A breakthrough has come for Manchester’s currently under-construction arts venue as it receives a £21 million Kickstart Fund.
Following ongoing funding worries from increasing construction costs due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, The Factory – a “world-class cultural space” in the heart of the city and the year-round home for Manchester International Festival (MIF) – has successfully been granted £21 million from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council England.
The award is from the Cultural Capital Kickstart Fund.
This fund forms part of the government’s £1.57 billion Cultural Recovery Fund package to protect the UK’s culture and heritage sectors from the economic impacts of the pandemic, and is intended to help offset the string of challenges that have led those mounting costs and project delays.
A total of £120 million of the fund has been allocated specifically to support construction of cultural infrastructure across the UK.
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The Factory is backed by Manchester City Council, which invested £20m in the 143,000 sq ft scheme in 2018, the government, from which it has a £78m grant, and the National Lottery, which has provided £7m, and it is predicted to bring a £1.1 billion boost to Manchester’s economy over its first decade alone.
The landmark building is setting out to be one of the largest, most ambitious, and most versatile purpose-built arts spaces in the world.
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OMA / MIFOMA / MIF
Having been identified by Manchester City Council to usher in an exciting new chapter of economic recovery, The Factory will present a year-round programme of extraordinary, ground-breaking, and interdisciplinary work by leading artists from across the globe.
Attracting up to 850,000 visitors a year, it will be capable of hosting everything from epic concerts to intimate performances including music, dance, theatre, opera, visual arts, and innovative contemporary work incorporating the latest digital technologies.
It will create and directly support 1,500 new jobs in the city over a decade and help the next generation of creative talent to flourish, offering a programme of backstage training and skills for people living across Manchester.
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The ‘Factory Futures’ programme will also benefit up to 10,000 unemployed young people.
As the country moves further out of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and consolidates its recovery, The Factory will also bring with it enormous added value to the cultural sector in Manchester and beyond.
The additional opportunities it is set to create for artists and other cultural organisations will also have a significant and positive impact on the wider cultural economy of the region, and will play an important part in helping ensure the continued growth of the UK’s cultural sector as a whole.
MIF
Speaking on the latest fund allocation, Sir Richard Leese – Leader of Manchester City Council – said: “This is fantastic news for Manchester and the cultural economy not just of the North but of the whole country.
“After a year that none of us could have foreseen and that has brought with it challenge after challenge and hit the culture sector harder than most, this [funding] will secure the completion of a world-class cultural space that is quite literally going to change lives. We’re extremely grateful to DCMS and Arts Council England for their continued support for The Factory and for the substantial award announced today to help address the unforeseen additional costs and delays on the project due to COVID-19.”
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He added: “The Factory is going to redraw the UK cultural map and will do much to bolster Manchester and the North’s credentials as an economic and creative powerhouse to rival not just London, but the rest of Europe and beyond.”
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You can find more information about The Factory via the MIF website here.
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Manchester ranked among the worst UK cities for throwing away food at Christmas
Emily Sergeant
A new survey has ranked Manchester among the worst cities in the UK when it comes to throwing away leftover food at Christmas.
If there’s one thing we know for certain, it’s that a lot of food gets consumed during Christmas time, but unfortunately, what then comes along with that, is a lot of food getting thrown away too – with a new study revealing that British families are expected to bin nearly £300 million worth of festive food this year alone.
And sadly, Manchester has been named one of the top festive food waste hotspots.
Ahead of the festive season, leading electricals retailer, AO.com, is on a mission to help Brits cut back on their food waste, as 54% of Mancs have admitted to chucking out leftovers.
The survey found that, on average, a British family spends £136 on their Christmas food shopping, but 11% of that goes to waste.
This equates to a whopping £292,822,360 in Christmas food waste in total this year.
With almost 78% of survey respondents saying they would prefer to have their meals at home during the Christmas period, rather than dining out, the research uncovered that a quarter of Brits often throw away their Brussels sprouts, while one in 10 even admitted to binning everyone’s festive favourite, pigs in blankets.
Manchester has ranked among the worst UK cities for throwing away food at Christmas / Credit: Freepik | Flickr
Other northern cities ranking alongside Manchester in the not-so-coveted list of highest festive food waste offenders include Newcastle and Sheffield.
The capitals of London, Edinburgh, and Belfast also feature.
The news that Manchester has been named a festive food waste capital comes after a shocking study, also by AO, revealed back in August that Mancs throw away more than £1,000 of ‘freezable’ food every year too.
Featured Image – gpointstudio (via Freepik)
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Tyson Fury says he hasn’t spoken to his wife in ‘three months’ whilst preparing for Usyk rematch
Danny Jones
Tyson Fury says hasn’t spoken to his wife Paris for three whole months while preparing for the much-anticipated Oleksandr Usyk rematch.
The Manc fighter is set to face the Ukrainian counterpart in the ‘Undisputed’ sequel, simply dubbed Fury vs Usyk 2, which will result in one unified heavyweight champion of the world.
Usyk’s victory over the Wythenshawe-born boxer back in May saw him take that title for the first time since 1999 (the only man to have done so in the four-belt era) but with the rematch nearly upon us, Fury could be set to steal that title away from him.
With that in mind, the pressure has clearly been on ever since he lost the first bout and, according to Tyson himself, he hasn’t spoken to his wife Paris Fury for virtually a quarter of a year as part of his immensely strict training camp.
Speaking to TNT Sports ahead of the match this weekend, he claimed: “I haven’t spoke to Paris in three months – not a word. [I’ve] not spoke to anyone, I haven’t been on my phone.”
Explaining that he simply removed all distractions to get his head in the right space ahead of the title decider, ‘The Gypsy King’ has been known to isolate himself from the rest of the world before a big fight in the past, but cutting contact with your spouse of 10 years and partner for nearly two decades is wild.
The 36-year-old went on to detail that in order to give himself the best shot at winning, he couldn’t keep switching between “beast mode to dad mode to wife mode” and so on.
In separate interviews with other outlets ahead of the highly-awaited rematch, Fury has made various other big claims about what boxing fans can expect from his own performance, including an admission that he needs to be “more focused this time and not do as much showboating” in the ring.
Nevertheless, he also assured the media that he isn’t a quitter and has promised he will not just “f*** up” his 37-year-old opponent but “retire” him. Usyk, on the other hand, has warned he will be a different challenge than the last time the two faced each other, predicting a knockout victory too.
Having downed Tyson more than once the last time around, he’s understandably confident of his chances.
Bold words from the pair of them, indeed, but this is all just part and parcel of the usual pre-fight build-up; all we really know is that Usyk won the previous face-off and Fury is the one with the point to prove.
While younger brother Tommy Fury recently had to pull out of his scheduled fight against Darren Till, during which tensions seriously boiled over during the first press conference, it looks as though there is no risk of more cancellations and any more ‘will they won’t they?’ antics between these two at least.
The rematch, or ‘Fury vs Usyk 2: Undisputed’ to give use its full title (the latest in Saudi Arabia’s growing fight scene and live sports programming as part of Riyadh Season) takes place this Saturday, 21 December, with the two set to clash once again from 10:25 GMT.
Who do you think will emerge victorious from this one and, more importantly, when do you think we’ll see the third and ‘final’ fight when they inevitably demand a trilogy?…
Emily Sergeant -
15th December 2020 
