Student Friends
Student Friends
Student Friends of the Whitworth Group Revived
Student Friends
Student Friends
Student Friends of the Whitworth Group Revived
The Importance of Our Student Friends
If there is one task as important to FOW as helping the Gallery in the here and now – acquiring a work, mounting an exhibition, or organising an events programme – it’s nurturing the next generation of Friends. Over the last few years, our links with the University of Manchester’s art history department supported us in this work. Our Student Friends Programme, led by students themselves, encouraged students to come to the Whitworth, organise their own events, and learn about how the Gallery works. The students told us it added a new dimension to their academic experience in Manchester, and it helped us look at the Whitworth with new eyes. Covid took its toll, of course, so it is wonderful to see a revival of this work under the leadership of our new Student Ambassador, Riana Shah, and with the help of a long-standing member of FOW, Dr Anne Kirkham. We thank them very much and look forward to seeing what happens next!
Tricia Tierney, Chair of Friends of the Whitworth (2017–2023)
Our new Friends of the Whitworth Student Ambassador
Hi there, my name is Riana and I am currently a second-year student in the History of Art. I applied for a placement at the Whitworth Gallery as a student ambassador for the Friends of the Whitworth, because I saw the Gallery as a space with so much potential for students to learn about the cultural sector and, importantly, to learn about art. I work alongside the Friends’ association and with Anne to identify and promote ideas for the Gallery to increase student engagement. For example, we are currently re-establishing a ‘Look Club’ – a space where art history students and FOW members can come together to look at pieces of art up close, hear about curatorial decisions, and discuss shared interests. As part of my role, I have attended a number of meetings with members of the Tuesday Team. I enjoy these meetings very much, as I am able to be involved in the provisional outlines behind each trip, event or magazine article, and gain an understanding of the organisation required for these activities. I am able to present my ideas about increasing student engagement, and eventually see some of these ideas come to fruition.
Riana Shah, FOW Student Ambassador and BA Art History second-year student
Friends of the Whitworth and University Art History
As a Mancunian and long-time Friend of the Whitworth, and as a graduate and post-graduate student of – and now art history lecturer at – the University of Manchester, it is fantastic to be involved in this renewed collaboration between the Gallery and the art history department, and especially between the students and the Friends. As Riana says, we are thrilled with the enthusiasm of the Friends for this partnership and for how quickly ideas have not only been generated, but acted upon. The Friends sponsored places for four students on Isabel Dibden-Wright’s wonderful Sashiko Workshop on 18 April; the students learned lots and enjoyed the chatter with the other FOW participants. On 4 May, a special ‘taster’ LOOK CLUB was trialled with Dominic Bilton offering a very special curator’s insight into the Un(Defining) Queer exhibition for an audience of eight students and twelve Friends. And on 10 May, the art history department welcomed four Friends to the students’ end of year pop-up art exhibition, Iconoplasm II, showcasing the students’ creative talents.
Anne Kirkham, Friend of the Whitworth and lecturer in Art History
The Importance of Our Student Friends
If there is one task as important to FOW as helping the Gallery in the here and now – acquiring a work, mounting an exhibition, or organising an events programme – it’s nurturing the next generation of Friends. Over the last few years, our links with the University of Manchester’s art history department supported us in this work. Our Student Friends Programme, led by students themselves, encouraged students to come to the Whitworth, organise their own events, and learn about how the Gallery works. The students told us it added a new dimension to their academic experience in Manchester, and it helped us look at the Whitworth with new eyes. Covid took its toll, of course, so it is wonderful to see a revival of this work under the leadership of our new Student Ambassador, Riana Shah, and with the help of a long-standing member of FOW, Dr Anne Kirkham. We thank them very much and look forward to seeing what happens next!
Tricia Tierney, Chair of Friends of the Whitworth (2017–2023)
Our new Friends of the Whitworth Student Ambassador
Hi there, my name is Riana and I am currently a second-year student in the History of Art. I applied for a placement at the Whitworth Gallery as a student ambassador for the Friends of the Whitworth, because I saw the Gallery as a space with so much potential for students to learn about the cultural sector and, importantly, to learn about art. I work alongside the Friends’ association and with Anne to identify and promote ideas for the Gallery to increase student engagement. For example, we are currently re-establishing a ‘Look Club’ – a space where art history students and FOW members can come together to look at pieces of art up close, hear about curatorial decisions, and discuss shared interests. As part of my role, I have attended a number of meetings with members of the Tuesday Team. I enjoy these meetings very much, as I am able to be involved in the provisional outlines behind each trip, event or magazine article, and gain an understanding of the organisation required for these activities. I am able to present my ideas about increasing student engagement, and eventually see some of these ideas come to fruition.
Riana Shah, FOW Student Ambassador and BA Art History second-year student
Friends of the Whitworth and University Art History
As a Mancunian and long-time Friend of the Whitworth, and as a graduate and post-graduate student of – and now art history lecturer at – the University of Manchester, it is fantastic to be involved in this renewed collaboration between the Gallery and the art history department, and especially between the students and the Friends. As Riana says, we are thrilled with the enthusiasm of the Friends for this partnership and for how quickly ideas have not only been generated, but acted upon. The Friends sponsored places for four students on Isabel Dibden-Wright’s wonderful Sashiko Workshop on 18 April; the students learned lots and enjoyed the chatter with the other FOW participants. On 4 May, a special ‘taster’ LOOK CLUB was trialled with Dominic Bilton offering a very special curator’s insight into the Un(Defining) Queer exhibition for an audience of eight students and twelve Friends. And on 10 May, the art history department welcomed four Friends to the students’ end of year pop-up art exhibition, Iconoplasm II, showcasing the students’ creative talents.
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