What's on

150 years of the Together Trust

Wolfson Reading Room

The exhibition tells the story of the Together Trust’s 150-year history in Manchester and the north west. It charts the development of this disability charity from its origins as a 12-bed homeless boys’ refuge in Manchester city centre, to an organisation championing and caring for thousands of people in the region today. The exhibition features […]

A Northern Life – it’s not all about Margaret

First Floor Display Cases

Welcome to the wonderful world of local artist Lorraine Rudyard. Lorraine creates three-dimensional sculptures using recycled materials and vintage finds. Her work is colourful, humorous, warm and engaging, and reflects her Northern upbringing. Free - just drop in - to help keep our activities free in the future please consider making a donation, either online […]

Queen Elizabeth II and Manchester Exhibition

Archives+ Ground Floor

This June marks the 70th year anniversary that Queen Elizabeth II has been on the throne. To celebrate this, we host an exhibition to celebrate her life so far, and her links to Manchester. This fascinating photographic and video exhibition celebrates the Queen’s life. Included are several photographs of visits the Queen has made to […]

Polish Heritage Days Exhibition

First Floor Exhibition Hall

The Polish Heritage Days is an annual festival organised and run under the patronage of the Polish Embassy in London. The idea behind Polish Heritage Days is to promote and celebrate Polish culture, heritage of past generations, and Polish contribution to the cultural, economic, and social life of the United Kingdom. Together with the Consulate […]

Every Picture Tells a Story

Archives+ Ground Floor

Heritage Schools (part of Heritage England), Archives+ and artist Lorraine Rudyard, have created an exhibition working with 12 year-5 classes from Manchester schools. The schools have created figures for scenes to go in front of local listed buildings. The children learned about the history of Central Library and then visited the venue to create their […]

For those who are to come

Wolfson Reading Room

For those who are to come presents the diverse faces and colours of Amazonia. The exhibition was first shown at COP26 and is now in Manchester for the first time as part of the festival. Curated by Eduardo Carvalho and Vanessa Gabriel–Robinson the exhibition presents photographs from three influential photographers that show the different Amazonias […]

Art Assembly: City as Art School Exhibition

Wolfson Reading Room

Foundation Art and Design Students from The Manchester College have brought the Art School’s ethos of research to the iconic circular reading room with a series of stunning works. Each exhibited board is an insight in to personal research and subject matter, produced in traditional messy art school rooms where students become inspired and have […]

The Darker Side of Pink

A Breast Cancer Awareness Exhibition Tour Patient advocacy group METUPUK, is hosting a pop-up exhibition throughout the venue to highlight the need to improve care and research around secondary (metastatic) breast cancer. The exhibition aims to highlight the seriousness of Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) the biggest killer of women under the age of 50 here […]

Documenting Demolition: A Community Evidencing Project of Manchester’s LGBT+ Centre

Wolfson Reading Room

The LGBT+ Centre (previously known as The Gay Centre) is located on Sidney Street, off Oxford Road and is the longest continuously running LGBT+ Community Centre in the UK.  ‘Documenting Demolition’ is a photographic exhibition of the Centre’s final months before the groups moved out and the building was demolished to make way for a […]

Who Built Wythenshawe? The Forgotten Story of Ernest & Shena Simon

Ground Floor

This exhibition traces the story of Wythenshawe during the twentieth century. From a humble collection of small villages, Wythenshawe was developed as a garden city to re-house the tens of thousands of families previously forced to live in Manchester’s inner-city slums in well-built and spacious neighbourhoods amidst green surroundings. Alongside illustrating Wythenshawe’s history, the exhibition […]

Salford and Cheetham Hill – iconic photos from the 1950s and 60s

First Floor Exhibition Hall

This unique collection of photographs shows aspects of life in Cheetham Hill and Salford in the 1950s and 60s. There are images of whit walks , shops, factories, schools, family snaps, products and fashions of the period. There are also photo's of the diverse  migrant communities who came to live in Cheetham Hill and their […]

The Prostate Gap

Lower Ground Floor Exhibition Space

Photographer Ian Smith presents this exhibition with the objective of raising awareness of prostate cancer in the under-represented. It focuses on the lack of understanding of how prostate cancer affects minority groups. The message is aimed at the general public to dilute the stereotyping of ‘the under-represented section of the population – groups with cultural […]