Manchester Art Gallery

Unfolding: tracing cloth histories at Platt Hall – a textile takeover in the windows of Platt Hall – one of Manchester’s most important surviving Georgian buildings.

£2,900

Platt Hall is home to a little-known collection of historic global textiles, much of which has been in storage for many years as part of Manchester City Galleries’ craft and design collection. Through an installation across 22 windows, this project will share with the wider public some of the collaborative investigative work they are doing to re-evaluate the significance, value and meaning of their textile collection.

While celebrating Manchester’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, both in the textiles held at Platt Hall and in the communities that make up the local neighbourhood it will also offer provocation, asking questions about legacies of power, ownership and authorship of the histories of textile manufacture in the North West. It will explore the relevance of both the Hall and collections to present day communities, breaking down barriers to engagement and supporting long-term sustainability to both the site and its collections. Opening access to global collections and sharing research and expertise are the heart of this project. The exhibition will be on display for six months, and a study day for members is planned for 2026.

Coldharbour Mill Trust Ltd

The Culm Valley Millennium Screen Anniversary Project – to display, with new interpretation, their magnificent Culm Valley Millenium Screen.

£2,280

Coldharbour Mill dates back to the 18th century, as a yarn spinning factory. It has been the home of the Working Wool Museum since 1982 and aims to actively engage visitors with the heritage and future of textiles through its promotion of textile arts and crafts. The Millennium Screen is a striking example of textile art, a huge, multimedia panorama which the communities of Culm Valley worked on together in order to create a lasting memorial of village life at the end of the 20th century – the new Millennium. The Screen was created specifically for display at Coldharbour Mill in 2000 and displayed there until 2011. During this period it generated great interest locally and nationally, through short excursions to local communities, National Trust properties and the Millennium Dome in London.

2025, the 25th anniversary of the screen, is the perfect time to bring this hidden treasure out of hibernation and to celebrate the craft skills of the communities that created it. Poignantly, it is vital to do this now while some of the original artists are still able to contribute. The Mill hosts weekly textile and fibre craft workshops and regular public events that promote textile arts and crafts. A membership visit is planned for 2026.