For the last six years, the Blank Media Collective in Manchester has been championing emerging artists, writers, musicians and performers, by giving them a platform to showcase their work.
The collective has developed partnerships with different art forms, artists and organisations. John Leyland, of BMC, says over the last 18 months they have affirmed their place in the cultural landscape of Manchester.
It has launched an ambitious summer programme of exhibitions featuring contemporary artists from across the UK, called the BMC Projector Series. It encompasses film, installations, graffiti and live art. At the Salutation Inn, on 26 July, there will be live graffiti performances by Kev Munday and Dirty Work.
The Salutation Inn in Manchester, is described by BMC as "the smallest and most well behaved" of Trof's arty cafe/bars which feels "a bit like the old-man pub it was when no-one had heard of it."
On 16 August, The Sandbar in the heart of the student district, will be transformed into a cinematic playground with video art by Jessica Ball, Matt Smith and Samantha Imbeau projected onto bricks and hidden on screens in walkways.
Finally, on 6 September, installation artist Greg Thomas will transform the King's Arms, Salford, in what has been described as "a surprising conclusion" to the series. He will re-create the pub, drawing inspiration for his work from the "possibilities suggested by the space itself."
During the autumn, they will work at the Contact Theatre in Manchester and will collaborate with Abandon Normal Devices, the festival of new cinema, digital culture and art, in Manchester. They will also work with the Royal Northern College of Music as part of a forthcoming project called Collectives and Curiosities.
While BMC may be considerably smaller and younger than many of the organisations they are working with, they are proving to be a cultural hub, bringing together organisations in new ways.
The work will be on public view from 26 July to 23 September.
Anne Louise Kershaw is a freelance journalist and music editor of Blankpages and Manchester's Finest.
