ARTS AND CULTURE
The future for Manchester’s cultural scene looks bright. Following the opening of the £25m HOME arts centre in First Street, a £111m new arts centre, The Factory, is due to open in late 2020, bringing a world class theatre, performance and exhibition space to the Old Granada Studios site on Quay Street.
The venue will be a permanent base for the biennial Manchester International Festival, which has turned the city into a world stage for creativity, over the past decade, with its diverse programme of theatre, dance, music and more.
The festival showcases many of the city’s other arts venues, with last year’s shows including Simon Stephens’ play Fatherland at the Royal Exchange Theatre and Arcade Fire at Castlefield Bowl.
The next festival takes place from July 4 to 21 next year.
Manchester is also home to one of the UK’s biggest public art events this summer as the Bee in the City trail fills the city with giant bee sculptures for visitors to discover from July 23 to September 23. station, the Museum of Science and Industry is perfectly placed to tell the story of the discoveries and innovations that began in Manchester and went on to change the world.
Football fans can discover the history of the beautiful game at the National Football Museum in Cathedral Gardens. Housed inside the striking Urbis building, the popular attraction tells the story of how football became the people’s game, with exhibits including the first-ever rule book from 1863 and LS Lowry’s painting Going To The Match.
In Spinningfields, The People’s History Museum takes visitors on a march through time, charting the centuries-long struggle for equality and democracy through the largest collection of political material in Britain. As the cradle of the industrial revolution, and the incubator of movements from communism to women’s suffrage, Manchester has a rich history of progressive and radical thinking and it’s all documented here.
As for galleries, The Whitworth is home to an internationally important collection of art, including significant work by William Blake and J.M.W. Turner, as well as hosting an exciting roster of visiting exhibitions and events. Catalan restaurant Tast on King Street, a collaboration between Michelin-starred chef Paco Perez and Manchester City bosses Pep Guardiola, Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain; Canto, the forthcoming Portuguese joint being opened by El Gato Negro chef-patron Simon Shaw in Ancoats in September; and Kala, a new city centre bistro from acclaimed chef Gary Usher.
Beer tourism is also a growing trend, and Manchester has seen an influx of visitors in recent years thanks to its world class microbreweries.
Cloudwater was recently named the second best brewery in the world and attracts visitors from as far as the USA, while beerlovers