On Thursday 22nd October, City Mayor Paul Dennett officially launched the Innovation Network on Cultures of Class at Salford Museum and Art Gallery.
Fifty-two people gathered in the ornate Victorian Gallery, a space that the Salford Museum and Art Gallery describes as providing ‘a commentary on Victorian society from the hardships of the lower classes through to the leisure pursuits and interests of the upper classes’. These contrasting visuals, marked by the realities of social class, served as a fitting backdrop to the City Mayor’s illuminating keynote speech that celebrated Salford’s transformative political and cultural history, whilst acknowledging the ways that the city has been, and continues to be, shaped by class division and the endeavour for working-class rights. Dennett referenced a range of Salford’ literary and cultural outputs, including Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey and Walter Greenwood’s Love on the Dole, and of course, the paintings of L. S. Lowry that depict Salford’s industrial heritage. The Mayor spoke of the spirit of Salford, and how the Network offers an infrastructure for the residents and workers of Salford to come together to enact change.
Mayor Dennett’s keynote speech was followed by an introduction to the Network’s Subject Groups that explore class from a range of disciplinary perspectives, including Media, Education, Memory Studies, Creative Writing and Social Housing. The groups, which are led by academics from the University of Salford as well as the University of Leeds, Manchester Metropolitan and Ulster University, showcased their upcoming activities for the 26/27 academic year, and called for audience members to join to share their interests and expertise within the groups. The short talks gestured towards a dynamic calendar of events, including a range of Creative Writing workshops, walking tours, roundtable discussions, seminars, and book launches.
The Network, which has now grown to 300 members (including Mayor Paul Dennett!) owes its origins to Dr Tanja Poppelreuter (School of Engineering and Environment) and Dr Nicholas Barnett (Social Science, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy), who established the network following Tanja’s research project The Modern Backdrop and her exhibition Invisible Cities that – in 2024 – addressed the redevelopment of Salford during the 1960s with architectural plans, photographs and oral history interviews.
Want to be part of this year’s activities? Become a member of our Network! It’s free, and you can leave at any time by emailing ‘Unsubscribe’ to culturesofclass@salford.ac.uk. Join our mailing list here.