Signal Film and Media accepted proposals for creative projects from Photographers or Artists to work collaboratively with local people to produce a new artistic commission through creative workshops and activities that responds to the Sankey Family Photographic Collection during the final year of the projects’ development.

We welcomed hundreds of applications from artists who work with photography or lens based digital media and who had experience of, and the passion for, working in a socially engaged and /or participatory way and in how working with archival photography and how working collaboratively could inform the development of their work.

Applications were encouraged from artists from all backgrounds and we actively encouraged artists to apply who belong to one or more of the following groups: Black, Asian or from a Minority Ethnic group, Refugee, D/deaf, Disabled, Neurodivergent, Working Class and LGBTQI+

The commissioned artist worked alongside community members to increase engagement with the archival collection and with contemporary art. The project supported participatory, artistic responses to the Sankey Collection, so that more people, from more backgrounds, could engage with art inspired by archival collections.

This project is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to rescue, digitise, conserve and celebrate the vast Sankey Photography Collection.