Photo: Steel Pulse at the Northern Carnival against the Nazis, Moss Side, 1978 by John Sturrock

We've had a very busy year and we'd like to express our thanks to all those who have supported us along the way.

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Suffragette City

In March 2018 we delivered our Suffragette City exhibition at The Refuge curated by Alison Surtees. The project celebrated women in Manchester music across the decades and disciplines. As part of this project we put on two major events and also made 5 short films.

You can view the digital version of this exhibition here.

Look out for our next women-focused event, Suffragette City - The Sequel, at The Refuge on Saturday March 9th 2019.

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The Lapsed Clubber Audio Map

We co-produced a number of events promoting the Lapsed Clubber Audio Map - our digital repository of rave memories 1985-1995 - created in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University. The map now contains 340 spoken word memories. Have you left yours?

You can see a 20-min film about this project featuring Hewan Clarke, DJ Paulette, Rob Fletcher and Brian the Dancer here.

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Not Going Shopping - Section 28 March Audio Documentary

As part of her ongoing Queer Noise project for MDMArchive, Abigail Ward made a 28-min audio documentary about Manchester's seminal Stop the Clause march of 1988, featuring interviews with performance artist David Hoyle, DJ Kath McDermott and poet Louise Wallwein MBE. Attended by 20,000 people, the protest led to a new era of queer openness and pride in the city, especially in club life and music. 

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Fleshback - Queer Raving in Manchester's Twilight Zone

In April, MDMArchive helped to make Fleshback - a Boiler Room and British Council film uncovering stories from Manchester’s LGBT+ clubbing scene, past and present. The film explores the history of Section 28, Gaychester and Flesh at the Haçienda, whilst revealing stories from the current clubs carrying the alt-queer torch. It features collectives such as Homo Electric, Meat Free, Body Horror, and High Hoops.

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Pete Shelley Filmed Interview

We were all shocked and saddened to hear of the death of Pete Shelley. You can read our thoughts on him here. In June we live streamed Dave Haslam's interview with Pete at Gorilla, with support from Forever Manchester, Manchester Histories and JackinaBox. You can watch it here.

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We Are Dynamite! Exhibition

In September we held our We Are Dynamite! Northern Carnival against the Nazis 40th Anniversary exhibition at Niamos (former Nia Centre), Hulme. The Northern Carnival - a rally and concert held on 15 July 1978 in Moss Side, Manchester - was a defining moment in establishing anti-racism in the city and beyond. It featured Buzzcocks, Exodus and Steel Pulse.

You can view a digital version of this exhibition here.
You can watch a film about the Northern Carnival here.

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We'd like to offer our heartfelt thanks to all the volunteers who have made this work possible, and also to Heritage Lottery Fund, Futura Consultants, Mike Noon and Ashley Kennerley.

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Donate to the MDMArchive Trust

If you value the work we do in preserving the less visible musical histories of Manchester, please consider donating to our Trust. All donations, no matter how small, help to to keep our archive alive and ensure we can continue to train and support our volunteers.

Registered Charity no. 1164179