Friday 07-09-2018 - 17:42

Wellbeing officer, Andy Harmon is excited to tell you about the Arts Festival 2018 – a weekend challenge beliefs that can lead to discrimination through film screenings, art and discussion. 

As students at Manchester Met, we are proud of the diversity of our campus – a diverse campus allows us to participate in education with a wide range of views, experiences and ideas. It offers a chance to become more knowledgeable about the experiences of other people and hopefully more tolerant also. Unfortunately, where we have diverse people and voices, there is also discrimination, injustice and hatred. The current political and social climate of harassment can leave us heading in a different and less progressive direction for marginalised people. As students, we need to be challenging racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, misogyny, and other forms of hate crime.

With these issues in mind, I am proud and excited to announce the launch of our 2018 Arts Festival – a joint venture between Manchester Met University and The Union. Working closely with our students, we have created a 3-day weekend event over October 12 – 14, which aims to challenge perceptions and celebrate the things that bring us together. There will be film screenings, artwork on show, discussion opportunities and series of activities available for people to enjoy and partake in throughout the weekend. My hope is that the festival creates a safe and non-judgmental space, where students, academics, and members of the great communities in Manchester, can come together to challenge discrimination and division.

We have enlisted the help of our students to create and curate their own art pieces that explore their experiences and ideas of hate crime. In addition, we have chosen a selection of films that explore how different groups of people experience oppression and discrimination. Throughout the entire weekend, there will be plenty of opportunities to discuss the issues raised with panel discussions and workshop activities taking place around the themes of pride, race and immigration, disability and activism and unpicking hate crime.

The Arts Festival will run from Friday 12 October to Sunday 14 October at The Union, MMU – make sure you check out the arts festival page for detailed listings. I hope you’re excited as I am to share ideas and make our campus and our city more welcoming and understanding of difference.