SPARK #34: Visit to the site of the Trees Not Cars campaign in Ancoats

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/castlefieldgallery/1617197

Flyer for the event

April 5th, 11-1:30

SPARK #34: Visit to the site of the Trees Not Cars campaign in Ancoats,  hosted by @Katy.McGahan and Rae Story @verdant.city

SPARK artists are invited to visit the site of the @TreesNotCars campaign in Ancoats, Manchester, with a view to creating works that respond to this and other hotly contested, inner city landscapes, including the  Save Ryebank Fields campaign in Chorlton. The session includes a tour of the site and a performance by #VoicesAgainstExtinction. 

Manchester City Council’s original plan for the derelict 10.5 acre Ancoats site which is bordered by Great Ancoats Street, one of the most polluted thoroughfares in Manchester, and overlooked by a primary school and GP practice, was for it to be converted into a carpark. Finally, in response to tireless campaigning on the part of the Trees Not Cars local residents’ group, a strip of green space for public use has now been factored into the design - but it is hardly the ‘green lung’ that this heavily polluted area so desperately needs. What’s now being offered has been described by local campaigners as more of a ‘path’ than a park – but, all the same, it is a win, and that should definitely be celebrated!

Weather permitting, Katy McGahan will facilitate a 16mm phytogram filmmaking workshop using plants collected by participants in and around the site.

11am - Brief updates on the Trees Not Cars campaign from Trees Not Cars representative 

and Save Ryebank Fields campaign by a representative from Friends of Ryebank Fields

11:20 - Tour exploring and enjoying the biodiversity of the site, led by environmental educator Colette Mooney

12:10 - 16mm phytogram filmmaking workshop led by Katy McGahan

1:10 - Reflections and next steps, facilitated by Rae Story

SPARK

The SPARK network was set up by Castlefield Gallery in 2022 to facilitate a Greater Manchester/North West-based network of artists wanting to intervene in the climate crisis.