Co-collaborator of the Comme Ca Art x AWOL Studios Open Call Exhibition, here’s a bit more about this Ancoats gem!
‘AWOL Studios located in the heart of Ancoats, is one of the largest creative studios in the North West. We’ve 4 floors of studios, brimming with creatives ranging from artists, fashion designers, tattooists, filmmakers, writers, jewellers, theatre performers, sculptors, photographers and many more!
Our home is Hope Mill, a beautiful grade II listed building built in 1824 as a cotton spinning and fustian weaving mill for Joseph Clarke & Sons. Over the next 177 years it has had many other guises, from engineering works to dog bed factory, gradually and gracefully falling into decline and disrepair until it was rescued by Hope Mill Partnership in 2001. With AWOL being the first business to lay down its artistic roots in Hope Mill in 2007 it has become one of the most important centres for the arts in Manchester, allowing for a natural regeneration of this important historic building and attracting a myriad of other creative businesses. The final piece of the jigsaw saw the mill’s old engine room refurbished and transformed to provide a fitting setting for Hope Mill Theatre and The Engine Room Café & Bar.’
The AWOL Studios x Comme Ca Art Open Call Exhibition 2024 deadline approaches! To Enter, head here ~ Deadline 10.03.24