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Between November 2019 and January 2020, we invited local residents back into the Hall for the first time since it closed in 2017.
The intention was to introduce and/or re-acquaint people with the building and collections, see the work that was going on behind closed doors, and begin a collaborative process of planning for the future. Two key questions framed the conversation:
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“I’ve grown up round here my whole life, and so many people I know didn’t even know this was here, though they use the park all the time. And there’s a big community feel in Rusholme. I feel like if people knew about it and there were more links to the community it would be thriving." |
Eighty people attended, and together we identified six priorities for the future:
As well as looking to the future, conversation also dwelt on how it felt simply to be in the building, as it is. There is something special about the 'inbetween' of the Hall right now. Past, present and future overlap as the removal of decades-old display cases and screens reveals the shape and scale of once-domestic rooms. As overstuffed cupboards and wardrobes are unpacked, the breadth and richness of the collections begins to emerge - there are curiosities in every room. Taking inspiration from this quality, and exploring how the priorities above might develop over time, forms the basis of our programme for the next year.
You can read the full report from these sessions here: Platt Hall Open Door Findings
- A welcoming, inclusive and free dwelling place. A place that is relaxed and homely, where you can ‘drop in’, and just be for a while. With good signage and exterior grounds that clearly convey that message.
- An affordable café/kitchen and accessible toilets. Something community-run, simple, cheap and ‘homely’, and accessible for park users at different times of day. A kitchen as much as a café - where you can bring your own food, and cook together.
- A place of creative making spaces and activities. Skills development and sharing, with an emphasis on life skills and sustainability - repair, make-do-and-mend - but also preservation of domestic crafts and hand-making.
- A place for collective engagement with social issues of relevance to the area. A neighbourhood hub for debate and collective action.
- Collections as a resource for sparking conversation, curiosity and creativity. A range of objects that reflect the diversity of the local area, combining the familiar and the unexpected. Opportunities to actively explore, respond, discover, not static displays that never change.
- A place to celebrate local history, local artists, local culture, working with the building, not against it. Valuing the history of the area as a way of instilling pride and making it better in the future.
As well as looking to the future, conversation also dwelt on how it felt simply to be in the building, as it is. There is something special about the 'inbetween' of the Hall right now. Past, present and future overlap as the removal of decades-old display cases and screens reveals the shape and scale of once-domestic rooms. As overstuffed cupboards and wardrobes are unpacked, the breadth and richness of the collections begins to emerge - there are curiosities in every room. Taking inspiration from this quality, and exploring how the priorities above might develop over time, forms the basis of our programme for the next year.
You can read the full report from these sessions here: Platt Hall Open Door Findings
Everywhere you look there's a shape interacting with another shape. And every light is being cast in lots of different ways. And the sun coming through. And the shadows that fall across the staircase are really beautiful.” |
The floor looks like a map to me, I like the way this stone is rubbed away and I was just thinking about all these old slabs, and I hope they don't get taken up because it's so lovely. Think of all the feet that have trodden here.” |
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