StreamGM and The Manc have a plan to show some serious love and support to the region’s renowned theatres, nightclubs, and live-music venues.
Over the past 15 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve watched musicals from our cars, experienced Zoom parties, solo kitchen discos, and seated half-capacity gigs – but nothing beats the buzz of a live show, right?
Nightclubs were forced to close back in March 2020, and while theatres and live music venues in Greater Manchester have been able to open for short periods for performances, this has been under strict restrictions around capacity, movement, masks, and social distancing to keep people safe.
This week though, Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that the final stage of the roadmap will commence from 19 July, with rules on the wearing of face coverings, social distancing measures, and mass gathering all set to change.
SeeGM will shine a spotlight on events, club nights, gigs and shows in Greater Manchester / Credit: Flickr
To mark this long-awaited moment, on 15 July, The Manc and the region’s multi award-winning streaming platform StreamGM are launching SeeGM – a digital campaign to shine a bright spotlight on many of the amazing events, club nights, gigs and shows in Greater Manchester.
Through promotional videos, digital content and interviews with some of Greater Manchester’s most respected operators and cultural figures, SeeGM will inspire residents to revisit their favourite haunts, buy tickets for future events, and safely experience more of the region’s vibrant culture and nightlife.
ADVERTISEMENT
SeeGM will encourage people to post happy memories of times spent at gigs, shows and events on their social media platforms, be kind and respectful to staff, other audience members and partygoers, and share their first experiences of heading ‘out-out’ after 19 July.
As the region’s premier digital media publishers with an audience of over 1.2 million and currently ranked 10th most engaged news publisher in the UK, The Manc is well placed to promote Greater Manchester’s venues alongside StreamGM.
SeeGM will inspire residents to revisit their favourite haunts, buy tickets for future events, and more / Credit: Stream GM
Many of Greater Manchester’s best club nights, live music destinations and performance venues were featured by StreamGM’s smash-hit lockdown-founded United We Stream project.
Speaking ahead of the launch of SeeGM, Marie-Claire Daly – co-founder of StreamGM – said: “We’re thrilled to be working with The Manc on this campaign highlighting the very best Greater Manchester has to offer.
“The StreamGM team came together in 2020 through a shared love of live music and performance – and we, as much as anyone, can’t wait to get back to enjoying proper live events.
“While streaming has undoubtedly opened up new audiences for Greater Manchester talent, locally and around the world, now is the time for us to support and buy tickets for the live performances in the venues we’ve all missed so much.”
StreamGM and The Manc plan to show some serious love to the region’s struggling culture venues / Credit: StreamGM | The Manc
“Don’t forget though that these places and events need audiences to attend safely so we can continue to minimise infection so they don’t have to close their doors,” she continued.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Be kind and respectful to staff and other audience members.”
“People across Greater Manchester have sacrificed so much over the past year or so and I know how much people are looking forward to getting back out properly and enjoying the likes of live music, theatre and our nightlife.”
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester
Mr Burnham continued: “Our night-time economy has suffered significantly over this time, with businesses often unable to open at all and now we can all start doing our bit to support these important cultural venues.
“Buy tickets, make a booking, just tell a friend – it all makes a massive difference.
“Like many of you, I am excited to get back out and get back enjoying myself but, coronavirus is still out there, so please think of others and keep each other safe.”
“Greater Manchester is the city of 24-hour party people.” / Credit: pxhere
Anna Gledson – Brand Director at The Manc – added: “The Manc are made up to collaborate with StreamGM on such an important campaign.
ADVERTISEMENT
“SeeGM is a super fun project to amplify marketing and messaging for the many music venues, comedy clubs, nightclubs and all of our region’s other incredible and iconic cultural experiences with reopening.
“Greater Manchester is the city of 24-hour party people.
“These places need people to truly come alive, and we hope with everyone’s support, our region’s venues will be thriving again very soon.”
Featured Image – Pixabay
News
Greater Manchester officially launches five-year climate change action plan
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester has officially begun its five-year climate change action plan, with the overarching goal of becoming a net-zero city region by 2038.
The comprehensive pledge put together over a number of years itself will see Manchester City Council and the nearby local authorities put into action a number of key measures that will help to reduce not only central carbon figures but, eventually, across the 10 boroughs in turn.
Over the last 15 years, emissions have been reduced by approximately 64%, saving an estimated 44,344 tonnes of carbon through cleaner building energy, street lighting and other electronics, as well as the increasingly green and over-growing Bee Network.
They have also insisted that it isn’t just about cutting down on greenhouse gases; the aim is to make the city region and the surrounding areas more sustainable, affordable and create a better standard of life.
Our five-year plan to tackle climate change launches today. 🌏
It details how we’ll continue to deliver dramatic reductions in the amount of carbon we emit (the biggest contributor to climate change). 🏙️
As per the summary on the Council website, in addition to creating more efficient homes, they’re hoping to provide more access to nature and good-quality green space, “public transport you can rely on”, and “better health and wellbeing for those who live, work, study and visit here.”
With a steadily recovering local and national economy (touch wood), they’re also hoping for an influx of new jobs, too.
Summarising the key bullet points leading up to the end of the decade, these are the next steps currently outlined by the Council:
Lower carbon emissions
Grow the use of renewable energy
Improve low-carbon travel in the city
Improve air quality
Grow the city’s natural environment and boost biodiversity
Improve resilience to flooding and extreme heat
Engage and involve our workforce and our city’s communities
Reduce waste and grow reuse, repair, sharing and recycling
Support a move to a more circular economy
Minimise the negative impact of events held in the city
Develop our knowledge of our indirect emissions and lower them
Create a green financing strategy and explore new funding models for the city
Influence the environmental practices of other organisations
As for emissions, the target is now to drop the present output by another 34%, which will prevent almost 43,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from being pumped into the atmosphere.
Having touched upon the continued expansion of the Bee Network infrastructure, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is also set to install multiple new travel links over the coming years, including both new tram stops and train stations – further
You can read the climate action plan in full HERE.
Manchester’s firework displays are ‘back with a bang’ as they return from 2026
Emily Sergeant
Council-organised firework displays in Manchester’s parks are set to return from next year, it has been confirmed.
You may remember that these once-popular events have not been held since 2019, as the COVID-19 pandemic initially prevented them from taking place from 2020 onwards, and then following that, they remained paused on a trial basis while the Manchester City Council sought to ‘reprioritise funding’ to support a wider range of free community events across the city.
But now, as it seems, the door was never shut on their potential return.
An ‘improved financial position’ now means that the Council is in a position to bring firework events back, while also still continuing to support other community events.
Papers setting out the Council’s financial position show that fairer funding being introduced by the Government next year will leave the Council better off than previously anticipated, he the reason firework displays have been brought back into the mix.
The Council has admitted that ‘pressures remain’ after so many years of financial cuts, but this new funding creates the opportunity to invest in the things residents have said matter the most to them.
“Manchester prides itself on free community events and we know many people have missed Bonfire night firework spectaculars,” commented Cllr Bev Craig, who is the Leader of Manchester City Council.
“That’s why we are pleased to confirm they’ll be back by popular demand in 2026.
“We know that generations of Mancunians have enjoyed Council-organised displays and that free family events are a great way to bring people together… [and] now that this Government is actually investing in Councils like ours rather than the cuts we had since 2010, we can bring back Bonfire events.”
The Manc -
9th July 2021 
