On 1 July, at a prestigious ceremony at Tate Modern, the Whitworth, which is part of the University of Manchester, was awarded the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2015. It’s the largest arts award in Britain and the biggest museum prize in the world.
Self-study activity:
Read the transcript below and complete the gaps with the missing words. The activity is suitable for Intermediate 2 and Advanced students.
Hello. I'm Maria Balshaw. I'm Director at The Whitworth.
This is the new Whitworth. Our architects, MUMA, have (1) ... the connection between the gallery and our park. Gathering of Strangers by Nathan Coley sits above the entrance as a statement of our values.
Hello, I'm Francine, the Cultural Park Keeper. My job is to look after the Art Garden, the park and the Art Gardener volunteers and the activities that happen within the spaces.
Hi, I'm Amy George, Curator of Textiles and Wallpaper at the Whitworth.
The Collection Centre is probably something that we curators are most excited about. It's a place where people of all ages and abilities, and not just experts, can get (2) ... with our collections. This week, everything in this space was chosen by our visitors. And next week, it will be replaced with a selection chosen by (3) ....
Hello. I'm Steven Roper.
I'm the Primary School Co-ordinator. There's a (4) ... , a sense of place, that the gallery now provides. This morning, we had yoga on the promenade.
It looks like blossom now, doesn't it?
It looks like a cherry!
It does look like a cherry!
Across the park, you can see the Manchester Academy and they can see into us, too. We have great relationships with our local schools, colleges and universities. During our (5) ... , the kids unearthed clay from our park and have crafted jewellery that's now on display and on sale in our shop.
These new exhibition spaces are filled with work by Cornelia Parker. She's collaborated with scholars and academics on campus, people like Konstantin Novoselov, the Nobel Prize-winner, who discovered grapheme. This new commission, (6) ... ..., takes the left-over paper from the poppy factory in Henley and creates an extraordinary contemplative space that thinks about mourning and loss and warfare.
This is our South Gallery. It's the room that inspired the architects to really connect to the park. Visitors have always loved being able to see the green spaces in here. But the last time we were here, it was filled with incredibly hip young adults!
I programme the Student Weekender and work with a team of student producers. We had (7) ... students that came to our first student social art party, so they had the opportunity to take over the whole gallery and they programmed cultural activities that took inspiration from our exhibitions and collections. The gallery really felt like their place.
This is the Grand Hall, transformed back into its original grandeur. When we were closed, we took our whole programme on tour. We did family art picnics in Asda in Hulme and art (8) ... ... across Manchester's best pubs. Opening on Valentine's Day, we asked people to fall in love again with The Whitworth.
With (9) ... visitors in our first two months, we really feel we've succeeded.
Key:
1 unlocked 2 hands-on 3 toddlers 4 belonging 5 closure 6 War Room 7 1,400 8 pub crawls 9 130,000
