The Whitworth

28/08/2026

WHAT A SUMMER OF PLAYTIME! ✨

Today is the last day of free family activities!

Join us this afternoon, 1pm – 4pm and get involved in summer holiday fun 💚

It’s been great to welcome new families and see familiar faces this year for PLAYTIME🧵🌿🎨 Thank you to everyone who joined us this summer to create, play, stitch, weave, build and explore.

26/08/2026

A huge thank you to all the wonderful volunteers who help make PLAYTIME possible! 💛

From supporting creative activities to welcoming families, helping children explore and making sure everyone feels at home, your enthusiasm makes such a difference.

Thank you for helping us create a space where everyone can come together to create, play, stitch, weave, build and explore - all for free. 🧵🌿✨

There’s still time to join us for our final week of PLAYTIME.

Come along today and Friday, 1–4pm! 💚

26/08/2026

Don't miss your chance to see Hyundai Translocal Series: Entangled and Woven ⚡

Discover newly commissioned works by eight artists and collectives from Korea and India, alongside textiles from the Whitworth’s collection, revealing connections between Manchester’s industrial heritage and historic craft traditions, and opening up a living conversation between past and present, local and translocal.

Entangled and Woven exhibition brings together large-scale installations, embroidery, hand-spun fibre works, garments and sculptural pieces. Slow down, look closely at the details and discover how textiles carry memory and stories across people, continents and time.

25/08/2026

✨ LAST WEEK OF PLAYTIME! ✨

We’re into the final week of PLAYTIME — and there’s still time to come and get creative with us! 🌿🧵

Join us this Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, 1–4pm, for these free, family-friendly sessions:

🧵 Stitch School
Add your stitch to our growing artwork.

🌈 Weaving Studio
Add ribbons and threads to our giant loom and help create a colourful collective piece.

🌿 PLAY Garden
Build, explore and imagine as you bring the artworks around the Gallery to life through play.

Plus, explore the Gallery, discover world-class art and enjoy our Everyday Art School, with loose parts play, Whitworth Minecraft and space to sketch, draw and explore. 🎨

PLAYTIME is free, drop-in and open to everyone.

📅 Final week: Wednesday 26 – Friday 28 August
📍 The Whitworth, Gallery and Art Garden

25/08/2026

Have you visited Michaela Yearwood-Dan: The Practice of Liberation yet? 🍃

Michaela Yearwood-Dan has rapidly gained international recognition and is widely regarded as a defining voice in contemporary painting. The Practice of Liberation marks a pivotal moment in her career, premiering at the Whitworth before touring to Towner in Eastbourne, and Arnolfini in Bristol in Autumn 2026 and Spring 2027.

"My hope for this show is to offer audiences a compassionate space to reflect, ponder and be held. Through my own diaristic offerings, and abstracted lenses of world-blending compositions, I can only hope that visitors to the Whitworth, Towner and Arnolfini are - and if only in the smallest of ways - emboldened to uptake their own Liberation practice and take a moment to pause." - Michaela Yearwood-Dan✨

18/08/2026

Have you ever wondered how the wreck of a Tudor warship, the Mary Rose, is conserved and protected?🛠️

Join the Friends of the Whitworth to hear Eleanor Schofield, Director of Collections at the Mary Rose Museum, on the challenges of studying and protecting ancient wooden warships, and the enlightening process of conserving the mighty Mary Rose.

You can book your tickets here - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/friends-of-the-whitworth-pilkington-lecture-2026-the-mighty-mary-rose-tickets-1993831230884

📅 Thursday 3 September 2026
⏰ 6:30pm - 8pm (join us at 6pm for a complimentary glass of wine)
🎟️ £10 / Free for students, booking required

✨This event is organised by the Friends of the Whitworth , the registered charity that supports the vital work of the Whitworth✨

Image Credit: Photo of Eleanor Schofield, Image courtesy of Mary Rose Museum, Photo: Harvey Mills.

18/08/2026

Join us for a special evening with exhibiting artist Michaela Yearwood-Dan as she discusses the ideas, influences and stories behind her first monograph, a fully illustrated publication accompanying The Practice of Liberation exhibition.

Yearwood-Dan will be in conversation with independent curator Tarini Malik. This conversation will offer a deeper insight into Yearwood-Dan's practice, exploring the themes, processes and thinking that shape her work.

Copies of the publication will be available to purchase on the evening and are also available from the Whitworth shop and online now.

📅Thursday 10 September
⏰6pm-8pm
🎫Book your free tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1990170568745

Find out more about the artist here: https://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/michaelayearwood-dan/

Artist portrait. Photo by Michaela Pollard.

17/08/2026

Join Hope Lambert for a British Sign Language (BSL) tour of Hyundai Translocal Series: Entangled and Woven. 🧵

Hope will give an overview of the exhibition and highlight some of her favourite artworks that have been selected from the Whitworth collection, alongside works that have been newly created by the exhibiting artists for the exhibition.

Whether you are a fluent BSL user or learning, this is a great event to engage with others in an entirely BSL environment.

You can book your tickets here - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1994132403700

📅 Saturday 22 August
⏰ 14:15pm - 15:15pm
🎟️ Free, booking required

Image Credit: Kaimurai, “The answers to all my prayers are in the questions I never asked”, Hyundai Translocal Series: Entangled and Woven installation (2026) the Whitworth, The University of Manchester. Photo by Michael Pollard.

Join Hope Lambert for a BSL tour of our new exhibition as part of the Hyundai Translocal Series.

12/08/2026

Curator Imogen Holmes-Roe shares how Beneath the Great Wave invites visitors to immerse themselves in the world of Edo-period Japan. 🌊

Through extraordinary woodblock prints, the exhibition explores the art, culture and daily life of Japan during this remarkable period, offering fresh perspectives on one of the world’s most iconic images.

Visit the Whitworth to experience Beneath the Great Wave.

11/08/2026

Sculpt your own clay character or create your own papier-mâché picture frame, and celebrate the Persian festival of Mehregan with us✨

Take part in a free workshop with Fifi and Sepideh from Dipact. No previous experience is needed—all materials are provided; just bring your curiosity and imagination.

📅Wednesday 2 September
⏰10am & 12pm
🎫Free, booking required

You can book your place here - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dipact-cic-creative-workshops-at-the-whitworth-tickets-1997558894426

Image Credit: Photo courtesy of Sepideh Shahgholi

Join Fifi and Sepideh for two creative workshops exploring character creation in clay sculpting, and papier-mâché inspired by Mehregan