The shortlist is announced…

It’s out – the 2009 shortlist for the Best of Manchester Awards has just been announced. And the nominees are:

ART

Contents May Vary the artists collective have been nominated. Formed in 2004, this group of MMU Fine Art graduates has, for the past five years, staged a number of innovative group exhibitions and contributed to events as diverse as Artranspennine08, the Northern Art Prize and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Contents May Vary were also shortlisted for HONK, a touring exhibition that featured animation, drawing and performance – but where the ‘gallery’ was in fact the back of a white van.

Rachel Goodyear has been shortlisted for a portfolio of beautiful, yet unsettling, pencil and watercolour drawings. Goodyear has recently exhibited at Cornerhouse in Manchester and as part of Liverpool Biennial at Tate Liverpool in 2008; her work, as you might expect, shows great technical skill. But it is her interest in creating discomforting, ambiguous narratives, often presented as a ‘cluster’ of drawings unique to each gallery or display space, which drew particular praise from the judges.

Owl Project is another art collective, this time comprised of Simon Blackmore, Antony Hall and Steve Symons. Drawing on influences such as woodwork, hobby-style electronics and open source software, Owl Project has produced a range of semi-sculptural, semi-comical musical instruments that have been exhibited across the UK and Europe and premiered at events such as the Sonic Arts Network EXPO, Lovebytes and Futuresonic. Owl Project has been shortlisted for its portable ‘rustic’ instruments, the iLog, the m-Log and the Log1k.

The judges also awarded special commendations to Nick Jordan, who, with fellow artist and collaborator, Jacob Cartwright, was an artist research fellow at Manchester Museum, and Maurice Carlin, an artist who also founded the Islington Mill Art Academy and co-founded the Sounds from the Other City festival.

MUSIC

Jayne Compton has been shortlisted for a diverse portfolio that includes long-running experimental club night, Club Brenda, ‘a genuinely uncompromising underground art happening’, according to Compton that blends live music, art and performance. Compton has also been shortlisted for her Switchflicker Records label (which launched the Ting Tings with That’s Not My Name) and an upcoming Arts Council book, Strange Trees.

Natalie Curtis was shortlisted for a photography portfolio that includes portraits of bands such as Doves, the Paris Riots and Silversun Pickups. Her quiet documentary style has lead to a series of startlingly warm and intimate shots – and was singled out by the judges for its freshness and direct approach.

Max Moran has been shortlisted for a portfolio that includes the video-based music blog, ThisTownSounds.com. Running since 2007, the blog has premiered White Lies’ first ever filmed interview, as well as early performances from the likes of Florence & The Machine. Moran has also been recognised for his sell-out club night, Hot Club, its laid back sister session, Hat Club and, more recently, Moran’s burgeoning record label, Hit Club.

The music judges also awarded special commendations to Paddy Steer, an ‘unsung hero’ according to one of our panel, for his contribution to the Manchester music scene over the past 25 years; and to classical composer Joe Duddell who has curated (and conducts) the Elbow and Hallé Orchestra performances that form the centrepiece of this year’s Manchester International Festival.

FASHION

Paul Griffiths has been nominated for his shop and clothing label, Babycakes. Despite being only two years old, Babycakes is already a smash hit: the label’s store opening in Manchester was met with a 400-strong queue, while its limited edition t-shirt designs regularly sell out within hours of their launch. Babycakes plans to open London and Los Angeles outlets in early 2010.

Holly Russell is an alumnus of Manchester School of Art whose shimmering, stunning graduate collection features hundreds of hand-sewn scarab beetle wings. Russell has also collaborated with a metal worker to incorporate aluminium into her designs and an astronomer to create embellished digital prints. Hugely ambitious but with a realistic approach to the fashion industry, Russell hopes to take up an MA in Fashion Womenswear at the renowned Royal College of Art.

Katie Webb is another Manchester School of Art alumni. Her understated, architectural collection is a stark contrast to Russell’s, featuring neutral colours and luxe fabrics such as leather, cashmere and silk. The judges highlighted Webb’s minimalist designs and technical skills, as well as her environmental awareness and subsequent drive to source fabrics from the UK and Europe.

The fashion judges also awarded a special commendation to Jen Scott-Russell, the milliner who runs the successful Northern Quarter-based shop, H’atelier.

The winners will be announced live at an awards ceremony at Urbis on 23 July. The BOMA exhibition runs 24 July-20 September, also at Urbis.

Read Full Post »

Tick tock, goes the clock

The Best of Manchester Awards close for entry at Midnight this Friday (1 May).

Don’t forget, don’t miss out, do get online and do get your entry in.

All the information you’ll need is here. Good luck…

Read Full Post »

Feel the love: BOMA drums up more support

Today might be Friday the 13th but here at BOMA Towers we’re feeling rather lucky: we’ve just had confirmation of two very good things.

First up, we’re delighted to welcome another new judge. Clare Ceprinsky, Image Director at Matthew Williamson, has agreed to join the fashion panel. Clare takes the total number of judges to 25, joining the likes of Wayne Hemingway, Jeremy Deller, Peter Saville, Tim Marlow and Miranda Sawyer.

What exactly is an ‘image director’? Well, Clare originally joined the fashion house to oversee the design of the flagship Matthew Williamson store on Bruton Street, London. She now manages all aspects of the overall brand, the visual look of Williamson stores and the building and concept development for all ‘shops in shops’ and standalone boutiques (including the launch of a flagship New York store last month). She also gets involved in the retail side of the business, looking after the merchandising and window display of the label’s flagship outlet in London, and worked very closely with Williamson to curate the exhibition Matthew Williamson- 10 Years in Design, which the eagle-eyed among you will remember showed at Urbis last year.

And, for those of you that know your kitten heels from your shoe boots, the links between Matthew Williamson and Manchester are incredibly strong: Matthew was born and brought up in the city and is something of an inspiration to an emerging generation of Mancunian fashion talent.

Above: image from the Matthew Williamson show at Urbis in 2008

So that’s one bit of good news. The other is that Aesthetica Magazine has just come on board as a media partner. This glossy arts title covers the full spectrum of the arts and culture (literature, visual art, music, film, theatre and more), and has a bit of a thing for delving into the arts scene outside London – which we, of course, heartily approve of.

But the best bit is that the magazine believes ‘that the arts are interdisciplinary, with many artists blurring the lines between genres and crossing boundaries in their work.’ That works for us – in fact, we’d go so far as to say that Aesthetica and The Best of Manchester Awards fit together rather well.

Our sincere thanks to both Clare and all at Aesthetica: today is a good day at BOMA Towers.

Read Full Post »

On your marks

And we’re off. After lining up a phenomenal judging panel, running a design competition, sorting out an advertising campaign and some top sponsors (including our main supporter, Marketing Manchester), making partnership deals with the likes of MMU, Castlefield Gallery, Cornerhouse and Blueprint Studios – and generally running ourselves ragged for the last four months or so – The Best of Manchester Awards are now open for entries.

The hunt is now on to find the artists, musicians and designers whose boundary-breaking work deserves the Best of Manchester crown.

As you know, our 24 judges include Peter Saville, Wayne Hemingway, the Turner Prize winning artist, Jeremy Deller, Tim Marlow (White Cube, London), Miranda Sawyer, Yvette Livesey (In The City) and Luke Bainbridge (Observer Music Monthly).

But the awards are far more than a pat on the back from these industry greats. And, while we grant you that the £6k that’s up for grabs (£2k per category) is also a sweetener, the awards are about more than the money. They’re even about more than the chance to take part in a major exhibition at Urbis.

What makes these awards special is the chance that the winners get to kick-start their careers with the kind of contacts and professional development that money can’t buy. Think about it: you’re a young band, say, and you’ve got the chance to get your music in front of Universal’s head of A&R (Caroline Elleray) and the woman who runs In The City (Yvette Livesey). Or you’re a fine artist, and all of a sudden your work is being seen by Urbis, Castlefield Gallery, White Cube and a Turner Prize winning artist.

Chances like that just don’t come along very often.

And if that doesn’t persuade you, here’s what happened to some of 2008’s winners and nominees:

Art award winner Naomi Kashiwagi has gone on to stage performances at the Barbican (London) and the Whitworth Art Gallery. She took advantage of an Urbis-sponsored trip to the Frieze and Zoo art fairs to develop her practice, featured in a group show at Cornerhouse at the end of 2008, won the Individual Artist Award at the Art Council’s art08 awards and has secured a solo exhibition in Tokyo this year.

Fashion winner Simon Buckley, who runs the Rags to Bitches boutique, went on to win Best Female Clothes Shop in the Galaxy 2008 Awards and was Highly Commended for Best Womenswear in the Drapers Awards. After a Guardian write-up, Rags to Bitches have since run a series of sold-out fashion events at Urbis.

Fashion nominee Nabil El Nayal is the darling of Vogue and has been tipped by the national press as ‘the next face of British womenswear’. He swiped the Womenswear Award at Graduate Fashion Week this summer and won a place on the Royal College of Arts’ Womenswear MA (alumni include Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen). Thanks to Urbis, Nayal’s couture collection became the star of its own fashion shoot in Flux Magazine, with the resulting photographs displayed at Harvey Nichols Manchester in October 2008.

So, what are you waiting for? The awards open for entries today (16 February) and close at
Midnight on 1 May 2009. Entry is online. The shortlist will be announced on 15 June, and the winners announced live at an awards ceremony at Urbis on 23 July.

Read Full Post »

Turner Prize winner joins Saville to judge BOMA 09

We admit it: we’re as giddy as kippers at the fact that we have just confirmed our line-up of 24 judges for this year’s Best of Manchester Awards.

And if we do say so ourselves, it’s a bloody good line-up. Entrants to this year’s awards (which opens for entries next week) will have to impress:

ART
Looking for original and imaginative work across the spectrum of visual arts, from illustration, graphic design and photography to painting, sculpture, street art and mixed media work will be: Rob Carney, Editor of Computer Arts magazine; Kate Day, Director of Manchester Craft & Design Centre; Jeremy Deller, the British artist who was awarded the Turner Prize in 2004; Nick Johnson, Deputy Chief Executive of Urban Splash; Kwong Lee, Director of Manchester’s Castlefield Gallery; Tim Marlow, Director of Exhibitions at White Cube in London; Aileen McEvoy, Interim Executive Director of Arts Council England, North West; Peter Saville (pictured), the seminal graphic designer and Manchester’s own Creative Director; and the Burnley-born painter, Liam Spencer.

MUSIC
Looking for original and imaginative work throughout the field music, from up-and-coming guitar-based bands and live acts to electronic music and sound art, (including performers, producers and promoters) are: Luke Bainbridge, Deputy Editor of the Observer Music Monthly; Justin Crawford, DJ, producer and Director of Electriks Ltd.; Caroline Elleray, Head of A&R at Universal Music Publishing; Yvette Livesey (pictured), Chief Executive of In The City; Dan Parrott, Senior Music Producer at Channel M Television; writer and broadcaster Miranda Sawyer; DJ Semtex of BBC Radio 1Xtra; and Tim Thomas, producer, engineer, musician and songwriter and Director of Blueprint Studios.

FASHION
Looking for original and imaginative work in fashion, styling and fashion photography are: Flic Everett, the journalist, broadcaster and owner of fashion boutique, Rags to Bitches (winner of our very own 2008 Best of Manchester Fashion award); Wayne Hemingway (pictured), former head of label Red or Dead; Claire Lomax, Co-Founder of Flux Magazine; Jessica Lowe, Press & Marketing Manager for Harvey Nichols Manchester; David Mallon, the head of labels Elvis Jesus, Ringspun and high fashion retail outlet, The General Store; Karen Nicol, a couture embroidery and mixed media textile designer and visiting professor at the Royal College of Art; and Alison Welsh, menswear designer, design consultant and Programme Leader and for the BA (Hons) Fashion at Manchester Metropolitan University.

The awards open for entries next Monday (16 Feb). Keep watching for details.

Read Full Post »

Winners announced!

And finally, the Best of Manchester Awards 2008 winners were announced live at an exclusive awards ceremony held at Urbis on 7 August, with the awards themselves handed out by Peter Saville, Claire Lomax (of Flux Magazine) and ex-City Life writer (and now deputy editor of The Observer Music Monthly), Luke Bainbridge.

The winner of the Best of Manchester Music Award 2008 is Richard Cheetham. Music promoter Richard Cheetham is the brains behind independent label, club night and fanzine, High Voltage. Cheetham began High Voltage as a student and, over the past five years, has gone on to publish music by bands including The KBC, The Answering Machine and Nine Black Alps. It’s this entrepreneurial spirit – and his support of new music in Manchester – that won Cheetham praise from the judges.

The winner of the Best of Manchester Fashion Awards 2008 is Simon Buckley. Fashion entrepreneur Simon Buckley runs vintage boutique Rags to Bitches. Much more than a run-of-the-mill second hand store, Rags to Bitches offers a bespoke dressmaking service; has its own label; runs sewing, pattern-cutting and dressmaking courses; counts celebrities such as Celine Dion among its fans; supports up-and-coming local designers and was recently voted by The Daily Telegraph as one of Britain’s best boutiques. It was the venture’s potential for expansion that won high praise from the judges.

The winner of the Best of Manchester Art Awards 2008 is Naomi Kashiwagi. Conceptual artist Naomi Kashiwagi has long been interested in obsolete technological objects such as manual typewriters and gramophones. Her past work includes turning gramophones into record turntables and employing a piano as a drawing instrument. The work for which Naomi was shortlisted is ‘||: Repetition |, Fugue No.1 in QWERTY for 8 Typewriters’, a music and text score composed for typewriters that saw four pianists and four percussionists ‘playing’ the typewriters. Kashiwagi’s originality won particular praise from the judges.

Each winner receives a £2000 cash prize, as well as a professional development package drawn up in consultation with the Best of Manchester judges that will boost their business or career.

The work of all the three winners is being shown as part of the Best of Manchester exhibition at Urbis, which runs from today until 28 September 2008.

Read Full Post »

Something for everyone

The world has gone competition crazy. From (lowbrow) Britain’s Got Talent to the (highbrow) Turner Prize, talent shows are spreading across Britain’s creative consciousness like they’re catching.

In Manchester, Cathedral Gardens is gearing up to host the 24-hour ‘conversation’ that is the Tony Wilson Experience. On Midsummer’s Eve, a clutch of young creatives will get the chance to debate, learn and question big-name media, music and design stars. This lucky, lucky audience of 200 only got in on the action by uploading their ‘inspired moment’ via the TWE website. (Presumably, whoever was most inspired woke up one morning to find an invite sitting suggestively on their doormat.)

There are, as yet, no plans to release the winning inspired submissions, and what arrangements there are for the event itself remain deliberately sketchy. But that’s the point: interesting, experimental things need space to grow, and TWE is simply a space, some time and a group of people who may or may not come up with something profound to say.

Elsewhere, the Noise festival, a bi-annual creative shindig with roots in Manchester, is well underway.

And then, of course, there are the Best of Manchester awards. Possibly the only creative talent show not aimed solely at the youth of today, it’s designed to showcase the talents of those who’ve spent a few years or more grafting at the coalface of the creative industries. (And to give people whose work is impossible to categorise a place where their creative endeavours can shine.)

So what links these creative competitions? Peter Saville. It was he who dreamed up the Tony Wilson Experience and he’s a judge for both Noise and the Best of Manchester. Peter is also creative director to the city of Manchester, runs his own studio, is creative consultant to Manchester International Festival and, oh, a million other things. Suffice to say, he’s a busy man. So lucky us that he’s made the time to preside over the Best of… competition, and lucky you if he ends up judging your work.

(For the record, Peter doesn’t have anything at all to do with Britain’s Got Talent or the Turner Prize, but if Simon Cowell or Nick Serota would like his email address we’d be happy to oblige…)

Read Full Post »