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Month: September 2018

Magical Ice Village coming to Manchester this Christmas

Written by Lucinda Obank on . Posted in News.

Cathedral Gardens in Manchester city centre is soon to become the location of Britain’s first ever Ice Village.

The Ice Village will house a range of ‘breath taking ice attractions’, including a bar, a frozen toy factory, and even Santa’s Grotto.

The ‘unforgettable journey’ will begin with a ride on a steam train made entirely from ice, which will deliver you to the frozen toy factory where Santa’s helpers can be found crafting Christmas gifts and presents.

The Ice Village will be set against a factory backdrop, in recognition of Manchester’s industrial past. Throughout the experience well-known figures and symbols will make an appearance, including a suffragette train driver, footballers, musicians and the worker bee emblem.

Everything from the delicate ice robin structures to Santa’s frozen throne is carved from 250 tonnes of solid ice, which will be kept in a freezer until a few days before the event.

The company responsible for the Ice Village, Hamilton Ice Sculptors, said it is their ‘most ambitious undertaking to date’ following the Magical Ice Kingdom (a centrepiece of Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park and the biggest ice exhibition of its kind worldwide). The artists have already begun hand-carving hundreds of intricate sculptures which can be seen during the immersive walk-through experience.

There will be daily programmes of festive activities, many of which will be delivered on stage, including craft sessions and live choir performances.

In amongst snowy trees and sparkly fairy lights, the Woodland Market hosts winter games and will offer plenty of food, drink and Christmas souvenirs. But don’t forget to keep an eye out for mischievous elves wondering the village, magical toys and Arctic animals.

Expect rustic log benches at the Polar Bar on which to sip hot chocolate or mulled wine, and snug chalets for families or work gatherings to reserve.

The Ice Village is an addition to the popular Christmas Markets found in Albert Square and will also provide an ice rink.

Manchester City Council’s Christmas spokesman commented: ‘The capital of Christmas just raised the festive bar once again. The Ice Village is the first-of-its-kind attraction in the UK that will transform our family-friendly area in Cathedral Gardens.

The Ice Village will complement our world-famous Christmas Markets that will see more than 300 stalls spread across the city centre squares, bringing the festive season to life in Manchester.

We’ve been waiting months to announce this incredible event and I can’t wait to be transported to a magical land of ice when it opens in November.”

The Ice Village is free to enter, however there will be a charge for the ice sculpture exhibition, Santa’s Grotto and ice rink, which will be available to buy from the 27th September by visiting www.icevillage.co.uk

Opening times: 11am-9pm daily from Friday 9th November till Saturday 5th January (excluding Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day).

Photo: MSC Big Band/Steve Morris

Interview: Joshua Mellard, the musical director of MSC Big Band

Written by Liv Clarke on . Posted in Features.

MSC Big band is a 26 piece live band formed of students from the University of Manchester and the Royal Northern College of Music, and professional musicians. They are about to release their first EP “MSC Big Band Tapes: Vol 1”, featuring five cover songs. I spoke to Joshua Mellard, the musical director of the band about how he got involved with the band and the direction its going in.

MSC Big Band is composed of roughly half students and half graduates, and is run by a team of five. The band itself has been going for about five years now, although it has experienced a change of creative direction in the past two years. They have previously played venues such as Squirrels and Antwerp Mansion, but they have recently performed at Band on the Wall. Their musical style is branching out away from the traditional big band sound. “If we are going to set ourselves apart from other big bands we need to move in a more specific direction, more towards UK jazz and hip hop”, Joshua tells me, “we see ourselves as trying to push what generic big band style is.”

The band is certainly going from strength to strength in terms of success. They have moved away from the student circuit and are now venturing into larger, more well-known venues. On Friday the 14th of September they played at Band on the Wall with underground acts K15 and SNO, enabling them to expand their audience and introduce more people to the MSC experience. The new EP further reflects their ongoing success; it’s the first time they have recorded music.

However, trying to fit a 26 piece band into a recording studio was not the easiest of experiences, “Logistically it was a very big challenge”, Joshua reveals, “it was difficult to make sure everyone was free. Obviously big bands are not recorded often, so there is not a standard procedure.” The band worked in a studio based in Withington and run by Matt Brown, who helped them throughout the process. The business side of things proved difficult too, since all the songs were covers, “we had to spend a lot of time double checking whether things were legal,” he says.

Joshua has been involved in MSC for nearly four years now, he started out just playing in the band during first year, then took over running it in his second. During his time at university he also played in the Not Quite Big Band and the Tom Barber Trio. Joshua tells me that when he started running it, he had specific ideas of where he wanted the band to go and now these ideas are coming to fruition, “we wanted to create a scene, not just a unique experience. The focus is more the environment it creates, rather than the music itself. We don’t see the performances as gigs, more as a general event. Like a 26 piece DJ.”

In terms of current students wanting to get involved with music, Joshua advises them to get involved with the Manchester University Music Society as they have lots of opportunities. “If you’re setting up your own thing, find a group of people and see if you gel. Go to gigs together, see what direction you want to go in. Make sure everyone’s on the same page. If you become a member of MUMS you can book rehearsal spaces.”

After the EP release, where do the band want to go next? Joshua is keen to push the band further and get more involved with the larger Manchester scene; “A goal of the band is to branch out into the community, maybe start working with charities. Music as a degree is not incredibly diverse, so if we’re going to reflect Manchester, which is a wonderfully diverse place, we need to get more involved with the Manchester community at a deeper level. The main aim musically is to carry on what we’re doing as people enjoy it.”

You can see what MSC Big Band do next on their Facebook page: MSC Big Band.

An interview with 2018’s Faraday Prize winner

Written by Jacklin Kwan on . Posted in News, Science & Tech.

Professor Danielle George’s office is understated. Not many pictures or posters decorate its white walls, and it’s tucked away in the corner of the Sackville Building behind two heavy wooden doors that lead to the Council Chamber. The room certainly belies the woman that works inside: a scientist and engineer who has been recently awarded the coveted Michael Faraday Prize by The Royal Society, an award that has been shared with likes of Brian Cox and David Attenborough for outstanding science communication.

Professor George exudes an easy sort of charisma – she effortlessly makes interesting conversation, smiles with her eyes, and looks at you intently when you ask her questions. Perhaps it is no surprise that the lecturer has been so successful at public outreach in the past few years.

She speaks to students of all ages, from university undergrads in her electronic engineering lectures to primary school children who ask her what the Cosmic Microwave Background sounds like (after processing terabytes of data, you find out that it sounds like eerie echoes).

In 2014, she also became the sixth woman in history to deliver the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. “At first I thought it was a joke! I just saw an email in my inbox asking whether I’d like to give the Christmas lectures.” Professor George ended up deleting the invitation out of sheer incredulity. “It’s like an email that asks you whether you’d like one million pounds in your bank account.” Fortunately, when a second email arrives restating the invitation, she knew it was not spam. Danielle George gave an incredible talk, complete with a robotic orchestra that played the Doctor Who theme song, all while eight-and-a-half months pregnant.

We talk about her work in radio astronomy and engineering. George researches low-noise amplifiers that allow us to pick up clearer signals from faraway galaxies. After working in Jodrell Bank, she has worked with international collaborations all over the world like e-Merlin and the Square Kilometre Array. When she remembers the beautiful skies she has seen in Chile and Australia, her eyes get a faraway look. “When I was younger, my parents got me a microscope, then a chemistry set, and I thought that was pretty nice. But then they got me this telescope, and I would wake my parents up just to look at the stars.”

Danielle George is intent on spreading her passion to young people. “Something happens in the pipeline from when children go through primary school to when they head off to university. Suddenly, science becomes ‘uncool’ and they’re just not bothered.” Prolific scientists like Carl Sagan have observe similar things; at one end of the spectrum, they’re asked why the sky was blue and why people dream by kindergarten children, but inexplicably, those sort of profound questions dry up as those same children reach high school. Professor George contemplates this for a moment. “I think that as you grow up, you learn more about what’s possible and what’s not possible… And then you stop asking about what might be possible.” She takes out her phone (the case has been ruthlessly covered in stickers by her daughter), “We carry this around with us every day, but how is it that I can talk to someone on the International Space Station using my phone? How does it actually work?”

It is clear that the radio engineer also has strong opinions about education: “education nowadays doesn’t allow for failure. But that’s wrong; if you’re not failing, you’re not innovating because innovating means you’re pushing those boundaries.” And if there’s anything George knows, it is pushing boundaries: she once converted an entire London skyscraper into a game of Tetris; she implements her technology to far-flung fields like agriculture to measure water usage; she has worked on projects to aid the visually impaired with wireless hubs placed around the city. Considering the diversity of George’s work, it is easy to see why she laments some aspects of modern education, “Education right now is so narrow. It siloes different subjects in categories. In reality, science is interdisciplinary.”

Our conversation drifts to different subjects. We both mourn the lack of visible female role models for young girls interested in science. We talk about how progress is slow but steady in making science more accessible. But as we get to leave, I ask Danielle one final question: what advancement in science are you excited about? The answer is in the field of wearable technologies, robotics, and artificial intelligence. “Though, I don’t think human creativity could ever be replaced by AI. I can’t imagine that ever being able to be replicated in a computer.” I nod in agreement as we wave goodbye. I too cannot imagine that a computer could ever replace George’s brilliant mind.

Photo: Antwerp Mansion

Antwerp Mansion to launch its own brand of beer

Written by Rona McCann on . Posted in News.

Popular nightclub Antwerp Mansion has announced this week that it will launch its own beer. The pilsner, named Mansion Brew, will be sold at the venue’s upcoming events – available whilst stocks last.

1500 of the beers have been brewed by Manchester’s ShinDigger Brewing Co and will be packaged in red cans which feature an illustration of the iconic Victorian Antwerp Mansion building.  Posting on its Facebook page, the nightclub expressed the belief that this first batch of Mansion Brew would be sold out by the end of Freshers Week, at events including Triple Cooked, Better in the 90s and Motherfunkers.

One Facebook user commented that the venue missed a trick by not calling the new beer ‘Cantwerp’, and was met with a reply from Antwerp Mansion hinting at even more own-brand beverages in the future. The reply included a promise to “definitely steal (his) idea next time around” and to “watch this space because Cantwerp will become a reality.”

This news comes after Antwerp Mansion’s infamous closure and later reopening earlier this year. March 2018 saw the supposed closure of the club after over six years of events, following a lengthy string of licensing disputes between the venue and Manchester City Council. Freshers Week marks the beginning of Antwerp Mansion’s relaunch, that has been agreed on the condition that a new, earlier closing time of 11pm is met.

By Baresi franco [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

New report says Manchester facing home and transport “crisis”

Written by Josh Sandiford on . Posted in News.

Manchester faces a home and transport “crisis” in the next twenty years, according to a new report by Alliance Manchester Business School. The city’s regeneration strategy has been branded as “misguided” by the study, despite what has been widely seen as major progress in regenerating Manchester city centre since the IRA bombing in 1996.

The report argues that extra strain will be put on the city’s transport system due to the creation of over 100,000 new jobs. In addition to this, only 50,000 new homes are planned for the centre of Manchester – even though 80,000 people are already on the waiting list for social housing in Manchester and surrounding areas.

The regeneration work that has been undertaken in Manchester in recent years has been carried out by private developers to a large extent, but the report by Alliance Manchester Business School says that these developers often “fail to consider the transport and social infrastructure – such as schools, libraries and broadband – that communities need to thrive.”

Deloitte, the professional services firm, recently called Manchester one of Europe’s fastest-growing cities, but this new report argues that during the regeneration process, attention has been placed more on offices and smaller one or two bedroom flats in Manchester City Centre and Salford as opposed to meeting the needs of families on lower incomes.

Karel Williams, a professor at Alliance Manchester Business School who led the research team, said: “Nobody can argue that major progress has been made in regenerating Manchester’s city centre in the two decades since the IRA bomb, much to the city council’s credit. However, regeneration is about more than just new buildings in the centre of Manchester – it should benefit all communities in the wider city region too.”

The report by Alliance Manchester Business School has recommended that the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, chaired by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, create a long-term strategy that considers the region’s cultural and geographical diversity.

Williams also said: “For all Greater Manchester’s boroughs to thrive, we’re calling for a rethink in policy expertise at local government level. We need policymakers who have the granular knowledge of local circumstances and social needs to deliver what citizens truly need.”

However, figures within local government have publicly disagreed with the report. Sir Richard Leese, the leader of Manchester City Council, told The Guardian newspaper that the council “fundamentally disagreed” with the report. A spokesperson from Greater Manchester Combined Authority also accused the report of “calling for something which already exists.”

The Mancunion has approached Alliance Manchester Business School for a quote regarding these statements but is yet to receive a reply.

Photo: comedynose @flickr

NHS England struggling to hold on to new midwives

Written by Josh Sandiford on . Posted in News.

NHS England only gains 1 midwife for every 30 trained, a new report by the Royal College of Midwives has revealed.

The number of midwives employed by NHS England rose by just 67 last year. This is despite the fact that over 2,000 midwives graduated from English universities in the 2016/17 academic year. The report states that the mass of people leaving the NHS is responsible for the disparity in the figures.

Gill Walton, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Midwives, said: “it is of deep concern that we’re only seeing an increase of about one NHS midwife for every 30 or so newly-qualified midwives graduating from our universities.

“It’s not that new midwives aren’t getting jobs, they are. The problem is that so many existing midwives are leaving the service that the two things almost cancel each other out.”

Walton has called for more action in retaining NHS staff. This is a particular challenge at the moment due to the substantial number of European midwives and healthcare professionals leaving the register in a post-Brexit Britain.

Midwifery students from Manchester are reportedly taking stock of this report when thinking about undertaking roles in NHS England.

Rachel Moorhead, a second-year midwifery student at The University of Manchester, said: “there is just not enough money being put into [NHS] health services at all. The staff are so strained.

“Sometimes there’s so much to do and so little time that midwives barely have a chance to give their women their full attention”

She went on to say that “all the NHS services are really struggling, and maternity care is no different. I can totally understand why some midwives choose to go private because it seems like a chance to care for women with good resources and reasonable workloads.”

Grace Broughton, another second-year midwife at The University of Manchester, said: “So many midwives choose to go private because it allows them to give the time and care to women that all pregnant women deserve, and quite frankly people are becoming ill with the pressures of a struggling NHS.

“Some midwives choose to leave the profession altogether which is very upsetting as midwifery is a calling and vocation.

“There are many midwives of retiring age currently in the NHS who are leaving every year which counteracts the new midwives joining. Midwifery is rapidly changing alongside a high risk society and unfortunately some midwives don’t like the changes they’re witnessing.”

This report by the Royal College of Midwives comes at a time when there is a record shortage of NHS staff in England. The NHS is currently short of over 100,000 personnel, including 11,576 doctors and 41,722 nurses.

Manchester crowned the best UK city to live in

Written by Sam Honey on . Posted in News.

Manchester has beaten London to the title of the UK’s most liveable city, in the latest annual rankings by the Economist’s Intelligence Unit.

The study took into account five main categories: Stability, Healthcare, Culture and Environment, Education and Infrastructure.

The UK’s ‘second city’ extended its lead over the capital from last year, placing 35th out of 140 cities worldwide. There is a now a gap of 13 places between the two cities – the widest since the inaugural rankings back in the 1990s.

The EIU summarised that Manchester provided “marginally fewer obstacles to people’s lifestyle, and the threat of terrorism and petty crime are lower”, compared to the capital.

London was said to “suffer from higher levels of crime, congestion, and public transport problems than are deemed comfortable.”

Despite this, research by Your Housing Group, published in May this year found Manchester to rank below Liverpool in its Northern Powerhouse Liveability Index.

The report focused on different factors, including opportunity, desirability, availability, and finally affordability, an area in which Manchester ranked behind its North-western neighbour.

Controversially, it was suggested that the city would fall victim to the emerging trend of terrorist incidents affecting cities’ performances in the EIU’S stability category. The Manchester Arena attack had been blamed for the city’s decline in the 2017 Index.

However, Editor of the report, Roxana Slavcheva, praised the city’s response in the face of terror, saying: “Manchester also represents a regional trend over the past year, where there have been notable improvements in security in several western European cities which have shown resilience in their recovery from terrorist attacks.”

Elsewhere in the rankings, Vienna displaced Melbourne as the world’s most liveable city – the first time in seven years that the Australian city has not topped the findings.

The Austrian capital boasts a near-perfect 99.1 rating, just 0.7 points ahead of 2nd place. However, there is strong Australian representation with Sydney and Adelaide also in a top 10 that includes just two European cities.

War-torn Syrian capital, Damascus, ranking just 30.7, failed to escape the tag of the world’s least liveable city, with conflict and domestic disorder dominating the worst-ranked areas.

Furthermore, the 2018 findings represented a somewhat regression in liveability overall, with an extract from the index’s overview confirming that “49% (of cities) registered negative changes in their overall liveability rank in the past six months.”

 

 

 

Review: Crazy Rich Asians

Written by Alana Cook on . Posted in Film.

This week marked the UK release of 2018’s much anticipated film Crazy Rich Asians directed by Jon M. Chu. A young couple, Rachel (Constance Wu) and Nick (Henry Golding), travel to Singapore for a friend’s wedding and to meet Nick’s family, who, unbeknownst to Rachel, are insanely rich and not the most welcoming.

Crazy Rich Asians ticks all the boxes of a typical romantic comedy: madly in love protagonists, the uptight mother, the eccentric best friend, the high maintenance family, a wedding, a makeover and even token romcom lines. Yet underlying all these typical traits of the Hollywood romcom genre is a substantial difference: the film’s identity and Asian characters.

Singapore provides the spectacular setting for the film, with its impressive and unique architecture and vibrant colours making the film aesthetically pleasing. The wedding scene is one example of where the film truly shines in bringing together visual delight with heart-warming romance and the perfect amount of cheesiness. Accompanied by a beautiful cover of Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling In Love, the scene is enough to make you melt a bit inside.

It certainly isn’t flawless. The film is slow off the ground in some places, therefore falling flat at times. Moreover, when Rachel discovers a shocking secret about her family the film seems to brush over it and resolve the issue rather quickly instead of considering its weight. One could also argue that in some ways the film is a form of cultural tourism; it appeals to the tourist’s gaze in its specific portrayal of cultural elements.

However, these are minor criticisms. The stellar cast and brilliant characters, particularly the women, make this a very important and uplifting film. It’s simply funny and a joy to watch. In an industry where Hollywood films all too often only feature a token minority character, Crazy Rich Asians does for romcoms what Black Panther did for superhero films.

Rating: 4/5

Photo: FilmNation Entertainment

First Watch: Arrival

Written by anishgulati on . Posted in Film.

Coming from the director of Sicario and Prisoners, Arrival is yet another masterstroke delivered by the French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve. He announces his ‘arrival’ into the genre in style and leaves the audience spellbound at so many different levels. Based on the novella Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang, the film was released in November 2016. It escaped my list for a long while but when I finally watched it, I was simply delighted with the intensely mysterious and poignant plot of the film.

The film follows the fearless and resourceful linguistics expert Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) who has been left grief-stricken following the loss her only daughter, Hannah. It all begins with a number of alien crafts arriving at the Earth’s surface and in the human efforts to communicate with the aliens; Dr. Banks comes to the forefront, with Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker taking up supporting roles.

The trailer makes it seem like an attempt at a Nolan-esque film but it is so much more than that. Sure, it is a sci-fi, but the pouring affection of a mother, the resentfulness of a teenager, the emotions of a daughter deserted by her father and a tubful of other such moments makes it stand out in the genre. Without delving into the deep concepts this film deals with, some of which are too complex to be fully comprehended, one can still appreciate the sci-fi plot devices used that make perfect sense in the context of the film. The best aspect of the film is its sound effects which are hypnotic at times. Sound editor Sylvian Bellemare does a wonderful job, making her worthy of the Oscar she secured, while the visual effects are not too expressive.

As expected, Amy Adams brilliantly portrays her character who treads through a number of conflicting emotions like indifference, affection, pessimism, curiosity and disbelief. She is confident but, at the same time, not too overpowering to be deemed arrogant. You are compelled to root for her because of the way she makes you believe that she deserves the sympathy whilst not really wanting it due to the perfection with which she goes about accomplishing her goals.

Denis Villeneuve’s amazing job of keeping you at the edge of your seat throughout the film reveals information in bits and just at the right moments to keep you gripped and full of expectations. In other words, whenever it seems that the plot is becoming a little too predictable, a tiny chunk of new information is thrown your way and suddenly catches you off guard.

In the hindsight, this movie also unravels with the political turmoil that could occur in a hypothetical pre-apocalyptic world.  In an interview with The Verge, Denis Villeneuve confessed “People, it seems, don’t evolve very quickly.” I felt dumbfounded and emotional simultaneously. This is a film that left me wanting for more.

Rating: 4/5

Review: Skate Kitchen

Written by Tobias Soar on . Posted in Film.

Coming-of-age flicks are the new ‘post-apocalyptic young adult drama’; they’re everywhere. Skate Kitchen, however, has a lot more going for it than its synopsis suggests.

Originally a short film, then a documentary and, finally, a fictional story based on reality, Skate Kitchen is the brainchild of director Crystal Moselle and all-girl, New York-based skate collective The Skate Kitchen. The film opens with Camille (Rachelle Vinberg) skating in her local Long Island park and injuring herself in a way known to skaters as “getting credit carded”. Once her recovery is complete and an oath to never skate again is sworn to her mother, she ventures into New York City to meet the Skate Kitchen girls. The plot slowly progresses with scenes of mischief, partying, love triangles and arguments, as is seen in most films of the genre.

What sets Skate Kitchen apart is its dedication to aesthetic; characters are filmed in close-ups for the vast majority of the feature and skate sequences are captured with a low angle and steadicam for an authentic skate montage feel. As remarked upon by an audience member in the post-feature Q&A at HOME, Crystal has truly managed to capture the essence of New York. As pretty as a helicopter shot of the Empire State may be, no human on foot will ever see the city in that way. This feel is further accentuated by the attention paid to sound design; from the wheel squeaks and chatter of the skate parks to the rolling trucks of the boards down a busy avenue filled with cars and people, this portrayal of New York is authentic and raw.

This dedication to aesthetic comes with a sacrifice: the pacing of the story. Allowing the camera to linger on a character for a couple seconds longer than expected builds atmosphere but slows the narrative flow. Another strange choice for the film is the dialogue. While slightly awkward at first, it seems to improve slightly as the story moves through its arc. As explained by the cast in the Q&A, all the phrases said in the film had actually been said by them before filming, essentially making the story a reenactment of parts of their lives, as opposed to a completely fictional tale.

The Q&A greatly enhanced the audience’s experience by contextualising the story within the real world. Crystal met the Skate Kitchen girls on the New York subway one day and, as their friendship progressed, they brainstormed a documentary which then became the story of Skate Kitchen.

Accepting the sacrifices made for aesthetic purposes, Skate Kitchen is an immersive, raw story that is relatable to most audiences, regardless of whether you’re a die-hard skater or not.

Skate Kitchen releases in the UK on 28 September.

Rating: 3/5

Artefact of the Week: ‘Snowman’ by Nate Lowman

Written by francescacasaburi on . Posted in Arts.

In an era as controversial as the one we are now living in, the everlasting battle between morality and profit has reached a turning point. A resounding example? Climate change.

Now more than ever, we are asked to make the best choice between ethics and productivity, between selfishness and the hope for a sustainable future. Each of us, no exception, can make a difference and change the way we face this global challenge.

But how do we make people realise the huge impact they have on the environment and on future generations? What are the communication strategies that speak to people making their way into our chaotic routines and modern life habits?

The answer to these questions can be found in public art, with a significant number of recent artworks and exhibitions used to achieve such purpose, exploring different visual formulae to create a debate among their viewers.

Placed in a public urban space, Whitworth Park, ‘Snowman’ (2014) by the American artist Nate Lowman is a compelling example of how art can help us bring attention to climate change and its hypothetical consequences.

Be it for its cartoonish nature, visual appeal or strangeness, ‘Snowman’ attracts a wide range of viewers walking around the park. Displaying an immediately recognisable subject matter, the sculpture strikes us for its peculiarity: it is and it is not the snowman of our imagination.

It meets our expectation for its visual features but at the same time displays them in a completely different way. The sculpture has been crafted using bronze which seems a surprising choice when aiming to evoke the texture of snow.

Not only is the material an expected choice, it is also a problematic one as the sculpture comes with a peculiar – and relatively sad – metallic inscription stating: “I will be dead soon”. But how can a metallic snowman be about to disappear?

In front of the viewer is a strong juxtaposition, an inexplicable paradox between the long-lasting quality of the material and a sense of immediacy evoked by the inscription.

This contrast denies the sculpture apparent naivety and what at first glance seemed a mere representation of a funny cartoonish character appears to have a much greater significance behind it. Lowman is not simply aiming at redefining the material both visually and conceptually. He is recognizing a broader function to his piece, deliberately placed in a public space.

The apparently obscure inscription, associated with the character of the snowman, represents Lowman’s attempt to raise awareness on climate change and global warming, two of the major social issues of our era. The inscription stands as a warning and shows the necessity of a change in direction: if the world decides not to address such challenge that is everything that will be left, a metallic snowman.

As viewers, we are impressed by the artist’s simple and yet extremely effective strategy. Choosing an accessible subject matter, he has found a formula that speaks to the public giving the viewer the opportunity to build a relationship between personal history, memory and a future they will be responsible for.

Lowman’s case confirms the importance for the public to establish a connection both visual and personal with the issue at stake, leading the audience to realise both the responsibility and power that being a citizen of the 21st century entails.

No problem too big or small

Written by Su Barton on . Posted in Freshers' Guide.

Whether you’re arriving in Manchester for the first time or coming back to a course, there’s always a lot to do and take in at this time of year. It can feel like there’s a lot of information you’re expected to think about when you’re only just getting settled and trying to make the most of Welcome Week. The start of the year is always an exciting time but if there is anything you’re unsure about, you’ve missed some information or something does go wrong, the Students’ Union Advice Service is here to help.

The Advice Service is a dedicated service for University of Manchester students, run by a team of professionally trained advisors: “we are open for advice, Monday to Friday from 10am to 4pm, both in and out of term times. We’re here to answer quick questions or provide ongoing support if you’re facing a problem that could take some time to resolve.”

The main information the Advice Service would like you to know is that:

We are confidential. You can speak to an advisor in the privacy of our Advice Centre. We won’t tell anyone outside the Service that you’ve contacted us unless you give us permission or there are very exceptional reasons.

We are free. You will never be charged for using the Advice Service.

We are impartial and independent. We’ll explore all your options, ensuring that the advice we provide isn’t biased or influenced by others.

We are non-judgmental. Our advisors are here to help with all types of problems, no matter what it is. We are here to help you without judging you about what has happened.

We are empowering. We’ll help you to understand your rights and we’ll give you the support, information and tools to you need to resolve the issue you are facing.

“You can come to us with questions concerning any aspect of university life, be it academic issues or student finance. We can provide advice on course changes, academic malpractice and University appeals and complaints.We can also answer questions about student finance, hardship and other money matters.”

“The Advice Services specialises in wellbeing; you can also speak to an advisor about bullying, harassment and discrimination. If you’re feeling homesick, concerned about a friend or worried about how you’ve been feeling, one of our advisors will be there to listen and offer support.”

The Advice Service is also available to help with common housing problems. They help students to tackle issues that include deposit disputes and disrepair. In addition, they helpfully provide a tenancy agreement checking service for when you are looking for accommodation in the private sector.

If something’s on your mind, no problem is ever too big or small.

Find out more about contacting an advisor at: https://manchesterstudentsunion.com/top-navigation/advice-service/contact-an-advisor

Photo: Sébastien Bertrand @flickr

Brexit is the greatest threat to Higher Education warns UCU Chief

Written by Sam Honey on . Posted in News.

The head of the world’s largest further education union has identified Brexit as the largest threat to higher education in Britain.

Sally Hunt, chair of University and College Union (UCU) voiced her concerns as uncertainty over the agreement of a Brexit deal continues to disrupt higher education planning for post-EU life.

A whole range of issues, including the intake of EU students and the future of European academics at UK institutions are at stake.

An estimated 17% of teaching and research posts at UK universities are filled by EU nationals. A UCU-backed YouGov poll, carried out before the triggering of Article 50 suggested that almost 2/3 of EU academics working in Britain were considering leaving the country.

Around 2,300 academics are believed to have already resigned their positions at UK universities since the referendum in June 2016.

However, perhaps the most pressing issue is the future of higher education research in the UK – with substantial backing provided by EU funds.

4 of the 10 Universities that will profit most from the EU’s flagship Horizon scheme – that will invest almost €80 Billion in collaborative research up to 2020 – are based in the UK, claimed Sally Hunt.

Hunt said further, “Without a deal, funding streams will be at risk and any longer-term planning will take place without our involvement. This risks leaving research projects and collaborations on hold or collapsing altogether.”

The Government has already pledged to fund EU-backed projects until the end of the decade, post-Brexit.

The ease of access to UK Higher Education is another crucial issue, with Hunt stressing that “A no-deal Brexit would also mean freedom of movement would no longer apply, leaving EU staff and students in the lurch.”

She was also quick to emphasise that the challenge Brexit posed to the country and further education was one of the biggest nationally, regardless of whether or not a deal with the EU was secured.

Professionals in Hunt’s field have already urged the government to realise the need for contingency planning for the industry’s future after March 2019.

The UCU is currently in the process of holding a vote on its members’ position on a second EU Referendum – the results are expected on 10th October.

In conversation with ‘Art on the Sly’

Written by Bella Jewell on . Posted in Arts.

In the build-up to their first event of the academic year, I spoke to three members of the elusive movement, ‘Art on the Sly’: a student-led group who are breaking down the barriers which surround the arts.

The concept behind this group stems from a desire to render art less elitist and inaccessible, a reality which majorly impedes “people who have an artistic side from expressing themselves” according to a group founder, Indigo Leveson-Gower. Indeed, Leveson-Gower neatly summarises the central philosophy of ‘Art on the Sly’ as being “the creation of an environment where people can express themselves creatively in a supportive space.”

When discussing the place of art in the student community, it became apparent that the options at the University of Manchester are surprisingly limited: Leveson-Gower recounts, for example, the difficulties there have been in setting up life drawing sessions.

This fact, however, appears to contrast the sheer demand for art stemming from the student community. Other group founders, Eleanor Moselle and Grace Conway, discussed how “loads of students do produce art, but its hidden under their bed” due to the vulnerable act of displaying one’s work. In this way, the group seeks to produce an “informal environment” in which people can display their work and take steps towards building their confidence.

The group’s first event took place on 16th March and provided the opportunity for students to display both visual and performative works. As such, the evening gave a platform to singers, performers, and spoken word artists.  

Leveson-Gower describes the “stressful and intense” run up to the event, which was organised in a period of ten days. The evening was hosted in a squatters’ residence behind Piccadilly, providing the perfect venue for a “relaxed environment” with much wall space to display artwork, according to Conway.  

With the first event of the academic year taking place on the 19th September at Goodstock on Oxford Road, the group aims to recreate the atmosphere of relaxed creativity, this time with a focus on producing art. The group describes the event as an opportunity “to explore your inner (or even outer) artist” on their Facebook event page.

The evening gathering makes up part of Alt Freshers week, a programme organised by art student, Lily Kroese. Alt Freshers collaborates a range of “more inclusive events such as life drawing and radical walking tours” to provide an alternative to the “slightly restrictive” nature of Freshers Week, according to Leveson-Gower.  

But what does the future hold for this newly established group? Moselle describes how ‘Art on the Sly’ is “looking beyond the student community,” aiming to run “a variety of events” all designed to dissolve the ‘highbrow’ perception of art as an insurmountable activity.

‘Art on the Sly’ doesn’t care what you produce. It is a group which fosters creativity in a non-judgemental environment: a rarity in a society in which the arts appear intangible to most. However, given the clear demand amongst students in Manchester – as demonstrated by the queue outside their oversubscribed launch event – this movement is gaining momentum and will only continue to blossom, bringing art to the masses.

 

Interview: Amer Anwar, author of ‘Brothers In Blood’

Written by Gurnaik Johal on . Posted in Books.

I picked up Amer Anwar’s debut novel, Brothers In Blood, because it was set in Southall, the place that I’m from. When I met him, I was on my way from Southall to get a coach up to Manchester. He was on his way back from an event promoting the book, which had just been released on September 6th.

Southall, sometimes called London’s Little India, is the sort of place where the benefits of multiculturalism are most evident. It’s been a town of immigration for a long time, with people from Wales, Ireland, India, Pakistan, Somalia and Poland making it their home. I’ve always had positive associations with the place, so I was intrigued to read a book exploring the darker side of the community. In Brothers In Blood, two friends, Zaq and Jags, search for a missing Sikh woman. Zaq is an ex-con blackmailed into becoming a detective; he’s determined to do right but often forced to do wrong. His search takes him deeper into a criminal underworld and his determination gets him in and out of trouble. The book is made up entirely of South Asian characters – it even contains Punjabi dialogue – and the gritty, violent plot makes for a gripping crime thriller.

There are plenty of unexpected twists and turns in the novel, but the story of actually getting the book published is just as eventful. I asked Anwar how he got started on the book.

“Where to start? I wrote when I was in school, but after the age of thirteen, no one’s interested in fiction. It’s all essays and factual. I could obviously write because my teachers kept calling me up thinking I’d copied my essays from books, which should have been a sign! But nobody ever said, “maybe you should look at writing as a career.” People talk a lot about working class opportunities and I think that’s case and point – nobody ever saw or thought that this guy could have a career in writing. No-one ever suggested it, so I never thought about it.

“But I’d always wanted to write, because I’d always been a reader. I started reading adult fiction when I was about ten. First it was second world war books, but adult ones – so quite violent. And then horror, fantasy, sci-fi and finally crime.

“I started reading a lot of Elmore Leonard. His writing wasn’t always cops and detectives – he would write the criminals. They were such great characters. For me, hanging out in Southall in my teens, there was all this gang stuff going on, drugs and fights etc. There were all sorts of stories. Hearing those stories and reading those books, I realised that you could write about these guys in Southall. I would have loved to read something like that. So I was waiting for someone to write that book. And nobody did. The more I thought that way, I realised that if I was ever going to write a book, I’d have to set it here. I’d have to use these characters.

“Then there were a couple of stories in the papers that gave me the germ of an idea and other things just started to stick to it over the years. But it was twenty years before I actually started writing and in that time nobody had written that Southall crime novel. Or, someone had written it, but it had never been published. Nobody wanted to publish it. And that’s sort of what ended up happening to me.

“I started doing some writing courses. First a real beginners course at an adult education center. Finishing that course, I thought, well now I’ve had an introduction, I can write this book. I sat down with the best of intentions and wrote about two pages. I looked at it the next day and thought, Jesus, this is bad. This is not good. So I gave up pretty quickly.

“The tutor told me that if you want to take it further, there’s a course at Birkbeck University; I needed the course to motivate me, to spur me on. At Birkbeck, my tutor asked what I wanted to gain from the course. I said straight out, I want to write a crime novel. I want to be published. She said alright then, start writing.

“So I had another crack at the first chapter. It still didn’t work. I picked up one of Elmore Leonard’s novels and read it to really find out how it worked. Normally I’d just read it and enjoy it, but this time I was trying to study it. At the same time I saw the film Payback with Mel Gibson, which I love. And with both of those two influences, I finally managed to nail that first chapter.”

I asked Anwar what he did once he’d finally got the first chapter finished.

“Well, I’d known about the Crime Writer’s Association Debut Dagger Award for a couple of years, but never had anything to send. But now I had this first chapter; I sent it off and forgot all about it. A couple of months later, I got a letter saying I’d been shortlisted.

“I went along to the award ceremony – the Debut Dagger (awarded for the first chapter of an unfinished novel) was the first up. They read out the shortlisted authors and then called my name. I was shocked. It was so surreal.

“After winning the award, I was contacted by four agents. They all wanted to read the rest of the book. I was like, yeah, about that… I’ve only written three chapters! I hadn’t mapped out a plot for the book, I had no idea where it was going. I was just writing to see what happened. One of them said that I could sign with her and send the book when it was finished. She asked how long it would take to finish? How long is a piece of string? I just plucked a figure out of the air. Six months?

“Five years later, I sent her a draft I was happy with. I’d written the book longhand, it ended up being around 150,000 words, which is big for a novel. I knew it had to be cut. Then I typed it up. By that point, I was doing an MA in creative writing at Birkbeck too and I was working full time. So it took a long time.

“In my head it was really good. I thought I just need to type it up, tweak it a little bit and send it off. But when I read it back, it was terrible. But the story was there.

“I went through, scene by scene, and started to write it again, fresh. A lot changed and by the fifth draft, I was happy to show it to my agent. They really liked it but gave a list of improvements. Going through the whole book again took about a year and then it went out on submission. My agent and the editors were really positive. It went out to about thirty publishers and got rejected by every single one.

“Their reasons were: it doesn’t quite fit our list, we don’t have the right mission plan, we’re not sure where or how we would sell this. The most telling one was: I could never see it breaking out to a broad audience.

“The worst thing was all the positive feedback they were giving the novel, they loved the way it was written, thought it had a great voice, great setting, gritty action. I thought, well if it’s got all that, what else do you want? There was one thing they weren’t saying. It’s got all Asian characters, set in an Asian community with lots of Asian references. Basically they felt it wouldn’t appeal to a broad (white) audience.

“We asked what needed changing? They said nothing. There was no way they could say, well it’s a little too asian. How would that look?

“Growing up, I was reading crime novels by white authors set in America. That didn’t deter me, didn’t detract from my enjoyment of them. So by the same token, the fact Brothers In Blood is set in an Asian community in London shouldn’t detract from the overall enjoyment of it being a crime thriller.

“I’d been working on the book for eight years. Nobody wanted to publish it. But I believed in it, my agent believed in it and all those publishers said it was a good book. So I thought, fuck it, I’ll publish it myself.

“I spent about six months on social media, watching how the big publishers launch their new books. I saw that they had all these graphics – my background is in design and artwork, so I thought, well I could do all that! And I saw that they sent their books out to book bloggers to create a buzz around a book. I contacted the same bloggers that they did.

“I set up a fake publishing company, with a virtual office address in East London. I designed a fake logo to go on the spine. I designed the cover. I learnt how to typeset a complete novel, then sent the files to the same printers all the big publishers use. It was on Amazon and I was able to get it into some Waterstones stores.

“I saw that it would take two years of me working on it, as my own publisher and my own marketing team. I needed the book to gain a momentum. I would go to events and meet authors and give them copies of the book. The fact that it won the Debut Dagger always got them interested. At one of these events I met Sharmaine Lovegrove who’d just set up Dialogue Books (an imprint at Little Brown dedicated to inclusivity).

“She read the book over a weekend and called me in for a meeting. She couldn’t believe that nobody had published it. She asked about the current publisher. I said, you’re looking at the current publisher! It became one of the first four acquisitions Dialogue Books made and went through another editing process.

“It essentially stayed the same book. It got a new cover, a new name and a great marketing and publicity push. Now it’s the Sunday Time Crime Club Star Pick for September and was recommended by The Observer Thrillers of the Month. This is ten years since I started writing it.

“Put simply, it does what a crime thriller should. Yeah it’s set in the Asian community, but so what? That’s exactly what we need; more working class voices, more BAME voices, LGBTQ voices. If tells a good story, it deserves to be published.”

Brothers In Blood certainly tells a good story. Zaq is an ex-con forced into looking for Rita, who goes missing to escape an overbearing family. The novel ranges from honour killings and arranged marriages to drug deals and fist fights. Anwar creates both loveable and evil characters and has an ear for witty dialogue – you’ll certainly learn some Punjabi swear words along the way. From its influences to its execution, Brothers In Blood is firmly rooted in the crime genre. It was one of the first crime thrillers I’ve ever read so I asked Anwar where someone should start if they want to get into crime fiction.

“Elmore Leonard definitely. Richard Stark is also amazing and Joe R. Lansdale, those are the three biggest influences on me. I reread them regularly. Its not just the great plot; its their styles.”

If readers are looking for more South Asian crime writers, Anwar also recommended A. A. Dhand, Khurrum Rahman and Abir Mukherjee. Though it seems that this list is growing as writers like Anwar show that a book about Asian characters does not need to be niche. The hard work seems to have payed off for Anwar: after ten years of working on the novel, Brothers In Blood is getting positive reviews and reaching a larger audience. Anwar is busy working on a sequel but for now you can find Brothers In Blood at all good bookstores (RRP £7.99).

Hot Right Now: Odetta Hartman

Written by Winona Newman on . Posted in Music.

Odetta Hartman, born in New York East Village into a liberal family who opened her eyes to a world of music, sound, and art has carried these influences into her work. Her sound is almost indescribable, it aches of a time and a music long passed yet is unmistakably modern. She is a refreshing voice and one that is gradually collecting acclaim, and no wonder with an intense musical ability coupled with an eerily dreamy aesthetic she is truly irresistible.

Odetta is a power-house and master of melody, with a mixture of collected sounds underpinned by a thundering simple bass, the strength of which reverberates throughout creating a truly unique and irresistible sound. The American singer’s second album Old Rockhounds Never Die, released last month was one of Rough Trade’s albums of the month and rightly so. It is undoubtedly a work of art and cements her as an artist to look out for.

This latest album is a heady mix of sounds. It is simultaneously sensual and sharp, ghostly archaic yet undeniably modern. Her music evokes such a strong sense of place you will be transported to the heart of an American desert-scape. Her work will bathe you in rich sounds which touch your soul.

Her music transgresses the boundary between the past and the present, carrying influences from folk and country legends such as Dylan and Neil Young. Her work is very much an ode to the past whilst being excitingly relevant. Her music is steeped in old American influence yet is electrified with the use of field recordings, some of which were recorded in her own kitchen, and an eclectic mix of instruments, all played by herself. She is truly ethereal, but not as you’ve ever heard before. She is a modern day cowgirl.

 

For fans of Jess Williamson, Tomberlin, and Wild Pink

Odetta is currently touring her second album Old Rockhounds Never Die and will be appearing for one show at The Islington, London 24/09/18.

Image rights: Sebastiaan ter Burg @ Flickr

One in three freshers experience symptoms of a mental health disorder

Written by hannahvallance on . Posted in News.

As many as one in three freshers report symptoms of a mental health disorder, a new study by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has found.

The study, of which surveyed 13,984 students in eight different countries, investigated the prevalence of a wide range of mental health disorders thought to be common amongst students, including generalised anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, adult ADHD, major depression and substance abuse and dependence.

The study comes as thousands of new students across the country start an undergraduate degree, identified by the study as an ‘extremely sensitive’ part of the life cycle when emotional problems and mental disorders commonly occur.

35% of students who responded to the survey reported having suffered one of the disorders investigated at one stage during their life, with 31% of them having suffered from them over the 12-month period prior to taking the survey.

The findings, published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, are particularly disconcerting given that approximately 75% of all lifetime mental disorders have their onsets prior to the age of 24, especially critical as these early-onset cases are related to poorer clinical and functional outcomes than later-onset cases.

The findings follow calls from Universities UK and the youth suicide prevention charity Papyrus for all university staff to receive training in suicide intervention and prevention, amid growing concerns about the quality of services universities provide to those experiencing mental health problems.

According to estimates from the Office for National Statistics, 95 students took their own lives during the 2016-17 academic year. In the UK, suicide is the main cause of death in people under 35, with over 18,000 people suffering mental health disorders taking their own life between 2003 and 2013, The Mental Health Foundation has found.

Speaking to The Mancunion, Sarah Littlejohn, Head of The University of Manchester’s Counselling Service advised that: “The recent WHO report – although not drawing from a UK population – nonetheless raises important issues in relation to student mental health. We see the mental health and wellbeing of our students as a key priority, and offer resources at all levels.

“We offer a University-wide wellbeing framework – the Six Ways to Wellbeing – as a preventive approach to help students stay well and support their own wellbeing. The Counselling Service also offers a wide range of online tools and modules, and students can access an extensive range of workshops and groups from everything from procrastination, daily drop-in mindfulness classes to groups for low mood and anxiety.

“In addition, those who need one-to-one help can make a same-day appointment at the Counselling Service. We also support staff to support students, offering a rolling programme of training to staff in identifying and responding to mental health crisis – and we have also developed online resources to ensure all staff have access to this information.”

If you are suffering with mental health problems, or know someone who may need help, The University of Manchester offers a number of free and confidential support services that both students and staff can access. The University Counselling Service is open 9am-4pm every weekday, and can be contacted on 0161 275 2864.

 Alternatively, The University of Manchester Students’ Union offers a confidential advice service, open Monday to Friday, 10am-4pm all year round. Please ring 0161 275 2952 or email the Advice Service [email protected] to contact an advisor.

Students will graduate sooner but having paid a greater tuition per year Photo: Jebulon @ Wikimedia Commons

UoM ranked 5th in UK for graduate employability

Written by Nicole Wootton-Cane on . Posted in News.

The University of Manchester has recently been ranked 5th in the UK for graduate employability.

The QS World University Rankings in graduate employability for 2019 placed UoM 35th in the world. This makes Manchester graduates the fifth most employable in the UK after Cambridge, Oxford, UCL, and Imperial.

The University of Manchester was the only Northern university to reach the top 5.

The rankings saw 500 universities across the world assessed on several different factors to make up an overall employability score. The factors that carried the most weight were employer reputation and alumni outcomes, making up a total of 55% of the overall total.

QS also looked at the partnerships faculties held with employers and employer/student connections. This involved calculating the number of individual employers who had been actively present on a university’s campus over the last year, alongside establishing which universities had been successfully working with global companies to produce research.

Graduate employment rate and employer/student connections contributed the least to the overall score at 10% each.

However, there is mixed opinion among recent graduates over whether graduating from UoM has helped them with their employability. For graduates such as Kirstie O’Mahony, who graduated in 2017 with a BA in Philosophy, it wasn’t the name of the institution but the extra-curricular opportunities offered at UoM that she felt set her apart:

“For my current job, to put it bluntly, my degree/university meant diddly squat. It was the extra-curricular activities I participated in that made me an ideal candidate”, she told The Mancunion.

“Without a shadow of a doubt I would not be in the industry I’m in without having been involved with the Manchester Media Group. People in senior positions at my workplace are impressed by the experience I got being a part of it, and that’s just phenomenal.

“If you’re going to go to a uni with 40,000 other people, you need something that gives you an edge. The name of the institution you went to alone doesn’t take you very far in my opinion.”

However, she did note that this may be different for graduates of more vocational degree programmes such as engineering or business studies.

Ciaran McLaughlin graduated in summer 2018 with a 2:1 in Maths. Speaking to The Mancunion about his graduate prospects he said: “To be honest I haven’t really been looking for a job yet as I’ve just only found the time to finish my CV. I have got a work placement sorted though but that’s only once a week and I got it due to a family friend.

“I think my experience with Manchester Media Group will be useful. Skills I learned at my time as a Mancunion contributer and being on the Fuse FM committee differ from my degree. It’s actually why I joined the Mancunion in my final year when I realised that by the time I would have finished my degree that I will have not written more than a paragraph since A levels.”

The ranking is a small drop globally and a maintenance nationally from 2018’s rankings, where UoM came in 33rd internationally but still 5th in the UK for graduate employability.

Tammy Goldfeld, Head of the Careers Service at UoM, said: “We are very proud of our high ranking in this league table. The University of Manchester is also the most targeted university in the UK by leading graduate recruiters, which means that our students have fantastic opportunities to gain new skills, increase their confidence and build professional networks for the future.”

The University of Manchester also came in 29thin the QS World University Rankings for 2019, gaining a few places on its 2018 ranking of 34th.

Photo: James Shuttleworth @ The Mancunion

New ‘simple’ burglary techniques are making students more vulnerable

Written by sambrougham on . Posted in News.

Just in-time for the influx of (re)freshers into Manchester, many are calling to re-address one of the biggest topics on students’ minds in Fallowfield: crime.

In Greater Manchester, burglars are using new techniques which make these crimes even more common. For example, ‘Cylinder Snapping’ PVC door locks, which are a common feature of many student homes.

The burglary risk in Greater Manchester is especially high; there were a reported 12 crimes of burglary per 1000 people in 2017 in the Greater Manchester region, compared to a national average of 8 burglaries per 1000 people.

Yet for many, burglaries are more than just losing valuable possessions. One third-year student whose house got broken into last year described their experience of burglary as “not just about the stuff they took, it’s more the issue of not feeling safe, feeling violated and vulnerable in my own home”. These crimes can create lasting psychological effects on victims, which can taint their student experience.

Some argue that responsibility lies with students’ landlords to ensure homes have secure locks which cannot easily be tampered with. Others suggest students need to be made more aware of the risks unique to these student neighbourhoods.

These risks can be seen on the Fallowfield Student Group on Facebook where students can stay updated on the local crime. Posts are made by students to inform other students of crimes and potential hotspots of activity. However, a third-year student commented on the group stating that “students need to still report these crimes to the police, not just to the Facebook group”.

The University of Manchester told  The Mancunion: ““The safety of our students is our first concern and of the utmost importance to the University.

“We will reach hundreds more students with information on campus and in accommodation during Welcome Week, where we also hand out equipment including light timers and personal alarms. We issue ongoing targeted communications to accredited landlords regarding safety and security.

“Students should report all crimes to the police and any student who needs support should contact the Students’ Union or the University’s support services.”

 

An evening with Funraising x Offbeat: Brazilian Wax

Written by Chloe Hatton on . Posted in Societies.

With Manchester’s 2018 Freshers week in full swing, it’s been pretty hard to choose which events to go to; there has been so much on offer!

Last week we gave you a glimmer of what to expect from Funraising’s collaboration with OffBeat, held at Night People – a night named ‘Brazilian Wax’ in aid of local charity Lasnet (Latin American Support Network) Migrant Support. We decided to head down and see what all the fuss was about.

For all you Freshers out there, or for anyone else who has missed out on the biggest up-and-coming charity society in Manchester right now, Funraising was set up by students just over a year ago. The name is pretty self-explanatory but fundamentally they aim to support of good causes and have a good time while doing it. They’re not new to hosting nights out, in the past running events such as ArtBox and PostBox, raising over £1100 for Manchester Mind. Originally set up as a blog, they are about so much more than simply collecting your cash and putting a few good tunes on in the background. They combine art with awareness, music with mental health, they are giving the people of Manchester a voice to talk about what needs to change. Safe to say, this was not going to be your typical club night.

So, we set off on Tuesday night, cans in hand, looking for a true glimpse of South American sunshine – and boy, we were not disappointed. Night People is one of Manchester’s lesser known gems, and the two room system worked perfectly for those who, like us, wanted a nice mix of genres.

The turnout for the night was really something – within half an hour of us arriving, room one had totally filled up. The smoking area outside was constantly thriving, and if you wanted space for a proper boogie, room two was the place to be. For those fed up with the usual Freshers haunts of Factory and Fifth, this really was a gorgeous alternative night, and well worth the mere £3.50 ticket fee.

Funraising are all about inclusivity, a motto equally applicable to their beats. Covering hip-hop, grime, disco, and drum and bass, all with a dash of Latin thrown in, you would have been pretty pushed to not find something that you liked on the night. Drawing on local DJ talents, we salsa-ed away to the tunes of Mambo Finn’s Brazilian drum and bass and DJ Fast Five’s Brazil-inspired hip-hop until the early hours, closing with Celine Mostarda and Don Simon playing the very best of Brazilian drum and bass, including ‘This is the Way’ and ‘Easy Boom’.

Feather boas draped the walls, and although a few of the paint splattered balloons that hung from the ceiling soon became casualties, this definitely added some entertainment to the evening. Meanwhile, if you kept your eyes to the front, you’d see a very fun display of Aleksander Brayanov’s funky visuals.

Lasnet migrant support is a charity based in Greater Manchester. Set up by a group of local volunteers with Latin American roots, their goal is to provide a network for the Latin American community in and around Manchester. Improving integration, raising awareness of issues facing their community and working towards the establishment of the Latin American community as an ethnic category are all key goals for the charity. Gatherings and get-togethers are organised through the network, giving people the opportunity to reconnect with their heritage and make new friends.

All in all, it was a fantastic night, with both Funraising and Offbeat bringing us some true carnival vibes – made even more special by the fact that they raised £702 for charity. If you fancy joining Funraising, drop them a message on Facebook. They’re currently looking for students and would love to have you join the team.

Watch out for their next event, you know it’s going to be a big one.