Andy Hardman

Andy is a senior lecturer in creative practice in the Institute for Cultural Practice. He has a PhD in art history and visual studies from the University of Manchester (2014) for which his doctoral research considered the relationship between artist mythologies and the preservation and exhibition of studio spaces.

Andy convenes two optional modules:

SALC60882 Curating Art

SALC61812 Creative Producing and Managing Projects

And core courses:

SALC70101 Introduction to Museum Studies

SALC60011 Arts Management, Policy and Practice

He also contributes teaching across MA courses in Art Gallery and Museum Studies; Arts Management, Policy and Practice; Creative and Cultural Industries; International Heritage Management; and Library and Archive Studies.

Research interests include the uses of filmmaking as museum and hertiage critical practice; understanding creative research practices; professional engagement, participation and collaboration practice; and curatorial practices.

A co-authored book, Museum Filmmaking: Applied film and the socially engaged museum will be published in 2026 by Routledge.

Away from the University, Andy runs a film production company, Belle Vue, with fellow academic, Dr. Sophie Everest. This film work has two strands: the uses of filmmaking as a research tool for museums and heritage; and the production of audio-visual content for exhibitions and engagement with local, national and international museum and heritage partners.

Recent and current film research projects include a longitudinal film-based study of Platt Hall’s reimagining as a constituent-led museum for Manchester Art Gallery; an ongoing exploration of film’s uses for collaborative exhibition-making for National Museums Liverpool’s World Cultures galleries; exploring histories of disability at National Trust properties, Everywhere and Nowhere (2023); and Things of the Least (2025), an exhibition-making project with under-threes for Manchester Art Gallery, with Manchester Metropolitan University, Birmingham City University, and Sure Start.

Andy also produces digital content and curates film archive for major art exhibitions nationally and internationally; most recently, content for The Barbican Gallery’s exhibition programme, including Lee Krasner (2018); Jean Dubuffet (2020); Claudia Andujar (2021); Isamu Noguchi (2021); Soheila Sokhanvari (2022); Carolee Schneemann (2022) and Carrie Mae Weems (2023).

Andy was the academic supervisor a KTP project (until 2024) with Port Sunlight Village Trust. The Sunlighters Project (funded by Innovate UK) aimed to assist the organisation in developing new ways of thinking and working with its visitors and residents in a joint exploration of Port Sunlight’s colonial histories.