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.
ADVERTISEMENT
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.
ADVERTISEMENT
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.
ADVERTISEMENT
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.”
ADVERTISEMENT
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.”
___
You can find more information about The Factory via the MIF website here.
Trending
Bernardo Silva has confirmed he is leaving Manchester City at the end of the season
Danny Jones
After a couple of years of will he, won’t he, Manchester City star Bernardo Silva has now revealed he will be leaving at the end of the season.
While most supporters saw it coming from a mile off, it’s still a huge loss for the Blues.
Announcing his imminent departure on social media this Thursday, 16 April, the Man City midfielder will call it a day at the Etihad Stadium after the best part of the decade.
More importantly, he’s lifted virtually everything there is to win at a club level after signing from Monaco at the age of 22, and has been an instrumental part of the squad ever since he arrived.
Manchester City can confirm Bernardo Silva will leave the Club this summer.
Writing a lengthy and emotional post on his Instagram, 31-year-old Silva wrote: Cityzens, When I arrived 9 years ago, I was following a dream of a little boy, wanting to succeed in life, wanting to achieve great things.
“This city and this club gave me much more than that, much more than I ever hoped for. What we won and achieved together is a legacy that will forever be cherished in my heart. ‘The Centurions’, the domestic quadruple, the Treble, the ‘Four In A Row’ and much more… It wasn’t that bad
“In a few months, it’s time to say goodbye to the city where not only [did] we win so much as a football club, but also where I started my marriage and my family. From the bottom of my heart, Ines and Carlota, thank you!
“To the fans, your unconditional support throughout the years is something that I will never forget. My main goal as a player was to always play with passion so you guys could feel proud and well represented on the pitch. I hope you felt that every single game.
“I arrived as a Man City player, I leave as one more of you, a Man City supporter for life. Keep supporting this young team, and I’m pretty sure they will bring you a lot of new, fantastic memories in the future.
After more than four and a half centuries’ worth of appearances already, and a few more to come before the end of the 2025/26 campaign, he will no doubt go down as one of the all-time greats – and not just for City, but arguably the Premier League in general.
With 76 goals and 77 assists to his name, not to mention 19 trophies while wearing the shirt,
He signed off by adding: “To the club, Pep, the staff and all my teammates these 9 years, thank you for all the memories and for letting me be a part of this journey for so long.
“The atmosphere we created every day in the training ground made me feel at home and a part of a big family. Let’s enjoy together these last weeks and fight for what this season still brings us. Love you all, Bernardo.”
As for Guardiola and co, they have already teased plans to give the Portuguese playmaker a proper send-off and have promised to work with the fans to deliver “a fitting tribute and farewell to a wonderful servant of Manchester City Football Club at the end of the season.”
Aldi’s viral garlic bread-flavoured crisps are now back in stores across the UK
Emily Sergeant
No one tell Peter Kay, but Aldi has brought back one of its most viral crisps… garlic bread.
Admit it, you heard that in the Bolton comedian’s voice when you read garlic bread then, didn’t you? Oh yeah, and they’re also only £1.15 per big sharer bag.
The budget supermarket chain is absolutely no stranger to bringing out some weird and wonderful food concoctions, many of which have seen shoppers flocking to their nearest store – but judging by reaction on social media and their popularity over the years, it sounds like Aldi has properly knocked it out the park with this creation.
By combining two of Brits’ most beloved food obsessions, garlic bread and crisps, Aldi has created the ultimate snacking combination, and they’re now back on shop shelves across the UK after going viral when they were first released back in 2024.
Aldi has just launched new garlic bread-flavoured crisps / Credit: The Manc Group | Rawpixel
If you’re looking to get your hands on a bag, then you can expect the crisps to be ‘packed full of fin-gar-lickin’ good flavour’, according to the retailer.
Shoppers are then hit with the delicious taste of smoky garlic, all while ‘experiencing the hearty crunch’ that’s known to come with Aldi’s premium Specially Selected crinkle cut crisp style.
When the crisps were first released a few years back, a couple members of The Manc team headed to our local Aldi store on Market Street in the city centre to grab a packet of the new crisps – and we can confirm that they are, in fact, garlicky.
Aldi’s calling them the ‘perfect dinner party nibble’ or the ‘ultimate partner to any summer picnic’, and to be honest, we couldn’t agree more.
Emily Sergeant -
15th December 2020 
