All the excitement of MIF will be heading out to the boroughs this year, as the full 2025 lineup has been announced.
Factory International has been working with partners across the city and the world to ‘build on the MIF legacy’, and has now unveiled an expansive multi-artform programme of events and groundbreaking world premieres to inspire fresh perspectives, challenge conventional thoughts, and invite audiences to ‘dream differently’.
Organisers say the 2025 lineup of the ever-popular Manchester International Festival (MIF) presents some of the most exciting creative minds of our generation.
MIF is all about showcasing Manchester as a global hub of creative innovation.
With works being presented throughout the city and even in the surrounding areas this year, MIF25 is set to be a celebration of homegrown artists returning to the region, with many of the names on the lineup originally coming from, or having important ties to, Greater Manchester and the North West.
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Eric Cantona, Juan Mata, The Royal Ballet, Blackhaine, Shilpa Gupta, Richard Russell, Edgar Davids, and Ella Toone are just a handful of the well-known names contributing to this extraordinary bi-annual celebration of creativity this summer.
As well as taking over lots of venues across Manchester, including Aviva Studios, HOME, and the Royal Exchage, as mentioned, the festival is ‘venturing further out than ever before’ this year – with new work being presented in Rochdale and Wigan.
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MIF has announced its long-awaited lineup for 2025 / Credit: Ant Strack | Juliet EllisThe festival is venturing further out than ever before this year / Credit: Rick Guest
On the opening weekend of the festival from 3-5 July, hundreds of participants will join puppeteers for a large-scale public artwork called THE HERDS, and will be parading ‘stampeding’ animals made in Manchester through the city streets and beyond.
Nearly 500 schoolchildren from across all 10 Greater Manchester boroughs will work alongside artists to create The Inheritance – a collection of knowledge, advice, jokes, memories, and objects.
For the first time ever, the festival will be partnering with The Royal Ballet this year to present a stage version of Christopher Isherwood’s acclaimed novel A Single Man at Aviva Studios, with former Royal Ballet Principal Edward Watson performing the central role.
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There’s also three weekends of free community activations and events lined up / Credit: Venture Arts
One of the other most-notable events on the lineup is Football City, Art United created by an ambitious group of artists and footballers, led by former Manchester United star Juan Mata, which aims to expand the worlds of art and football, and the cultural contributions they both make, through sculptures, sound installations, and animations.
There will also be three weekends of community activations, such as cabaret, performance, and comedy, curated and hosted by MIF’s Neighbourhood Organisers to look forward to.
And of course, Festival Square returns with a free programme of live music and performances outside Aviva Studios this year.
You can also expect a talks programme to be announced in due course.
MIF25 kicks off on Thursday 3 July and will run its packed programme of events right through until Sunday 20 July 2025, and you can see the full lineup here.
Featured Image – MIF (via Supplied)
What's On
‘Breathtaking’ new 360° immersive dinosaurs exhibition to open in Manchester later this year
Emily Sergeant
A ‘breathtaking’ new immersive dinosaurs exhibition is set to open in Manchester later this year.
Fresh off the back of announcing its programme of events for the upcoming autumn-winter season last week, Factory International has now revealed that another new Lightroom experience will be arriving later this year, and it’s one any budding paleontologist will want to keep an eye on.
Prehistoric Planet: Discovering Dinosaurs blends iconic moments from Apple TV’s Emmy nominated Prehistoric Planet with never-before seen content.
It’s set to take audiences back in time to experience dinosaurs closer than ever before.
Narrated by critically acclaimed actor, Damian Lewis, the new 360° immersive experience is a celebration of our natural world told through captivating storytelling, breathtaking visuals, and groundbreaking technology, with visitors will be transported back in time, 66 million years ago, to experience dinosaurs up close.
Damian Lewis guides audiences through the fascinating role dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures have played in shaping our world – from Ammonites and Mosasaurs, to the Tyrannosaurus rex.
Lightroom’s state-of-the-art 360 projections will allow viewers to see these majestic animals at an awe-inspiring scale and travel alongside them through volcanoes, soaring skies and the deep sea.
As escapist as it is educational, audiences will not only experience some of the most beloved scenes from seasons one and two of Apple TV’s Prehistoric Planet, but they will also be immersed in exclusive extended CGI sequences and bespoke illustrations that bring the show to life in entirely new ways.
And to make it even better, the experience is set to an original score by multi-Academy Award winner Hans Zimmer, alongside Anže Rozman, and Kara Talve for Bleeding Fingers Music.
Prehistoric Planet: Discovering Dinosaurs opens at Aviva Studios, and tickets go on public sale tomorrow (Friday 26 June).
Featured Image – Supplied
What's On
Prestigious Edinburgh TV Festival to move to Manchester for first time in 50 years
Emily Sergeant
Greater Manchester will become the new host city for the TV Festival from 2027 onwards it was announced today.
For the first time in five decades, following an extensive consultation and competitive bidding process – which was launched in 2025 – the prestigious festival is set to move from its home in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh to our region from 2027 onwards, beating out other major northern cities like Newcastle in the process.
As part of a UK-wide strategic review into the event’s long-term future, the Festival’s board of directors say the review was undertaken in order to ‘examine how the TV Festival could continue to grow’ amid increasing challenges around accessibility, affordability, and sustainability across the television industry.
Greater Manchester‘s ‘successful and comprehensive’ bid included commitments around affordability, infrastructure, industry partnership, and long-term growth potential.
Plans include holding the Festival in locations in the newly developed St. John’s creative and cultural district.
“Greater Manchester presented a vision for the Festival that combined genuine creative ambition and future-facing energy with practical accessibility and affordability for delegates,” commented Campbell Glennie, who is the CEO of the TV Festival and The TV Foundation.
“This means we can radically reduce the costs associated with attending the Festival as well as the cost of passes.
“The city reflects the expanding ambition of the UK television industry, while still offering the scale, connectivity and unique cultural identity needed for an event of this significance – it gives us the strongest platform to grow the Festival’s reach and impact in the years ahead.”
Cllr Bev Craig, who is the Leader of Manchester City Council, said being chosen as TV Festival hosts is ‘brilliant news’ for Greater Manchester, adding: “It speaks to the growth, success and strength of our screen sector in the city region and the strong partnerships and talent we have here.”
The final Edinburgh edition of the TV Festival will take place this August, and dates and further details for the TV Festival in 2027 will be shared later this year.
Emily Sergeant -
12th March 2025 
