Hurrah and huzzah! It’s time for the Northern Soul Podcast.

This month Laura Brown asks, are we snobbish when it comes to art? She explores the concept of ‘threshold phobia’ – the physical act of walking into a room when you don’t know what to expect. After all, the unknown is incredibly daunting and ‘art’ can sometimes come with an elitist label. Are we unintentionally intimidating people who think art isn’t for them? Just how accessible is art?

Laura talks to three leading members of the arts community. Her interviewees are Michael Simpson, Head of Visual Arts and Engagement at The Lowry in Salford, Arts Marketing Manager Mike James whose CV includes the Liverpool Empire and Liverpool’s Unity Theatre, and Sam Lackey, Senior Curator of Programme at The Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester.

You can get in touch with Laura via Twitter @MsLaura_Brown or via Northern Soul @Northern_Soul_

To listen to Series One and Two of the Northern Soul Podcast, produced and presented by Lucy McNamara, click here

Main image: The Whitworth by Chris Payne