Case Studies

Below you will find examples of impactful engagement at the Rylands by University of Manchester academics

Migrant Voices Takeover

The Rylands hosted Migrant Voices Takeover as part of Manchester Festival of Libraries 2022. Led by Prof Jerome de Groot, in collaboration with Olympias Music Foundation (OMF), the event was part of the ‘Mapping Migrant Voices’ research project, bringing Manchester together through music. Visitors experienced live music performances from across the globe and met with musicians to learn about their migration experiences.

The project builds on two years of collaboration between OMF and the University of Manchester delivering ‘Musical Living Library’ events in libraries across Greater Manchester with members of Migrant Voices – a network of 70 diverse global majority musicians from 27 different countries.

Oral histories collected from musicians were archived at the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Centre. The project contributes to Prof de Groot’s ‘Manchester’s DNA’ project.

Designing Dante

The Designing Dante exhibition (March-October 2022) explored the afterlife in Dante’s Divine Comedy and how it has been designed on and beyond the page. An accompanying events programme allowed curator Dr Guyda Armstrong to develop her interest in multi-media interpretations of Dante’s afterlife and how the public engage with Dante’s work through non-written media. Events included:

• Artist book workshop and talk with Dr Rhiannon Daniels (Associate Professor in Italian, University of Bristol)
• Silent film screening with contemporary soundtrack by Cities and Memory.
• Newly commissioned sound installation by artist Sophie Cooper responding to the three realms of Dante’s afterlife.

Our exhibition programme is informed by University of Manchester research.

Learn about our varied public events programme.