Crowdfunding Plea To Keep The 'There Is A Light' Exhibition In Manchester

Music matters and Manchester is a city inextricably linked to its musical heritage, so here more than anywhere, it really matters. Indeed the music of Manchester is so deeply ingrained in the DNA of the City that you cannot imagine rock music or the city without it.

‘There is a Light That Nevers Goes Out’ is a photography exhibition that celebrates Manchester’s unique rock music history. A collection of over 80 gritty photographs, it takes the punk era of the late 1970's as its starting point moving on through the Factory records era and Madchester years, to the rise of Oasis in the mid-1990s. In addition a number of photographers have contributed more contemporary images of the Manchester scene, giving an overall picture of Manchester’s music heritage from the mid-1970’s right up to the present day.

Photographs include classic images of Buzzcocks, Joy Division, The Fall, The Smiths, The Stone Roses and Oasis, as well as highlighting some of the people and places who helped make it all happen such as Tony Wilson, the Hacienda and Electric Circus. Many of the iconic images were taken from a pool of the UK’s most talented music photographers, including legendary Manchester based lensman, Kevin Cummins, as well as Paul Slattery, Pennie Smith and Rockarchive founder Jill Furmanovsky.

This extraordinary exhibition curated by Rockarchive.com and Jon Savage was first displayed a few months ago at Manchester Central Library where it was enjoyed by over 38,000 visitors. So great was the local acclaim and pride in the exhibition that we wanted it to remain in and belong to the city, to inspire current and future generations to keep the flame of Manchester's vibrant music scene burning.

The exhibition is now on display at The Market, a food market and exhibition space at the University of Manchester where it can be enjoyed by the people of Manchester, students and visitors. Entrance is free for all.

What do we need?

So now we, Rockarchive.com & The University of Manchester, are crowdfunding to keep this great visual record in its home city - where it belongs - and we are asking for your help.

To ensure the exhibition can stay on permanent display, we need to raise £25,000 to cover costs such as the prints, framing, hanging, maintenance & insurance. So we have created a range of fantastic unique and limited edition rewards that you can buy to pledge your support.

Clcik here to see a few examples of what we currently have on offer .... more rewards will be added soon.