Celebrating 200 Years of MMU!

Manchester Metropolitan University is celebrating it’s 200th birthday! 1824. The Manchester Mechanics’ Institute was the original MMU building. This unique first building was built with the creatives and artisans in mind. Something which MMU still stands for today! Fast forward to 1992 when, as we know it, Manchester Metropolitan University was born. Later that year, Manchester Metropolitan merged with the Crewe and Alsager College of Higher Education, making one of the country’s largest institutions even larger, with over 20,000 students enrolled. 1996 was a very special year for MMU as the beloved Her Majesty The Queen officially opened the Geoffrey Manton building. The university is celebrating with spotlights on students and staff, BBQ’s, public lightshows and many more. Although at the heart of their celebrations are 5 pillars:

• Economic Growth
• Transforming Health
• Creative Excellence
• Leading Sustainability
• Tackling Inequality

Here at Rise, we are celebrating in style with recognition for past and current community engagement from staff, students and community superstars. Josie Sykes has noted that “community engagement fits in perfectly within the 200th year celebrations as it delivers under 200 years civic contribution narrative under the 200 campaign (celebrating existing and new civic work)…it highlights our students community in line with campaign as it shows ambitions, originality and proudly driving progress“. Our community engagement celebrations stem heavily from our popular ‘Making Great Communities Incubator’ we held at the start of this year.

The ‘Making Great Communities Incubator’ allowed students, all with different backgrounds, to create and work on their own project ideas. The aim of the project was for students to delve deep into what they can do to make an impact on the community around them. This project ended up in huge successes as over 100 students came and got involved! Seeing as so many students took part, and we loved hearing everyone’s project ideas, we decided to continue this project. For the 200th anniversary, we wanted students to have the chance to try and win funding for their very own projects. So we did exactly that! Students have pitched to us their project ideas and our favourites have been given the nod for funding to kickstart their idea.

The next part of the article is going to be a highlight as we hear directly from students, members of staff, and external experts who are passionate about the 200th anniversary and actively encourage one of the 5 pillars; Economic Growth, Transforming Health, Creative Excellence, Leading Sustainability, and Tackling Inequality.

Economic Growth With Eleanor

Eleanor is currently studying Textiles at Manchester School of Art. As MMU is celebrating its 200th anniversary, Eleanor felt inspired and was eager to ensure her pitch represented the heritage and historical industry of Manchester, which was predominantly textiles. When Manchester Mechanics’ Institute opened, it had the intention of creating a more skilful and efficient workplace with the goal to extend Manchester’s textiles industry (https://www.mmu.ac.uk/about-us/history). Hence why we were delighted when we heard of Eleanor’s project idea.

In terms of economic growth, Eleanor is inspired by women in the textiles industry now, compared to 200 years ago. In May 1824, Sam Slater’s textile mill planned to increase the workday by one hour and cut wages by 25% for women between the ages of 15 and 30. Rightfully, the women created America’s first factory strike (Girl Power in 1824: The First Factory Strike in America – New England Historical Society). Eleanor has commented on this by saying “despite often being a problematic industry, there is still lots of beauty in the textiles industry. I see textiles as an empowering industry for women as we have the opportunity to earn our own money by spinning yarn and weaving cloth“. This mindset is truly empowering and inspiring if we look at this opportunity for women now compared to 200 years ago.

Transforming Health With Amanda

Amanda is a yoga therapist and her work is predominantly within community spaces and supporting people to have access to yoga who typically, or normally, wouldn’t have access to it; or don’t feel like it’s for them. She mostly works with people who have overlapping health conditions where yoga will be really beneficial for them although going to a studio class wouldn’t be accessible. Yoga focuses on strength, flexibility, and breathing to boost physical and mental wellbeing. There is evidence that regular yoga practise helps people with high blood pressure, heart disease, aches and pains, depression and stress (Vinyasa flow yoga video – NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Amanda’s favourite part about her projects is “the creativity of taking something, like a yoga sequence, and adapting it to work for somebody who’s recently had an amputation for example. It allows them to have a positive relationship with their body again, and for me, there’s nothing more exciting than that!“

Creative Excellence With Laura

Laura is a ceramicist who predominantly works within arts and health. She works for an ‘arts on prescription’ charity supporting peoples general mental health and wellbeing through ceramics, workshops, and community projects. Laura played a very important role within the Making Great Communities Incubator: “I was offering support in a creative and practical way; running workshops around planning projects, effective goal setting and time management. I also encouraged the students to think of creative ways they can document their journey“.

Leading Sustainability With Hector

Hector is currently studying a masters at Print City however before this he was studying engineering at MMU. During his degree he found a keen interest into the effects of nature on wellbeing. So much so that his dissertation was based on this theory. Mind, a mental health service, agree in saying ‘spending time in green space or bringing nature into your everyday life can benefit both your mental and physical health (How nature benefits mental health – Mind).

Earlier this year, Hector took part in the RHS Urban Garden Show and even though his role was predominantly within the design aspect, he also worked alongside other students to think creatively. Himself and other students resulted in creating planters made from recycled materials.

I asked Hector if he thinks MMU does a good job at being sustainable. This is what he said “I fully believe MMU does a good job at being sustainable! It’s clear to me that they make an effort to give students information on how to be sustainable. I also admire how they have active partnerships with the community, such as Hulme Community Garden Centre“.

Tackling Inequality With Audrey

Audrey is a visual artist and creative facilitator – her main medium of work as an artist is photography. “I use cyanotype processes which can be very easy, fun accessible for everyone – it’s very inclusive“. Audrey assisted students on the Making Great Communities Incubator ensuring they make everything as inclusive as possible. “It was a really cool experience and it was lovely to see the students thinking about accessibility of their projects, who it was for and how they would deliver it in a way that was really going to make an impact.”

Final words from Audrey: “I think it’s important to know about the history of things and to know that some things simply are the way they are. I don’t believe that all people who are underrepresented don’t have a voice. I think it’s about knowing how to listen, who to listen to, and ,when being in positions of privilege, knowing how to platform these voices“.

This article is just the beginning of Rise’s 200th year celebrations. Over the next few weeks we will have quotes, graphics, and colours plastered all of our social media so make sure you’re following us on Instagram and LinkedIn so you don’t miss out on all the fun. A full version of this article will also be published on aAh!magazine so make sure to keep your eyes peeled; the full version will include more information about students’ project ideas, and how the university is funding community outreach, and lots more.

We hope to see you at anniversary events!