Have you seen the playful world of Looney Tunes has started taking to the streets of Manchester over the last week?
Well, your eyes weren’t deceiving you.
11 of the most-beloved characters from the Looney Tunes series – including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Speedy Gonzales, Tasmanian Devil and more – have all been spray-painted at various locations across the city centre as part of an exploratory street art trail that’s aiming to welcome people back to the city post lockdown.
There’s also a family-friendly walking tour taking place, too, so you can see all the colourful characters popping up around the city.
In partnership with Warner Bros UK, CityCo and Manchester BID enlisted the talents of street artist Captain Kris to create artwork of the iconic Looney Tunes characters across 12 of the city centre’s most popular hubs.
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With the art trail hoping to appeal to both families and nostalgia-hunting adults alike, the mischievous artwork sees Daffy Duck waiting for a tram at Exchange Square, Speedy Gonzalez sprinting through Spinningfields, Bugs Bunny bursting out of Primark, Porky Pig popping a pipe at Pen and Pencil, Wile E. Coyote chasing Road Runner around Symphony Park, and the Looney Tunes gang skateboarding through Deansgate Square.
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But how exactly does the tour work?
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Using the latest technology, QR codes have been hidden within each piece of character art revealing a virtual map and the opportunity to discover what else is new from the Looney Tunes – including the chance to watch a trailer for the new Space Jam: A New Legacy film, which is hitting screens this year.
The map shows each location on the trail, and allows people to discover them all as they make their way through central Manchester.
The trail locations are:
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Spinningfields
Deansgate Square
First Street
Circle Square
Canal Street
111 Piccadilly
The Pen and Pencil
Common x2
Primark
Exchange Square tram stop
Printworks
Street artist Captain Kris was able to bring the characters to life through imaginative design / Credit: CityCo & Manchester BID
Captain Kris and street art collective Blank Walls designed the artwork with the aim to make the trail vibrant and interactive.
“Like most people, I’ve loved Looney Tunes since I was a child,” Captain Kris said.
“It’s been a lot of fun creating these cheeky, adventurous poses, with the Looney Tunes characters wreaking havoc across Manchester.”
Speaking on the arrival of the new art trail, Vaughan Allen, Chief Executive of CityCo & Manchester BID, said: “Manchester is renowned for its street art which is well-loved by residents, workers and visitors [so] we’re delighted to be partnering with the legendary Warner Bros company to bring its iconic Looney Tunes characters to the city centre for this fun, family-friendly, outdoor art trail.
“This is a great way of continuing to animate the city this summer in support of our business community.”
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You can explore Manchester’s Looney Tunes trail from now until the end of July.
The Manc has been following the Looney Tunes characters as they’ve been popping up around the city this past week, so head on over to our Instagram (@the.manc) and TikTok (@the.manc) to see them all in action.
Featured Image – CityCo & Manchester BID
City Centre
Manchester streaming platform StreamGM unveils four-part creative industry careers podcast
Thomas Melia
A new four-partpodcast by StreamGM featuring some of Greater Manchester’s top creatives has launched with the aim of powering creative careers.
Produced by Rebecca Swarray, a.k.a. ‘RebeccaNeverBecky’ – the founder of the Manchester events and arts collective – this podcast is designed to “ignite and elevate creative careers in music.”
Swarray deep dives into the current Manc music scene and beyond with the help of fellow insiders who vary upon each episode.
There are four parts in this latest series and there’s lots to cover, especially in an industry that’s ever-changing and ever-challenging.
Some of the guests and speakers you can expect to listen to on ‘ICAM’ (In Conversations and Masterclasses)Credit: StreamGM/The Manc Group
Listeners can expect to learn all about ‘Women Behind The Music’ as part of the In Conversations and Masterclasses series with Sophie Bee, Sara Garvey and Kat Brown.
The next episode delves into another key music industry area, ‘Promoters, Venues And Events’, which is broken down by Baz Plug One, Strutty, Tashadean Wood and Liv McCafferty.
‘Artist Development And Management’ features Karen Boardman, Karen Gabay, Damian Morgan, and Via Culpan deep in discussion.
The final episode in this four-part series is ‘Videography And Photography In The Creative Industries’, which sees Johan Reitan, Alice Kanako and Ahmani Vidal talking all things visual.
These four features will be an incredible resource for any creative talents as it put together by professionals for upcoming professionals of any age from any background, race, gender and walk of life.
After all, that’s what is all about, right?
Abbreviated to ‘ICAM’, the podcast is certainly one to check out, with for aspiring artist managers, producers, photographers, promoters—anyone driven to make their mark in music and events.
These podcast sessions understand industry challenges, explore career journeys, creative influences, crisis management and lots more creative field concerns.
You can find the first episode in full down below:
The first episode of the new limited StreamGM podcast.
This run of shows is the second instalment by StreamGM: Greater Manchester’s phenomenal streaming platform dedicated to all things music, nightlife and culture.
Whether you’re a budding creative arts talent or just curious to find out insights into this wonderful innovative industry, you can listen to all the episodes from the series directly on StreamGM HERE.
Elsewhere in Greater Manchester music news, another very special event is kicking off very soon:
Featured Images — Publicity Picture (Supplied)/The Manc Group
City Centre
One of Manchester’s oldest surviving Victorian mills to be repurposed into ‘distinctive’ rental homes
Emily Sergeant
A multi-million funding deal has been agreed to repurpose one of Manchester’s oldest surviving Victorian mills.
After £55 million plans to reimagine Talbot Mill into a 10-storey apartment block began back in May of last year, social impact developers Capital&Centric have now agreed a £37 million deal with Paragon Bank to finance the restoration of the historic mill and repurpose it into 190 new distinctive properties for rent.
Built in 1855 overlooking the canal, the imposing red-brick mill on Ellesmere Street in the Castlefield neighbourhood was the product of Manchester’s textile boom.
One of the city’s last massive mills to be restored, it was Talbot that spearheaded the rapid transformation of the Cornbrook area from undeveloped land to a powerful industrial hub in the late 19th century, before going on to dominate the local cotton industry in the early 1900s.
It was even used as a mushroom farm in the 1980s, while more recently, it has been the set of a period drama and a massive art exhibition.
But when the restoration is complete, over half the development will be newly-built and will offer residents of the nearly 200 ‘distinctive’ apartments a lush hidden garden, with plenty of green spaces to meet and hang out, while still managing to celebrate the mill’s past and retain loads of original features.
Capital&Centric is developing Talbot Mill as an investment, which it will retain for rent once finished.
This is something the developers have already done successfully on a number of sites in recent years, especially in its lengthy run of restoring Manchester’s iconic listed buildings and mixing the old in with the new.
One of Manchester’s oldest surviving Victorian mills will be repurposed into ‘distinctive’ rental homes / Credit: Capital&Centric
“We love to restore and repurpose historic buildings,” explained Tom Wilmot, who is the joint managing director at Capital&Centric.
“But as one of Manchester’s oldest mills, Talbot Mill is something a bit different, so we’re buzzing to be bringing it back to its former glory, [as] it had a huge role to play in the industrial revolution in the city and now it gets to be part of the city’s future.
“We’re retaining as many features as we can, to keep the history of the mill alive and so that our residents can enjoy becoming custodians of the past whilst enjoying all the trappings of modern-day living.”
Emily Sergeant -
16th June 2021 
