Manchester International Festival has today announced its Festival Square line-up, the series of free events that makes up the main hub of the huge arts event.
MIF will return to the city between 29 June and 16 July this year, with events in its new home at Factory International.
And there’ll be a new home for Festival Square too, which has previously taken over spaces like Albert Square and Cathedral Gardens.
This year’s free programme of music, family entertainment and street food will be centred around a new riverside location, with an open-air stage welcoming more than 190 artists over the course of the festival.
The majority of those performing will hail from Greater Manchester too, celebrating the sounds of the region.
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Highlights of the Festival Square programme will include post-punk band A Certain Ratio as they mark 45 years, avant-pop-trio The Orielles, electo art rock quartet Dutch Uncles, and trans-non-binary singer-songwriter Planningtorock.
Throughout MIF23, Festival Square will also host takeovers from some of the city’s biggest promoters, club nights, collectives, venues and radio stations including Band on the Wall, Brighter Sound, Dave Haslam, Feel Good Club, Piano in the City, Reform Radio, Trans Creative and YES.
MIF hosted an open call-out earlier this year, with more than 290 applications from artists and community groups across the region. 26 have been selected, including alt-pop singer-songwriter Nxdia, Afrobeat and Reggae collective Sens Sagna and the Kajamor Family, Latin band Guacamaya, and Brazilian percussion from youth-group Jubacana.
Showcasing Factory International’s music development programme, Factory Sounds, solo artist and multi-instrumentalist James Holt, afrobeat influenced rapper Prido, and shoegaze indie pop band Foxglove will also perform.
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On the food and drink side of things, there’ll be an offering from Super Serve (which was recently announced as Factory International’s food and beverage partner), plus Caribbean delights from ARMR, fish and chips from Hip Hop Chip Shop, Indian food from Zouk, and ice creams from Ginger’s Comfort Emporium.
Ginger’s Comfort Emporium. Credit: SuppliedARMR. Credit: SuppliedHip Hop Chip Shop. Credit: The Manc GroupFood and drink at Festival Square
An array of family entertainment will include song and dance workshops, interactive music-making and storytelling, from Babyrocksampler, Born To Be Wild Child, Playhouse Project and more.
Rivca Burns, Festival Square programmer for Factory International says: “We’re super excited to share the 2023 edition of Festival Square, featuring more voices than ever before from across Greater Manchester.
“It is an honour to curate the programme for the hub of Manchester International Festival, the talent in this city is huge and bringing over 190 acts to this international stage. The programme will excite, inspire and fill you with joy daily, get down to Festival Square to enjoy your new favourite artist!”
Sarah Maxfield, Area Director, North, Arts Council England, said: “It is fantastic to have Manchester International Festival back across the city after the limitations of the pandemic. Festival Square offers the local community and visitors a chance to enjoy a huge variety of free live music and family activities and it’s great to see so many artists from Greater Manchester performing in this year’s programme.”
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For those outside the city centre, Sounds From the Square will be broadcasting live to the world from factoryinternational.org and the Factory International YouTube channel with interviews, performances and behind the scenes access to the productions at MIF23.
More details on the MIF23 programme, including Festival Square, can be found at factoryinternational.org.
Featured image: Paul Husband
Manchester
Trains to start running to and from Manchester Airport all night from next month
Emily Sergeant
A new train timetable is being introduced next month, and it means services are to start running all night to and from Manchester Airport.
Thanks to train operator TransPennine Express (TPE), eight new services are set to be introduced from Sunday 17 May onwards – which is when, alongside the rest of the rail industry, the company will be introducing a new timetable – and this means there will be a train roughly every hour between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport all day, every day.
The move to introduce these new services is aimed at ‘improving connectivity’ for passengers travelling early in the morning or late at night, TPE explained.
As mentioned, the new airport trains also accompany a number of other upcoming additional services across Greater Manchester and the North West as a whole.
Trains to start running to and from Manchester Airport all night from next month / Credit: Northern
Passengers can expect to see additional weekday stops on peak-time Leeds to Manchester Piccadilly services to support students and commuters.
Extra services will also be added for a month over the summer during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
“Although most of our services are unchanged, we encourage customers to take a moment to check any journeys they make regularly,” commented Andrew McClements, who is the Customer Experience & Transformation Director at TPE, ahead of the new timetable being rolled out next month.
“We’re pleased to be introducing services that give customers more choice, added flexibility, and an improved overall experience when travelling with us.”
Featured Image – TransPennine Express
Manchester
Glamorous new pan-Asian restaurant Zadie’s to open at Medlock Square
Daisy Jackson
The flagship restaurant for the new Medlock Square development on the Etihad Campus has been revealed.
Zadie’s will be an intimate and glamorous pan-Asian restaurant, offering high-end dining, cocktails which ‘border on the chaotic’, and late-night entertainment.
It will be opening above Medlock Square, a new entertainment destination that’s being constructed alongside the expansion of Manchester City’s homeground and the new The Medlock hotel.
Zadie’s comes from some renowned hospitality heads, including Laura Montana (who created Sexy Fish alongside Richard Caring and also launched Monkey Bar in Manhattan); head chef Paolo Bianchi (Lucky Cat, Alain Ducasse); and Cressida Lawlor, a well-known face on the local bar scene, who’ll step in as head of bars.
The stylish new launch will be designed in collaboration with international hospitality studio Gorgeous Group, which counts Dishoom and Six Senses among its previous collaborations.
Laura said of the project: “I’m delighted to be leading this incredible project – Zadie’s is the culmination of years of work, hundreds of ideas and tiny details I’ve spotted, collected and loved as I’ve travelled and opened operations around the world.
“I’ve moved to Manchester and it feels alive with the kind of energy I’ve not felt in a long time – this is going to be a huge year for us!”
Founder of Gorgeous Group Robbie Bargh said: “What a project for the team and I to be involved in! And to be working in my home town of Manchester too, it’s so exciting.
“We love to bring desire and emotion to restaurants and bars we work on, and this one has mountains of it – Zadie is cool and she’s fun – she’s the girl you want to follow and the girl you want to hang out with – we can’t wait for you to meet her.”
Daisy Jackson -
18th May 2023 
