Manchester International Festival (MIF) kicks off in the city this Thursday with a huge two-week program showcasing the best new art, theatre, music and film across a number of venues in Manchester.
Running from 1-18 July, the festival is able to safely continue with social distancing, despite England not reaching stage 4 in the unlocking roadmap. Organisers have also included some online events for those unable to come down in person this year.
The first major event to return to Manchester since the pandemic hit, MIF 2021 brings a series of important artworks into open public spaces as part of a big new focus on outdoor events.
From the premiere of a new film starring Cillian Murphy to a theatrical performance of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s essay about grief, there are some real stand-out works forming part of the city’s annual international festival.
Our City Our Festival day takes place on Saturday 3rd July / Image: ameliahall_art
What’s on at MIF 2021?
Things will kick off with a huge flash mob-style dance performance on Deansgate this Thursday, featuring hundreds of dancers and over 150 local people from Manchester.
ADVERTISEMENT
The creation of French choreographer Boris Charmatz, the huge outdoor dance performance will fill the central street with a throng of professional and non-professional dancers.
Elsewhere, an anti-consumerist grocery store, EART, will open as a fully-functioning Manchester shop selling generic, locally-sourced and unbranded produce as part of a project from leading Pakistani artist Rashid Rana.
ADVERTISEMENT
And artwork from Christine Sun Kim will cover the city centre, ‘captioning the world that surrounds us’ with descriptions scrawled onto buildings and a plane flying a banner through the sky above.
The free music stage at Festival Square, this year on Cathedral Gardens / Image: thrimage
Over in Piccadilly Gardens, a thought-provoking sculpture of Big Ben is currently being erected (on its side) according to the specifications of artist Marta Minujín. At 42 metres long, the iconic London landmark is being re-built from 20,000 copies of books that have shaped British politics over the years.
And at Manchester Central Library, a book of love letters told by over a hundred Greater Manchester residents is set to appear upstairs in the historic building’s grand Reading Room – rewritten in the words of a team of writers and poets.
ADVERTISEMENT
Hanging in Manchester Arndale will be 100 portraits of Black British people, created by photographer and “56 Black Men” campaigner Cephas Williams to highlight the contribution of Black people living in the UK and challenge negative stereotypes.
In what will be the inaugural event for The Factory, MIF’s new dedicated arts centre, a field of starry, luminous tents will house a murmuring soundscape of poetry inspired by the natural world as part of Arcadia: a unique new light and sound installation created by opera and theatre director Deborah Warner.
For one weekend only (10-11 July), they will whisper the immortal words of nature poets ranging from WB Yeats and William Blake to Sappho, read by a cast including the likes of Brian Cox, Jane Horrocks and David Thewlis.
An immersive exhibition using fragmented moving image, reflection & performance to dismantle Western notions of knowing in relation to feminine spirituality in North Africa / Image: p21_gallery
Further out of town at the Whitworth, exhibit Cloud Studies explores how state power reshapes the very air we breathe: shining a light on the environmental racism in Louisiana’s so-called ‘Cancer Alley’ – an area along the Mississippi River where majority-Black communities are exposed to the most toxic air in the US.
Curated by Forensic Architecture, a research agency of architects, artists, filmmakers, journalists, lawyers, scientists and software developers, it will examine how even air can be weaponised; from the air pollution that targets the marginalised to chemical weapons that eviscerate entire neighbourhoods.
Whilst in Cheetham Hill, a new commission by Turner Prize winner Laure Prouvost will open the newly refurbished Manchester Jewish Museum. It will include a new film inspired by the museum’s history as a former Spanish and Portuguese synagogue, that has been shot inside the museum and the surrounding Cheetham Hill area.
ADVERTISEMENT
On top of all this, there’s a huge free music program going on at Festival Square – to be found this year at a new home on Cathedral Gardens, and online channel MIF LIVE will stream a mix of performance, live music, exclusive interviews, and a range of commentary and talks for those unable to attend in person.
How do I get tickets?
So far, three events have sold out – music performances from Arlo Parks and Damon Albarn, as well as outdoor Deansgate dance performance Sea Change – at the time of writing but the majority are still open and ready to book.
For the full list of events and tickets to all the exhibits, theatre performances, poetry, music shows and more, head to the MIF website.
Influential indie veterans The Wedding Present to embark on 40th anniversary tour
Danny Jones
Influential indie band The Wedding Present are about to begin a big live tour across the UK for their 40th anniversary, and one stop is right here in Manchester.
As boundary-pushing veterans of the genre for the best part of four decades, The Wedding Present have always been one of the most pioneering auteurs of the Northern music scene, and nothing has changed even after all this time.
The Leeds-formed icons are a favourite not only of ours but even more so among our friends over at The Hoot, and with an artistic legacy as strong as Yorkshire’s, that’s saying something.
David Lewis Gedge’s long-standing project rather quietly announced its major retrospective series of live shows back in June – so quiet, in fact, that we missed it until now – but as they gear up for a handful of very special dates, we’d urge Manc gig-goers to give themselves a Wedding Present.
Gedge and co. will be coming to the O2 Ritz in Manchester for just the second show of merely half a dozen confirmed for The Wedding Present 40th Anniversary Tour, having played the venue many times.
In fact, even after visits featuring live configurations over the years, the current lineup played the Ritz as recently as May 2023; the show was met with strong reviews pretty much across the board, and it seemed to signal somewhat of a falling back in love with the crowds of the North.
For anyone unaware of the self-styled ‘semi-legendary band’ (their PR’s words, not ours), The Wedding Present are probably in similar territory to fellow underdogs and Manc natives, James, when it comes to the amount of music they’ve put out over the years, inspiring generations of those who came after.
You might assume we’d name one of their most famous tracks, ‘George Best’, as our favourite, for rather obvious reasons – but you’d be wrong: it doesn’t get much better than ‘Dreamworld’, if you ask us.
Their rich back catalogue encompasses not only so many different eras but also sounds, styles and various other eccentricities; so much so that their multi-genre-spanning music has even produced its own musical.
But before we dive any deeper down into the rabbit hole, let’s get back on track.
Set to play Manchester on Friday, 10 October, The Wedding Present will be kicking off the tour in Bristol at the start of next month.
There are other dates in the likes of Sheffield, Liverpool, Chester, Holmfirth, Buxton, Newcastle and more, but only a few are officially part of the anniversary tour.
Tickets are live as we speak, so if you fancy going along to see them, you can grab yours HERE.
A unique Manchester attraction is offering FREE entry to anyone who shares its ‘birthday’ month
Emily Sergeant
One of Manchester’s most unique attractions is offering free entry for two weeks to celebrate its first birthday.
But there’s a catch… free entry is only granted to people born in one specific month.
Museum of Illusions – which is is one of the largest and fastest-growing private museum chains – is celebrating the first birthday of its debut UK attraction in Manchester this September by giving away free tickets to anyone who shares its birthday month.
Since opening on Market Street in 2024, Museum of Illusions has welcomed more than 200,000 visitors through its doors to experience the dozens of mind-bending illusions and interactive exhibits inside, and has quickly established itself as one of the city’s top attractions in what is a very competitive market.
Manchester’s Museum of Illusions is celebrating its first birthday / Credit: Supplied
Loved by locals and tourists alike, the museum blends fun and education for visitors of all ages, and is fully-accessible too, ensuring everyone can enjoy the fun.
Manchester‘s Museum of Illusions is not only the first in the UK, but it’s also the second-largest in Europe, just behind Copenhagen – so yes, it’s a pretty big deal.
To mark the milestone and celebrate its first anniversary, visitors born in September can enjoy free entry to the museum from Monday 22 September through to Friday 3rd October (excluding weekends).
All they need to do to access this offer is show a valid ID when they arrive.
The museum will also be dressed for the occasion too, adding a birthday touch to its already-captivating mix of optical illusions and immersive exhibits.
“Manchester has truly embraced the Museum of Illusions, and we’re so grateful for all the support we’ve had in our first year,” commented Steve Buchan, who is the General Manager at the Museum of Illusions in Manchester.
The unique attraction is offering free entry to anyone who shares its birthday month / Credit: Supplied
“Welcoming over 200,000 visitors in just 12 months has been incredible.
“Free tickets to anyone celebrating their birthday in September feels like the perfect way to give something back. It’s our way of saying thank you for the incredible support, and of course, to invite even more people to experience the fun, curiosity, and wonder the museum brings.”
Is your birthday in September? You can visit the Museum of Illusions in Manchester anytime from Monday 22 September – Friday 3rd October (excluding weekends).
Georgina Pellant -
29th June 2021 
