk inherent in allowing partner organisations to run events without any input or control by MHF. Timings Some visitors felt they were unable to attend the football events because they were programmed during the Saturday football matches. Other visitors notes that the schedule was tightly packed, especially for the talks in the Friends Meeting House. It was suggested by several people that the popular events are run twice in the future. Cost There were a number of complaints about the booking fee that was added by external ticketing companies. There was also a suggestion that visitors should be able to bulk buy tickets to guided walks. At their current price, some saw the price as a real barrier to their participation. New / diverse audiences The evaluation of visitor profiles suggests that MHF is appealing to new audiences, attracting audiences outside the usual demographic profiles for heritage events. The age and ethnicity profiles of MHF 2012 were broadly representative of expected audiences for Manchester events. This provides a good basis for further audience development and for developing programming to reach more diverse audiences, for example Black and Minority Ethnic communities. Participation / Interaction There was a positive reaction to the game events (Larkin About), and to the various debates. Many visitors asked that next festival makes more provision for active engagement and interactivity, rather than passive consumption. Frequency / Duration Some people said that MHF should last for 2 weeks, in to avoid overcrowding the programme. Other visitors asked if MHF could be held annually, with the showcase (Town Hall) even occuring biennially.

33

RECOMMENDATIONS
Value for Universities MHF can help universities to fulfil their social responsibility, community engagement and widening participation obligations, through the facilitation of internships and placements as a basis for partnership work with heritage and community history organisations and within its own management team. The positive benefits of these opportunities have been fully exploited by UoM and partly exploited by MMU and UoS. Future negotiations should take this into account. More specifically, MHF offers opportunities to bring academics together with the public and with specialist interest groups, providing a platform for networking, engagement and potential research development. It is also a way for academics to profile their research in new and different ways, subscribing to the MHFs emphasis on innovative methodologies for engaging and developing heritage audiences, and becoming part of a larger Greater Manchester-wide community of interest. There is the potential for the Festival to help academics achieve and demonstrate research impact and undertake knowledge exchange with local community groups and amateur historians. With appropriate design and resources, evaluation of future Festival activities should aim to capture longer term effects and impacts for participants, which can help to show the relationship between research, dissemination, engagement and social, cultural and economic effects and values. There are also many opportunities for students from all three universities to get involved as volunteers, through placements, and running projects. Future evaluation We recommend ring-fencing the resource for attaining a more comprehensive estimation of economic impact/visitor spend for future festivals. The leverage figures that we were able to produce with limited resources could be supported using visitor spend data augmented by STEAM data to calculate the value of visitor categories, and make further estimations of direct and indirect impacts. This would require more dedicated resource for a sample survey, with questions concerning visitor spend, activity, origin and group size. We also recommend a specific focus on learning outcomes from participants and audiences. The focus for 2012 was on showing the levels of engagement and the kinds of people who were engaging. Now that MHF has demonstrated it can attract both traditional and non-traditional history/ heritage attenders, it should aim to show the depth and breadth of that engagement through further qualitative survey and research methods.. New methods of engagement Interactive, creative, and participatory activities like Larkin Abouts pervasive games, Histonauts2, Manchester 100 Years Ago, and talks/debates like Dave Haslams Fanzines Panel and the Football Debate all succeeded in attracting and pleasing a non-traditional history/heritage audience. Parallel to this, the rest of the programme met the needs of a more traditional audience. MHF should strive to continue to engage new audiences without alienating current ones. From the feedback received, there is clearly considerable potential in these new methods of engagement, and there is a case for increasing their scope and profile in the future. Building links with schools Manchester has a rich offer for schools, which has been greatly helped by the continued work of Renaissance North West. As such there is already a lot of work being done in the history/heritage sector. It is the job of MHF to build on this existing work rather than attempt to replace or duplicate it. A strength of MHF lies in its ability to make and facilitate connections with and between the variety of groups who are involved in work with schools in Manchester; and in this capacity it should continue its commitment to schools and education in Manchester. Partnerships Much of the value of MHF is unlocked through the strong partnerships it makes with history, heritage, and cultural organisations. These

34

existing partnerships should be strengthened, and new partnerships should be created. There is also scope for developing partnerships with commercial enterprises, providing a bridge between the private sector and the academic/third sector, and giving businesses the opportunity to fulfill their CSR requirements. Network The feedback from the partner organisations and smaller heritage organisations exhibiting on the Celebration Day highlighted the importance of MHF as a networking space, and as an organisation that brings groups together. In the future MHF should look at developing more formal networking opportunities, either online or in person, and encouraging groups to work together on specific projects. Strategy There is a rich landscape of groups, institutions, networks and individuals in Manchester who share an interest in the citys histories, and who want to celebrate and share their interests, value and learning with others. These interests are longstanding and precede the Manchester Histories Festival. They attract varying levels of resource, ranging from the individual hobbyist investing their own time and labour, to the national museum securing public funding, to the local community group, to the university with one of the largest History departments in the UK. Many of these interests came together for the first MHF in 2009 and the network has been substantially extended in 2012. The model is now ripe for further development particularly in the context of increased appetite for strategic collaboration offering a potential axis for sharing and levering further resources. Manchester is now gearing up for key anniversary dates; and the completion of major capital developments in the city from 2014 will further enrich the cultural heritage infrastructure and profile. The Manchester Histories Strategy, Manchester Manifest, was developed by the city council and its partners in response to the 2009 Festival, recognising the continuing need for collaboration between

Manchesters statutory and voluntary institutions and groups to encourage public and expert engagement with Manchester histories. The Festival has proved a remarkably effective vehicle for delivering and building that collaboration, as the success of MHF 2012 shows. There is scope and encouragement for much further development (for a wider geographical basis, for continuing work with schools, and for more events throughout each year) as well as for the Celebration days which serve so well to connect groups and raise the profile of Manchester heritage. The MHF therefore plays a central role in galvanising and realising the Manchester Histories Strategy.

35

Dave Haslam at the Fanzines debate, Manchester Town Hall

APPENDICES
LIST OF VOLUNTEERS Ellie Edmonds [MA Placement] Administration for Mcr Community History Awards Jessica Ings Exhibition and Celebration Day Co-ordination Zora Kuettner Event Management & Celebration Day Coordination Rebecca Lowson [MA Placement] Event Coordination and Volunteer Coordinator Jenny Oakenfull Social Media Manager Mary Allen Lee Ashworth Amelia Bayliss Leah Bleakley Juliette Donaldson Frances Devine Lily Dong Hayley Flynn Suzanne Grieve Agnieszka Grusznis Florence Holmes Tilly Howarth Wing Yee Li Jessica Anne Manfield Alistair Martindale Freya McCracken Alisa McKeown Lynne OSullivan Egle Peleckaite Sameera Rafiq Claire Robinson Angela Seagar Suzanne Short Jesspreet Thethi Liz Thorpe Lucy Woolley Jane Woodall Barry Worthington Jakub Wyszkowski LIST OF PARTNERS Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre & Education Trust Ancient Eqypt Magazine Ltd/ Empire Publications Anthropology: University of Manchester Anti-Slavery International Manchester Arts for Health, MIRIAD, Manchester Metropolitan University Brian Selby for Belle Vue Zoological Gardens Centre for Arts Management and Cultural Policy Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine Cheetham Church of England Community Academy Cheshire Archives and Local Studies Council for British Archaeology North West Development Education Project Didsbury Civic Society English Heritage Faith Network 4 Manchester Finding Manchester Friends of Clayton Park Friends of Kersal Moor/Street Museum Friends of Longford Park Friends of Northenden Riverside Park Friends of Platt Fields Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People Greater Manchester Fire Service Museum Greater Manchester Police Museum and Archives Heaton Park Astronomy Group Heritage Lottery Fund Historical Association Bolton Branch Historypin (We Are What We Do) International Brigade Memorial Trust International New Arrivals, Travellers & Supplementary School Team Lancashire and Ceshire Antiquarian Society/CILIP Local Studies Group North West Lancaster Local History Federation Levenshulme Personal & Community History Group MANCENT Mancheser Chinese Centre Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society Manchester and Salford Ramblers Manchester Branch of the Inland Waterways Association Manchester Centre for Regional History, Manchester Metropolitian University Manchester Civic Society

37

Manchester Guided Tour Manchester Health Academy Manchester Historic Buildings Trust and Gaskall Society Manchester Jewish Museum Manchester Metropolitian University Archaeolgy Department Manchester Modernist Society Manchester Sport History Manchester University Press Manchester YMCA MMU Special Collections Modern History, Visit Manchester Monastery of St Francis and Gorton Trust and Gorton Heritage Trail Group Museum of Lanchashire Museum of Transport Greater Manchester National Co-Operative Archive North West Labour History Society Nuclear Free Manchester Peak and Northern Footpaths Society Peterloo Memorial Campaign Salford Heritage Services South Manchester Tactical Society Stockport Historical Society/Middleton CNIC Association Tameside Local Studies and Archives The Big Art People The Centre for Applied Archaeology The Halle The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester The Kindling Trust The Pankhurst Centre The Portico Library The Royal Northern College of Music The University of Manchester History Department The Victorian Society The Whitworth Art Gallery Together Trust Tony Richards Troubadour Cultural Heritage Foundation Wai Yin Chinese Women Society Working Class Movement Library Worsley Civic Trust and Amenity Society

38