Summer 2019 saw the start of a powerful partnership with the UK’s no1 playground specialists Pentagon Play. For 4 years Pentagon Play have supported the Whitworth by donating play equipment. This partnership is an innovative combination of the Whitworth’s breath-taking indoor and outdoor spaces and Pentagon Play’s award-winning play equipment. Together, transforming an art gallery into an enthralling environment combining art and play. Throughout the 4 years of this collaboration Pentagon Play have supported the Whitworth to engage 45,583 families.

On Friday 30 June 2023 our new exhibition Economics the Blockbuster: It’s Not Business as Usual opened, which explores new ways of working, trading, and doing business.

For the whole of July we have created a play space in our School of Creativity that explores notions of the Economy but through play.

Our friends at Pentagon Play have kindly donated a range of play items and visitors to this space are invited to make and trade with each other. The resources chosen are intentionally open-ended so that children can let their imaginations run wild.

There’s no money transferred, instead creativity will be applied to disrupt conventional ideas of value. Children might make mud pies in exchange for pebbles or magic potions in exchange for wooden disks. Coming up with their own systems and exploring ways of ‘doing things differently’.

In August, these play items will merge into the PLAYTIME 23 summer programme, an annual event providing a free play space throughout the month of August for children.

This Pentagon Play x Whitworth partnership emphasizes the power of collective action and mutual support, reducing the dependence on traditional monetary transactions. Instead, it promotes alternative forms of exchange and champions a more inclusive and sustainable economy.

The partnership allows for cross-promotion and increased visibility for both entities and enables the Whitworth to maintain it’s free offer, supporting families during the cost of living crisis by providing accessible cultural engagement, educational opportunities and financial relief. 

The play space in our School of Creativity will be available for families to drop into during gallery opening hours until 1st August. PLAYTIME 23 runs from 1 – 31 August 2023.

For more information visit http://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk