Manchester's newest cultural organisation, HOME, has announced that actress Suranne Jones and artist-filmmaker Rosa Barba are to join its growing list of famous patrons, which also includes Danny Boyle, Phil Collins, Nicholas Hytner, Asif Kapadia and Jackie Kay.
Jones became famous as Karen McDonald in Coronation Street, but, since leaving the soap, has had a busy career on stage and screen, with key theatre roles including Sandra in the twentieth anniversary production of Jonathan Harvey's Beautiful Thing at the Arts Theatre, Marlene in Top Girls in Chichester and the West End and Ruth in Blithe Spirit and the title role in Orlando at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre.
Berlin-based artist Barba explores the material properties of film in her installations as well as probing the structure of cinematic narratives and its relationship to memory. Her solo exhibition Subject to Constant Change was at Cornerhouse in 2013.
Suranne Jones said of her role, "I am thrilled to be part of this new venture, which I hope will bring to even wider attention the talent and creative energy that exists in the north west.
"I began my career in Oldham under a great youth theatre, moving on to work in Manchester with local theatre companies, Granada Television and the BBC amongst others, then on to performing at the Royal Exchange.
"I’m particularly excited about the work HOME will do with young people and emerging directors, opening up careers and opportunities for expression to the wider community."
HOME Chief Executive Dave Moutrey added, "I’m delighted that Suranne and Rosa have agreed to be Patrons of HOME.
"Suranne’s career, supported by the healthy arts ecology in the North West, has shown her to be versatile and gifted, winning her national and international acclaim.
"Rosa’s support follows the huge success of her 2013 exhibition at Cornerhouse and I know having the advocacy of an artist of her international standing will be invaluable for the film and visual art programmes at HOME."
HOME is due to open in spring 2015, but there will be a series of site-specific theatre pieces leading up to the opening under the creative direction of Walter Meierjohann.