Charity Co-founder

Abigail is a co-founder of Manchester Digital Music Archive, an online community archive established in 2003 to celebrate Greater Manchester music and its social history. She left the organisation in 2020.

Musician

She is also a creative facilitator for Drake Music – a charity that opens up access to music for Disabled people of all ages.

As a guitarist/songwriter, she was awarded the Developing Your Creative Practice grant by Arts Council England in 2019. This project has been put on hold due to Covid.

Audio Producer

Her work as an audio producer includes:

  • Unity is Strength, a podcast exploring rebel women of the trade union movement, commissioned by Manchester Histories
  • Not Going Shopping, an audio documentary commissioned by Manchester Pride marking 30 years since the enactment of Section 28
  • The Lapsed Clubber Audio Map, a podcast tracking the rave scene in Manchester, commissioned by Manchester Metropolitan University
  • Superbia, an audio installation of queer poetry for 2019’s Superbia Gallery, commissioned by Manchester Pride

Curator | Producer | Writer

Abigail has written music features, reviews and sleeve notes for a number of outlets including the Quietus, Red Bull Music Academy, LTM Recordings and Piccadilly Records.

In 2008 she edited and co-designed ‘1 Top Class Manager – the notebooks of Joy Division’s manager 1978-80′, a book about Rob Gretton published by Anti-Archivists.

She also curates exhibitions and events, usually with a strong community focus.

She recently acted as Consultant Curator on New Order’s box set re-release of their debut album, Movement.

Other clients include: Manchester Metropolitan University, Imperial War Museum North, Manchester Academy, Cultureplex, The Lowry, People’s History Museum, University of Manchester, Liverpool John Moores University

Selected exhibitions

  • We Are Dynamite! Rock Against Racism 40th Anniversary exhibition at NIAMOS
  • Queer Noise: The History of LGBT+ Music and Club Culture in Manchester at People’s History Museum
  • Defining Me: Musical Adventures in Mcr – a major exhibition exploring music & identity at The Lowry
  • Moss Side Stories: an online exhibition celebrating music and club life in Moss Side & Hulme

Selected public speaking engagements

  • Queer Noise: The History of LGBT+ Music and Club Culture in Manchester, University of Salford
  • It’s Alright: A Celebration of Manchester’s Rave Heritage 1985-1995, Manchester Metropolitan University
  • We Make Music Inclusive Music Festival, Amnesty International, London
  • Putting Women Upfront, Women in Music panel, Ladyfest, Islington Mill
Photo credit: Rachel Adams