PGR book sale helps fund Z-arts after-school groups

01 Aug 2013

What do you do with a huge pile of new books relating to International Development Studies? Sell them for charity, of course!

And that’s exactly what Dr Tanja Müller, Review Editor for the Journal of Development Studies, and her editorial assistant Jessica Hawkins did during the PGR Conference held at the Humanities Building in May of this year. The £285 raised was then donated to the Mix It Up after-school group, part of Z-arts in Hulme.

Dr Müller had wanted to do something to help the local community as part of the University’s Social Responsibility Strategy. As there were already student interns from the Institute for Development Policy and Management volunteering at Z-arts, it seemed the natural choice to benefit from the generosity of the staff and students who donated £5 for every book.

Z-arts provides a multitude of creative activities for children and adults. Their aim is to ‘inspire and enable generations of young people from across Manchester and beyond to use creativity to reach their potential’. The Mix It Up after-school group (pictured) provides weekly workshops for local children in Hulme and, as it is always oversubscribed, the money raised is to be put toward helping fund another afternoon session.

This is the second year that Z-arts has benefited from the PGR book sale and discussions will soon be underway to decide what will happen to next year’s donations. A huge thank you goes out to all the staff and students who were involved with organising and supporting the event.