Students partner with Manchester Art Gallery for Future Creatives 2021

Visual Arts students have once again been commissioned by the gallery to work on the project.

Students at The Manchester College’s Centre of Excellence for Visual Arts have once again been commissioned by Manchester Art Gallery to work on the Future Creatives project.

The theme for Future Creatives 2021 is ‘Protopia’, an idea developed by American thinker and Futurist Kevin Kelly, to be used as a model for change and working towards a better future.

Students are being asked to consider and share what kind of world they want to live in and use creative processes to call for change. Working with the artist Jeremy Deller, alongside their tutors and peers, students will create a series of art outcomes and activities that will form a day of positive collective action, hosted at Manchester Art Gallery on Friday 9 July 2021.

Previous Future Creatives projects include ‘This City is our Canvas’, ‘Reflection, Reimagination, Repetition’ and ‘Why Religion?’

Level 2 students are also taking part in a live brief around the Black Lives Matter movement with The Ideas Foundation. The brief explores the political and social movement, with the challenging subject addressed in a creative, visual outcome which helps to pose questions and help educate.

Bettina Halpern, Departmental Team Leader for Visual Arts, said: “Through this very trying time of the pandemic, which has tested us all, we have maintained engaging projects working on Microsoft Teams. The remote teaching which has taken place continues to be relevant, thought-provoking and imaginative.

Students are encouraged to identify their own practice and discipline, exploring different materials and processes to find their own voice within the creative industry.

“These are just a few of the exciting opportunities our learners are embarking on whilst working from bedrooms, family living rooms and other inventive temporary studio spaces. The live briefs encourage networking throughout the city of Manchester and beyond, giving a true taste of what it means to be a creative practitioner for our students.”

Find out more about our Centre of Excellence for Visual Arts and apply today.