Arts and culture news

Gallery Oldham has lined up three fresh shows for the coming year, each rooted in ordinary lives rather than grand narratives. December brings 'Women. Portraits: Trades & Professions', a show that photographs and records women at work across the borough, from bakery counters to college labs.

The gallery itself is also getting a facelift. Oldham Council has landed £564,375 to modernise the joint building that houses both the gallery and the central library, a place that logs more visits than almost any other public space in town. Work will start once the current exhibition schedule ends, so the timing of the new shows is deliberate: keep the doors open and the debate alive while the builders wait.

Meanwhile the Coliseum, the borough's best-known theatre before it closed, will stay dark until 2026. The council now talks of reopening the building rather than selling it, but no tenant or programme has been named, leaving local actors and audiences in limbo for another winter.

Music and pub life are filling part of that gap. Festival Oldham and the Summer Music Festival will return to the town centre in July, and Chris Riley at the award-winning Fox and Pine has told the council's podcast that an 'unexpected' pie recipe has helped trade stay steady through the cost-of-living squeeze. These smaller stages matter while the Coliseum remains shuttered.