Manchester Jewish Museum announces its Festival of Leaving ahead of a temporary move to Central Library.
Manchester Jewish Museum (MJM) has announced its Festival of Leaving, a two-week arts programme of installations and live performances centred around themes of leaving, loss and legacy. The festival, running from 5th to 18th November comes a few months before MJM is set to temporarily leave its historic synagogue and move into Central Library to allow for the construction of a new museum.
Festival highlights include acclaimed street performer Nick Cassenbaum who will transform the synagogue into an East London schvitz, a performance from folk singer Ana Silvera, whose great grandparents married in MJM’s synagogue and one-man show bloominauschwitz, which imagines Leopold Bloom breaking free of James Joyce’s great novel ‘Ulysses’ to rediscover his Jewish roots.
The festival will be for all ages with events including shadow puppetry, poetry, printmaking, storytelling and interactive art installations. Kicking off on bonfire night, participants can listen to stories around the fire, contribute to the building of a Mexican inspired ofrenda and visit a museum of memory, a caravan filled with hidden treasures. Hope Mill Theatre will conclude the festival with its version of The Great Jewish American Song Book, including songs from Rags, the sequel to Fiddler on the Roof.
Feedback will be captured from each event to help the museum further develop its ongoing plans to fully restore the synagogue, complete with a museum extension housing new galleries, learning and event spaces. Building work will start on the new museum early next year and is planned to open in 2020. During the closure, there will be a pop-up Jewish museum in Manchester Central Library, hosting a wide range of activities.
Museum CEO, Max Dunbar said “Thanks to the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England the festival enables us to play, experiment and test out a whole new way of working at MJM. We’re all extremely excited to stage such a diverse and vibrant festival and hope to welcome many new faces to our beautiful building ahead of our move to the Central Library next year.”
For more information, visit Manchesterjewishmuseum.com.