Responding to The Portico Library’s commitment to develop an accessible public programme, and our current exhibition In So Many Words: Roget's Thesaurus & the Power of Language, artists Jez Dolan and Rowland Hill have composed new live performance works with audio description and British Sign Language elements from 7pm on Tuesday 8th May. Each have worked with experienced collaborators including composer Michael Betteridge and members of Manchester Deaf Centre to compose ambitious new performances from their researches at The Portico Library, expanding their artworks beyond text and print into original works in sound and gesture.

Preceding this, from 6pm, Anne Hornsby will deliver the library’s first ever audio-described exhibition tour for blind and partially sighted visitors. She will introduce The Portico Library’s building and collection, and describe the current group exhibition In So Many Words: Roget's Thesaurus & the Power of Language. We will be taking this opportunity to learn how to build an accessible programme of future events and invite all our visitors to join us in this conversation. Please contact us or speak to a member of staff at the library if you would like to give feedback or get involved.

All tickets for this one-off event are subsidised through the generous support of the Zochonis Charitable Trust.