The Manchester Science Festival will make a glorious return next month, with events for all ages taking place at both the Science and Industry Museum and venues across the city.
This year’s event, taking place between Friday 21 and Sunday 30 October, will celebrate science through immersive performances, interactive activities, and after-hours amusement.
The full programme for the biennial festival – the first live event in four years – has been announced this morning, with tickets available from today.
Highlights across the 10 days will include headline exhibition Turn It Up: The Power of Music, a nocturnal nature tour, and a chance to meet people who already work in STEM careers, including experts from festival sponsors Amazon.
There’ll also be a world premiere with choreographer Corey Baker, who is going to create the first dance in space with an out-of-this-world immersive experience, where visitors float through a cosmos and their every move affects digital stars and space dust.
Manchester Science Festival is back this October. Credit: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
While the majority of the action will take place at the Science and Industry Museum, other venues like Central Library, the Arndale, and the newly-reopened Castlefield Viaduct will also get stuck in.
Throughout the Manchester Science Festival, events will endeavour to answer the question of ‘what does the future hold for humanity?’.
Turn It Up will premiere at the Science and Industry Museum itself before heading out on an international tour – a multi-sensory exhibition exploring the mysterious hold music has over us.
The museum’s 1830 Warehouse will be a hive of futuristic activity throughout the festival, showcasing new technologies, hands-on experiments, and the chance to play Rock, Paper, Scissors against a prosthetic counterpart.
Credit: The Board of Trustees of the Science MuseumCredit: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Sow the City will explore how our future homes could be constructed, including furniture grown from fungus and a Carbon Supermarket where you can try to take on planet-friendly shopping.
Families can plant and take home their own saplings as City of Trees show the role that trees play in helping to reduce the effects of the climate crisis, and can chat to the Lancashire Wildlife Trust to learn about how to keep nature in their neighbourhoods.
Amazon will host drop-ins and experiments showing off robotics, virtual assistants and more.
Siemens will fund a dedicated eco-friendly construction, where different events with people working in STEM (including Amazon, BBC, Manchester Metropolitan University, PPG, Waters, and AIG) will be held.
Credit: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
After-hours, adults-only events will include the Future of Sex, an evening of performance, workshops, art and conversation to discover the relationship between technology, education and sex.
The Vagina Museum will host crafting workshops where you can make gynaecological bunting, while VR dating app Flirtual will host Virtual Reality dates, and a panel of ‘sexperts’ will host a discussion.
Over on the new Castlefield Viaduct, the National Trust will host Sky Park After Dark, a nocturnal nature tour of the viaduct, which has been transformed from an abandoned industrial landmark into an urban sky park.
A view across Manchester to Castlefield Viaduct. Credit:James Dobson, National Trust Images
Ella Wild, head of festival and events at the Science and Industry Museum, said: “We’re so excited that Manchester Science Festival is returning for a full-scale, live event in October.
“As a highlight of Manchester’s cultural calendar, it marks a welcome milestone in the city’s cultural recovery but most important of all, it’s a wonderful opportunity for visitors to get hands on with some of science’s most cutting-edge developments while exploring their own ideas and visions for the future.
“We’re working with some incredible partners to give people of all ages, interests and abilities the opportunity to explore science that relates to them.
“From music to robotics and dance to wildlife, this year’s festival is chance for visitors to play, create and discover as they immerse themselves in some really forward-thinking science and technology. We hope they leave the festival feeling entertained, inspired and hopeful about what the future holds for humanity.”
Manchester Science Festival is supported by Amazon (Principal Sponsor) University of Salford (Lead Educational Partner) Waters Corporation (Major Sponsor), PPG (Major Partner) and AIG (Associate Sponsor).
Professor Helen Marshall, Vice-Chancellor, University of Salford (lead educational sponsor of this year’s festival), said: “The relationship between the University of Salford and Manchester Science Festival goes to the heart of our mission as a university – to collaborate with partners to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers and innovators.
“Manchester Science Festival is a perfect example of how we can engage with a wide range of audiences and remind people that science can make lives better. A place of innovation, surprise and meaning, where curiosity is ignited. Curiosity and learning should never stop and should never be out of reach, no matter your age, background, education, gender or ethnicity.
“Collaboration and experimentation are at the heart of this festival. It brings us closer together, creating long-lasting partnerships, which is why we love being part of it. This year’s programme is packed with activities to make people look, listen and learn and provides a wonderful opportunity for people to be inspired by science.”
Tickets for Manchester Science Festival, including Turn It Up: The power of music, are now available to book online.
Featured image: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Art & Culture
The first-ever Horrible Histories live concert is coming to Manchester
Danny Jones
Any fans of childhood favourite Horrible Histories in the house? Well, you might want to pay attention because the iconic kids’ show is bringing its first-ever live concert to Manchester.
The beloved educational comedy by CBBC was, for many of us, the first time we showed a proper interest in history, and we’ll confess, we still go back and comfort-watch it from time to time.
Running from 2009 until 2014, it featured countless funny faces that went on to become stars in the UK comic scene and even spawned a smash-hit live show, which is now celebrating its 20th anniversary.
With that in mind, to help celebrate the milestone, the team behind the cult classic are putting on a special a pretty extensive series of live shows to bring the music of Horrible Histories to domestic audiences, including two right here in Manchester.
Credit: BBC/Supplied
Teaming up with Birmingham Stage Company and Lion Television, the BBC and Horrible Histories crew will soon be playing all the hit songs from the TV programme in the flesh.
Based on the books, CBBC show and the success of the theatre show, this unique music-driven live format is written by the TV series’ writers Ben Ward and Claire Wetton.
Led on stage by the Horrible Histories song master, Richie Webb, himself – who has written all the songs from the smash-hit BBC series – you’re getting the full, authentic experience.
Featuring a live band performing the sensational TV songs, including guest appearances from Charles II, Dick Turpin and a bunch of Vikings that we couldn’t stop barging through the stage door, this is one show you don’t want to miss.
You can find all the 32 ‘Horrible Histories: Live (And Dead)! – The Concert’ UK tour dates down below:
Early 2026
Spring 2026
– Fri 23 January, Darlington Hippodrome – Sat 24 January, Darlington Hippodrome – Fri 30 January, Bristol Beacon – Sat 31 January, Bristol Beacon – Sun 1 February, Cardiff Wales Millennium Centre – Fri 6 February, Manchester Opera House – Sat 7 February, Manchester Opera House – Fri 13 February, Liverpool Empire – Sat 14 February, Liverpool Empire – Tues 17 February London Royal Festival Hall – Fri 20 February, Birmingham Alexandra – Sat 21 February, Birmingham Alexandra – Fri 27 February, Milton Keynes Theatre – Sat 28 February, Milton Keynes Theatre – Sun 1 March, Cambridge Corn Exchange – Sun 8 March, Sheffield City Hall – Fri 13 March, Edinburgh Festival Theatre – Sat 14 March, Edinburgh Festival Theatre – Sun 15 March, Edinburgh Festival Theatre – Fri 20 March, Glasgow Theatre Royal
– Sat 21 March, Glasgow Theatre Royal – Sun 29 March, Nottingham Concert Hall – Thur 2 April, Southampton Mayflower – Fri 3 April, Southampton Mayflower – Sat 4 April, Southampton Mayflower – Mon 6 April, York Barbican – Tues 7 April, York Barbican – Thur 9 April, Brighton Concert Hall – Fri 10 April, Brighton Concert Hall – Sat 11 April, Brighton Concert Hall – Fri 17 April, Sunderland Empire – Sat 18 April, Sunderland Empire
Coming to the city centre and the storied Manchester Opera House for two evenings early next year, if you’re a fan of the series or the live theatre act, this one has to be on your list.
The whole cast for the tour is yet to be fully confirmed, but you can expect plenty of humour and talent from start to finish.
ATG+ presale has just gone live, and general admission will be available from Friday, 11 July, with prices starting from £18 and school tickets costing just £13.50
Castlefield Viaduct ‘sky park’ receives £2.75m funding towards major extension
Emily Sergeant
The National Trust has today announced an exciting development in the transformation of Manchester’s Castlefield Viaduct.
The New York-inspired elevated urban park on the giant Grade II-listed Victorian viaduct in the heart of the city centre officially opened to the public back in July 2022, and has been an escape from the hustle and bustle of city life ever since… but now, it’s time for the next phase of the journey, and a significant proportion of the funding needed for this project has been secured.
National Highway’s Historical Railways Estate Team, working in partnership with the National Trust has committed £2.4 million to fund a significant part of the structural and foundation work for ‘Phase 2’ of the project.
The funding will go towards increasing the scale of the current ‘sky park’ experience and turning it into a nature-rich through route, including the addition of The WaterAid Garden – a gold medal-winning garden from last year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Other supporters and funders are now being urged to donate to cover the remaining amount needed to ‘green up’ the extension.
As it stands, current visitors to the viaduct can walk through a series of spaces and gardens before coming to an untouched and overgrown section of the structure beyond a glass wall, and it’s this untouched section where the Phase 2 transformation will take place to extend the viaduct experience for visitors from 150-metres to more than 350-metres.
The current state of the site at Castlefield Viaduct that’s set to be transformed as part of Phase 2 / Credit: Paul Harris (via National Trust)
Plans include winding paths through planted areas to encourage people to take time out from the busy city below and connect with nature.
A second entry and exit point will also be added to the west side of Mancunian Way via a lift and stairway, turning it into a through route for the very-first time, and making it more accessible for people with limited mobility.
A longer-term masterplan could see the viaduct join up to other areas of the city, increasing access towards Salford and Trafford, and taking the benefits way beyond the physical structure of the viaduct in Castlefield.
The CGIs of how the space on the viaduct will look once it has been transformed / Credit: Twelve Architects (via National Trust)
“This funding is brilliant news for Castlefield – a hugely inspiring project to bring nature and green space to communities across Manchester,” commented Hilary McGrady, who is the Director-General of the National Trust.
“Its popularity over the past few years demonstrates how residents and visitors to the city value access to the outdoors and experiencing nature up-close in an innovative industrial heritage setting.
“This is something we want to continue and do more and more of in the years to come, and that is why this funding is so important.
“Our aim over the next 10 years is to ensure more people have access to nature particularly in our towns and cities, and to bring nature to people’s doorsteps wherever they live.”
Daisy Jackson -
6th September 2022 
