Today’s the day! ✨ As the @museumsassociation.org Museums Change Lives Awards 2025 begin, we’re celebrating the volunteers of the People’s Mobile Archive whose work builds resilience, skills & connection across the Highlands. 💛

Good luck to all the brilliant museums nominated! 💫

We’re inviting craftspeople from Sutherland & Caithness to:
🔹 Host a free stall (Sat 1 & Sun 2 Nov)
🔹 Join the Focus Group (Sat 1 Nov) + networking dinner

Support available: free stalls, 10 bursaries (£50 travel + £150 participation fee), and 2 Digital Practice bursaries (£150 from St Andrews).

📢 Calling all makers in Sutherland & Caithness!

Join Rural Spot (31 Oct–2 Nov, Helmsdale): a 3-day gathering on the Politics of Craft.

✅ Free stalls (Sat 1 & Sun 2 Nov)
✅ Focus group + networking dinner (1 Nov)
✅ Bursaries available

Apply by 9 Oct 👉 docs.google.com/forms/d/1RaP...

"The title also plays on the idiom, meaning distraction from the truth"

@joannecoates.bsky.social's exhibition RED HERRING, at @timespanhelmsdale.bsky.social until 30 Sep, amplifies the overlooked story of the Herring Girls through photography and sculpture

and fourth up a storming talk by Guilia Gregnanin, Director of @timespanhelmsdale.bsky.social , about “redefining the museum as a shared resource“ #museumideas

Excited to be at @museumid.bsky.social conference with our director Giulia Gregnanin presenting Timespan vision of becoming an Institution of the Commons. A brilliant panel with representatives from @beamishmuseum.bsky.social Glasgow Museums, Museo Egizio and chaired by @profdanhicks.bsky.social

We are grateful to @museumsassociation.org for spotlighting the PMA's work through such a prestigious naional award. We thank our incredible volunteers, and community members who contribute and support our heritage work with their rich knowledge, enthusiasm and motivation.

We're thrilled to share that the People's Mobile Archive, Timespan’s outreach programme, has been shortlisted for the Best Small Museum Project Award at the @museumsassociation.org Museums Change Lives Awards 2025!✨️

Congratulations to all the other nominees!
#Museums2025

Very glad to have seen Joanne Coates exhibition ‘Red Herring’ at Timespan in Helmsdale, Scotland, the result of a 6 month residency. The work focuses on the migrant female workforce in the herring fishing industry from 18th-20th centuries, linking back to Helmsdale, with its ties to the industry.

We cannot wait to have @yvettetaylor.bsky.social, @jenniferjaswhite.bsky.social Hussein Mitha and Fadzai Mwakutuya chaired by @joannecoates.bsky.social & Giulia Gregnanin discussing contemporary working class experiences in Britain

It was great having @amberhuff.bsky.social leading a workshop about Commons and Commoning to envision together what it means for Timespan to become an Institution of the Commons

We are thrilled to invite you to #Salt&Silver a solstice festival on the legacy of the Herring Girls, labour, class, and solidarity. Part of @joannecoates.bsky.social Red Herring programme of events, join us for a weekend of talks, performances, and events.

Visit timespan.org.uk/programme/ev...

Timespan’s redevelopment project has been featured by @museumid.bsky.social !
Giulia, our Director & Curator, speaks about the radical redevelopment of Timespan led by ASSEMBLE & Office Corr Higgins and our ambition of re-shaping cultural spaces collectively.

museum-id.com/redefining-t...

In Involvo (2024) @joannecoates.bsky.social disrupts the aestheticisation of working-class women in archives. She reenacts the Herring Girls' practice of bandaging their hands to soothe the cuts caused by handling cutag knives at high speed.

📍Visit Red Herring
Open daily 10-5, free

@joannecoates.bsky.social "Triangulation" (2025) captures these themes overlaying images referring to the imperial networks of extraction to evoke the scale of the fishing industry tied to the West Indies. Yet the bandaged hand foregrounds the physical realities of the gutting labour.

Many local families trace their lineage to the #GuttingGirls who passed through #Helmsdale, making the #exhibition Red Herring by @joannecoates.bsky.social both a reflection on global histories and an account of lived local experiences.

📍Red Herring open everyday 10-5
Free entry

@joannecoates.bsky.social gave an interview at BBC woman's hour about her new exhibition "Red Herring" at Timespan & the Herring Girls.
Check it out minute 49 podcasts.apple.com/mn/podcast/w...

Visit Timespan to discover more about a fascinating exhibition about women's labour & class solidarity

New Exhibition: Red Herring by @joannecoates.bsky.social opens March 29th

The show explores women's labour & class solidarity through the legacy of the Herring Girls.

Travel & accomodation bursaries available for the opening: apply by March 14th docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

We are thrilled to announce we were awarded @creativescots.bsky.social Multi Year Funding!

We were recognised for our holistic approach, that through our cultural programme tackles local issues with a global perspective!

Thank you for believing in our vision: stay tuned for exciting news ahead!✨️

Join us & Glasgow Zine Library to explore #Gaelic language, place names & #climate crisis. The talk will touch upon land use, colonialism, Gaelic folklore & community actions through #Zine making

Pay what you can, book here www.glasgowzinelibrary.com/events/2025/...

Artist in residence: @joannecoates.bsky.social is exploring the history of the #HerringGirls and the contemporary issues faced by Highlands #women: #labour, health, strike movements, and class.

Stay tuned for updates & save the date for Jo's #collaborative show "Red Herring" coming in March 2025!

Announcement: Assemble & Office Corr Higgins will lead our building redevelopment project!

They will reimagine Timespan as an #accessible & #sustainable museum through an engagement-led & ecologically responsible feasibility study, prioritising community involvement.
Find out more shorturl.at/z8t4E