Your Trust and Cooperative Heritage Trust secure funding for Unlocking Collections
In August, Your Trust and Cooperative Heritage Trust have been successful in their joint application to Arts Council England’s Unlocking Collections fund, which supports museums to make their collections more accessible to the public.
Rochdale is the birthplace of the Cooperative Movement and home to Rochdale Pioneers Museum, and the Cooperative Heritage Trust cares for the movement’s heritage. Your Trust is the custodian of Rochdale’s arts and heritage collections through Touchstones and the Local Studies Centre. The two charities hold a combined 435 cubic metres of material capturing this remarkable history, and this funding will enable them to work together to improve access to the rich archives relating Rochdale’s story. Alongside this rich material, the project will work to identify gaps and missing voices in the collections.
Ten volunteer participants have been recruited from previously identified community groups to conserve, document and digitise materials from both archives, with the results to be showcased at a brand-new Learning Hub in Rochdale town centre, which will also see the Cooperative Heritage Trust’s archive – currently housed in central Manchester – to return home to Rochdale.
The volunteers will work alongside Your Trust and Cooperative Heritage Trust staff to reveal new stories reflecting the impact and diversity of cooperatives in the context of Rochdale’s wider radical history. The new Learning Hub will enable people to engage with the archives and explore these stories from different perspectives to find themes of common ground to appeal to modern Rochdale audiences.
The Unlocking Collections project is also supported by Rochdale Borough Council’s Community Regeneration Partnership Funding from UK Government, administered by Rochdale Development Agency.
Mark Doyle, Your Trust’s Director of Arts, Heritage and Wellness, says: “Your Trust is excited to be partnering with the Cooperative Heritage Trust on this project to widen and diversify access to our collections. Both archives hold material of regional, national and international significance and have hitherto been accessed by too small an audience.
Previous projects, such as Gut Feelings Meri Jaan with Turner Prize-winning artist Jasleen Kaur, have illustrated how important it is to open up archives to different and new perspectives.
We hope this project will not only equip the participants with invaluable skills, knowledge and understanding but also reveal missing voices and new interpretations. We are hugely grateful to our funders Arts Council England and Rochdale Borough Council.”
Liz McIvor, Co-op Heritage Trust Manager, says on behalf of the charity’s Board:
“This is an exciting step for us – to work towards greater sustainability by bringing related materials back together in the spiritual home of our movement. Co-operation gave working class people the power to seize opportunities to improve their lives and we would love to see these materials create meaning and inspiration for new generations to co-operate for a better future.”
Councillor Sue Smith, cabinet member for communities and co-operation at Rochdale Borough Council said: “We are very pleased to receive this support from Arts Council England and see how much confidence they have in our plans. It’s crucial that we continue to invest in our cultural assets, enhancing public access and reaching new audiences.”
Jennifer Cleary, Director, North West, Arts Council England, said: “We’re delighted to support this important partnership between Your Trust and the Co-operative Heritage Trust through our Unlocking Collections programme. This project will open up two remarkable archives, helping more people to discover, understand and take pride in the powerful stories rooted in Rochdale’s heritage.
By equipping volunteers with new skills and creating opportunities for communities to engage with their shared history, this project reflects exactly what Unlocking Collections was designed to achieve. We’re excited to see how the new Learning Hub will bring Rochdale’s stories to life for people across the borough and beyond.”