Touchstones Rochdale

Pie chart nerds unite! 🥧

We love this graphic created by Textbook Studio and The University of Salford showing the breakdown of our carbon footprint for our Shezad Dawood exhibition last year, part of Hybrid Futures.

Hybrid Futures is a collaboration between several north west venues exploring how we can make our exhibitions and collections more sustainable.

Find out more about what we’ve learned so far at hybrid-futures.salford.ac.uk 🔗

As part of the borough of Rochdale achieving membership of the Sustainable Food Places network, we are excited to announce that we will be sitting on the steering group led by Rochdale Borough Council!

Sustainable Food Places is a network of cross-sector partnerships in towns, cities, boroughs and counties that are using food as a vehicle to drive positive change. With support from the and , the network helps
people and places to share challenges, explore practical solutions, and develop best practice in all aspects of healthy and sustainable food.

The borough of Rochdale achieved membership of the Sustainable Food Places network in supporting efforts to make local, healthy and sustainable food available to all in the area.

We are so thrilled to see the progress and positive impact this initiative will bring in the future, as we work in partnership to help deliver the Boroughwide Action Plan! 🙌

Exciting news, art lovers! The Art UK Shop is now LIVE! 🛒

Shop your favorite artworks from our collection online and bring some creative vibes to your space. Let the art shopping spree begin! 🖼️

Check out this gorgeous piece from our collection named "Summer Flowers" by Joshua Anderson Hague — an absolute gem to brighten up your space this season!

Shopp now : https://shop.artuk.org/marketplace/seller/profile/shop/rochdale-arts-heritage-service-1390/

This month’s episode of The Touchstones Tapes is now live and is must-listen! 🎉 Discover the "Whose Voice?" exhibition, which boldly tackled our museum’s historical gaps and gave a voice to our diverse communities. 🗣️✨ How did this game-changing project help us see ourselves in the art? And how can we keep showcasing Rochdale’s rich cultural history? Tune in as Liz (Theatre in Flow), Olga (AUGB), and Sarah (Curator @ Touchstones) share their captivating and heartfelt stories about culture, art, and their dedication to fair representation.

Listen now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shlj08sw2jE and Spotify: https://bit.ly/3QeIRmx

REMINDER:
The Local Studies Centre will be closed today, Thursday 4th July and will reopen tomorrow, Friday 5th July. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

We want your feedback 🫵

Our wonderful museum and art gallery, Touchstones Rochdale, and community venue, Heywood Civic Centre, are both currently closed for refurbishment, and we’re looking for feedback on what you’d like to see when we re-open their doors.

It’s super important to us that as venues they offer something for everyone to enjoy, so if you’ve never been to Touchstones or Heywood Civic Centre before, we’d love to hear from you!

By taking part in our survey and answering a few short questions, you’ll be helping us shape the events and activities we offer in the future 🙌

Plus, as a thank you for sharing your feedback, you can enter our prize draw to win a £50 Love2shop voucher.

Follow the links below to take part 👇

Touchstones feedback survey: https://www.yourtrustrochdale.co.uk/touchstones-feedback/
Heywood Civic Centre feedback survey: https://www.yourtrustrochdale.co.uk/heywood-feedback/

*Full T&Cs are available on the website.

The evolution of fashion over time is often a good visual representation of the social changes that are occurring within a society. In the early part of the 20th century a rapid and dramatic change took place in women’s fashion.

In a time period of less than 20 years, we moved from the tightly corseted, fully covered and structured fashions of the 1900’s to the drop-waisted, short-skirted and relaxed styles of the 1920’s.

This period also saw huge amounts of social change.

World War I created the need for women to enter the workforce in much more varied roles than had been previously open to them and 1918 saw the first Act of Parliament that gave the vote to some women in society. By 1928, all men and women over the age of 21 were able to vote.

Which style would you prefer to wear?

The Local Studies Centre will be closed this Thursday 4th July and will reopen the following Friday 5th July. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Last week’s Linking Schools Celebration Week was a blast! 🌟

Schools across the area joined in fun activities, such as book hunts and reflection workshops at their local libraries. Shoutout to ’sCEPrimary for joining us on Tuesday!

Littleborough Primary's students loved making new friends, visiting different places, learning rounders, and creating shadow puppets 🏅 The children’s comments included:
"It was fun because you get to make new friends."
"I learnt to play rounders and make shadow puppets with other people."
"It was a great experience meeting new people."
"I learned how to be with different people. Always be respectful and kind."

This year’s theme, waste reduction and the environment, sparked incredible conversations, inspired by Emily Kapff’s book ‘The Crown’. They enjoyed a production at M6 Theatre, creative movement, and puppet workshops.

All in all, it has been a fabulous week! Well done to our Creative Learning team for another year of amazing delivery.

We are looking for volunteers to help bring a Junior Parkrun to Broadfield Park!

The Junior Parkrun will be a free, weekly 2k for 4-14 year olds.

Interested in being involved?
Send an email to [email protected]

Thank you to everyone who made Dumpling Day a huge success! 🎊

With around 150 attendees, we celebrated our vibrant community by dumpling tasting, cross-stitching and knitting, enjoying amazing live music from various performers, plus viewing our fascinating Collections on Tour. Also, not forgetting how our Dining Room artists Aliyah and Camara were involved in making salt fold dumplings and creating our own dumpling characters!

Another huge thank you to everyone to helped out to make the day run smoothly. We truly did celebrate the humble dumpling in all its glory! 🥟

Photo Credit: Ed Jones

Calling all local teachers! 🙌

Come along to a unique event, hosted by Create Rochdale, providing inspiration and information about how schools can diversify the teaching of art so that is it more relevant, engaging and inclusive for the children that live in our borough.

15th July 2024, 1pm-4pm
📍Ebor Studios, William St, Littleborough , OL15 8JP

Find out more and book here now: https://www.realtrust.org.uk/courses/art/diversifying-how-primary-art-curriculum-taught-rochdale

Touchstones has been working with the national Schools Linking programme, to pair up 24 demographically different Rochdale schools to explore issues around identity and community through creative activities.

This week is the final celebration week, where the children and their families will be able to reflect on their experiences and see what has been created. Children will be doing a book hunt in their local library, continuing to explore the project’s key questions: "Who am I? , Who are we?, Where do we live? and How do we live together?".

There will be a temporary display at each library, allowing them to reflect on their work throughout the year and their growing friendships. Each child will receive a bookmark featuring a ‘wish for the world’ and printed on seed paper, as souvenir.

To celebrate, take a look at what they have been getting up to so far! We cannot wait to see what our local schools get up to this week.

Happy Father’s Day! 🎉

To celebrate this special day, we are sharing this artwork from our collection named “The Story of Ruth and Boaz” by Frank William Warwick Topham (1838–1924). Their story is a timeless reminder of protection, integrity, and the nurturing spirit that fathers, and all those alike, bring into our lives.

Wishing all your loved ones a very special day ❤️

WE'RE HIRING A BUILDINGS AND OPERATIONS MANAGER!

The Building Operations Manager is to be responsible for the day-to-day operations and management of the Your Trust cultural buildings including Touchstones Arts and Heritage Resource Centre, Sparth Community Centre and Touchstones Rochdale, ensuring they are successfully managed with full responsibility for asset management including maintenance, servicing, health and safety, budgets and financial targets.

For more information and to apply click here:
https://yourtrustrochdale.livevacancies.co.uk/ #/job/details/184?target=frame

The Rochdale Local Studies Centre will be closed next Saturday 15th June 2024, reopening the following Wednesday 19th June.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused and recommend that you please plan your visits accordingly.

Episode 10 of the Touchstones Tapes is now live!! 🎙️

How can artists in Rochdale come together and demonstrate their amazing work to local residents? And how can we work with existing organisations to ensure the important work that the Culture Co Op does is sustainable and long-lasting?

Tune in as we chat to our guests Greg and Bushra from , on how they work to give our community a voice and celebrate art and culture in Rochdale!

Listen to the Touchstones Tapes now on Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-touchstones-tapes/episodes/10--Culture-Co-op-e2keivq and YouTube: https://youtu.be/Cxa541ODgD8