Castlefield Gallery

🌱 We’re ahead of target! Castlefield Gallery’s interim carbon target for 2026/27 was to reduce our annual footprint to 3.5 tonnes CO₂e. In 2025/26, our footprint was already down to 2.8 tonnes CO₂e, meaning we’ve reached that target two years early.

This reflects the ongoing work across the gallery to understand our environmental impact, reduce emissions and embed more sustainable ways of working into what we do.

There’s still more to do. We’ll continue measuring our impact, looking closely at where our emissions come from, and finding practical ways to reduce them further.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing more from our 2025/26 Environmental Report 🌿

Castlefield Gallery exists because people believe artists matter. Every exhibition, opportunity, studio, event and conversation is made possible through your support.

If you’ve visited the gallery, or believe in the importance of ambitious contemporary art in Greater Manchester and beyond, please consider supporting us with a one-off or monthly donation.

From just £5 a month, become a Guardian or Patron and receive membership benefits for your support.

Help artists make new work happen, develop sustainable careers, and keeps spaces like this open, accessible and alive.

We’re hugely grateful to everyone who continues to support us.

Donate today, or find out about our Guardians & Patrons Scheme, via the links in bio.

images: some images form exhibitions we had this year-
1. Joe O’Rourke, Disc Unknown, courtesy of Jules Lister
2. Preview photography from Out Here, courtesy of Grey Hannan
3,4. Broken Ecologies, Alana Lake and Deeqa Ismail, courtesy of Alana Lake

🌿 Looking back at Wild Witness 🌿

Earlier this month, we joined artist Lucy Wright (Lucy J Wright) for Wild Witness: a day of walking, creativity and collective action celebrating the more-than-human life that shares our city.

Setting off from Castlefield Gallery, plants in tow, we journeyed through Manchester’s civic, cultural and green spaces - stopping off at Manchester Art Gallery - Along the way, Lucy brought folk histories to life through music, performances by Hardeep Sahota Stephanie Besford West and Dan Dudill.

Our procession ended at Hulme Community Garden Centre, where attendees, community groups, and campaigners gathered to share food and creative activities and practical knowledge for caring for nature.

A huge thank you to everyone who walked, gathered, shared their knowledge, brought their plant or simply joined us along the way. 💚 thank you to Unity Radio (Real Life Learning) for capturing the procession, and our incredible team of volunteers for supporting on the day.

And special thanks to Hulme Community Garden Centre (Hulme Community Garden Centre), Venture Art (Venture Arts) Whalley Range Climate Action Group, Stockport Fungi (Stockport Fungi), Sustainable Communities, Hulme (Suscohulme) Friends of Ryebank Fields () MUD (Manchester Urban Diggers) and everyone who helped make the day possible.

📸 Swipe through for a look back at the day. Photography courtesy of Tilo Reifenstein

Discover the city’s contemporary art scene at Castlefield Gallery. Join us for the launch of Supermedium: Kelan Andrews and Petra Szeman.

The exhibition blurs physical and digital realms. Expect video, sculpture, stop-motion animation, digital animation, augmented reality, and animatronics.

Be among the first to experience this exhibition which will feature new work by Andrews & Szeman alongside items from the legendary Manchester animation studio Cosgrove Hall Films Archive.

Everyone with a ticket will receive a free gift made from a selection from our shop. The first 10 will also receive a Castlefield Gallery tote bag! Book your ticket via the link in our bio.

Connect with other students and visitors, and find out more about our year-round programme of exhibitions, events and artist development opportunities.

The preview is free and open to all. This invitaiton and free gift is part of The Cultural Welcome, a special week welcoming students to cultural venues around the Oxford Road Corridor (Oxford Road Corridor) Manchester’s Knowledge Quarter. Be sure to check out the full programme across 5-11 October.

Associates! SHOW SEE SAY returns for September’s session: an informal evening of looking, talking, testing ideas and connecting with other artists.

Six Associates have been selected to bring along recent work or works-in-progress to act as starting points for a wider group conversation. Facilitated by Matthew Pendergast, Castlefield Gallery Head of Programmes, the evening will draw on his experience of working with artists at many different stages of their careers.

The Artist showing their work for the session are:

Martha Distin Webster
Ste Cranston
Jacobinia Bridge
Claire Hignett
Bunny X
Michelle Marie Forrest

You don’t need to be showing work to take part. Whether you’re sharing something yourself or simply coming along to look, respond and join the discussion, the session is designed to be useful for everyone in the room.

Rather than a series of formal presentations or critiques, SHOW SEE SAY is about conversation. Together, we’ll use the works in the room to open up discussions around ideas, processes, challenges, questions and ambitions. It’s a chance to hear how other artists are approaching their work, encounter practices outside your own, share your perspective and take ideas back into your own studio.

Reminder booking link is in your inbox now 📥

This event is for Castlefield Gallery Associates -
Not an Associate yet? Join our scheme in bio.

Image 1 Courtesy of Nicole Isaacson
Image 2 courtesy of Ameena Ceesay

🌱 We’ve reduced our carbon footprint by 76%.

Since 2013/14, Castlefield Gallery’s carbon emissions have fallen from 11.5 tonnes CO₂e to 2.8 tonnes CO₂e.

That progress has taken place over more than a decade, from regular enviro-focused team meeting to looking at how we operate, and finding new ways to reduce our environmental impact as an organisation.

There’s still more to do, but as we look back over our report for 25/26, we want to share some of the progress we’ve made, and where we’re still improving!

Over the coming months, we’ll be sharing more from our latest Environmental Report, including what we’ve learned and the steps we’re taking next.

🌍 We’ll also be sharing practical ideas and resources as part of the campaign

“Having numerous names is something a lot of q***r people can relate to, after all our identity is shaped around being the rule breakers.”

On Practice is a series featuring Castlefield Gallery Associates members, offering a glimpse into the ideas, processes and questions shaping their work right now. Through these reflections we get to know the people behind the artistic practice, how they think, and what they’re currently exploring. This month we interviewed Bunny X.

Read the full interview in our bio!

Images:
1. Bunny X
2. Mop Head, 2026, Bunny X, courtesy of Maysie Taylor
3. Puppet Nurse, 2026, Bunny X

Fancy some fashion, art and history during your lunch break this week?

Some photos from the preview of INTERWOVEN last Tuesday. This special exhibition is only on for one more week, from Wednesday 16 to Sunday 20 September.

We’re free to enter and open weekdays from 12 - 50:30pm !