THE MANCHESTER WEEKENDER 2011

With six of the city’s festivals including an art triennial happening, the opening of high-profile art exhibitions and the start of the city’s music and theatre seasons, Manchester in October has always been culturally rich. To showcase this, the city’s ambitious festivals and cultural institutions collaborate on a full weekend’s worth of extra special events, resulting in three days of constant cultural celebration hand-picked by Creative Tourist. It’s all about engaging conversations, big questions, daring performances, secret places and cool spaces.

These are some of the highlights from a full programme of more than 70 events, ranging from exhibitions, talks, workshops, performances, walking tours, boat trips, cycle rides and screenings:

The Manchester Weekender 2011 launches with a decadent evening of cabaret and cocktails at the opening of Adolphe Valette: A Pioneer of Impressionism in Manchester at The Lowry with music from the divine Swing out Sister. Corinne Drewery and Andy Connell will serenade the city with a selection of songs from iconic Mancunian bands including Joy Division, The Smiths, and New Order, all performed with a glamorous French twist. Speaking of The Smiths, erstwhile drummer Mike Joyce is curating an intimate night of the finest indie music talent at Ruby Lounge. Performances take place under a pavilion of light, the first of a series of installations that will be produced in collaboration between CUBE gallery and the Manchester School of Architecture.

Closing The Manchester Weekender this year is an in-conversation with Jarvis Cocker - one of the most iconic performers of the last twenty years.

There’s a literature-music mash-up of the highest order with Manchester Literature Festival’s Portrait of Music and Words at the RNCM and the ever-popular Whitworth After Hours has invited photographic collective BlackLab to respond to its Dark Matters exhibition. Watch as images collide and collude with film, soundscapes, slogans and texts.

Check out the homespun folk and grassroots jazz performed by local chanteuse Liz Green (and enjoy retro high tea at the same time.) From the intimate and acoustic to the grander in scale: Manchester Cathedral will echo to the voices of cloistered nuns, as Sarah Dunant and early music group Musica Secreta present a semi-dramatised version of Dunant’s novel Sacred Hearts for Manchester Literature Festival.

Be transported to a different place entirely with The Beating Wing Orchestra, a Manchester based international music collective that includes musicians from refugee and migrant backgrounds.

On Saturday, cult theatre company and award-winning comedy duo LipService are guides on The Hysterical Historical Tour, a live promenade theatre piece commissioned for The Weekender. Elsewhere, Weekender walking tours are designed to show the city in a new light. At Debenhams and the Royal Exchange, Primitive Streak will be shown, a provocative collection that tells the story of the first 1000 hours of human life.

There’s a chance to drift lazily down the Irwell on A Taste of Modern History’s foodie boat cruises with local chef Robert Owen Brown, part of the Manchester Food & Drink Festival. There’s a family day cruise from the museums of Castlefield to The Quays, and an evening cruise with a three-course meal.

The Weekender has plenty on offer for kids, with family-friendly workshops, performances and readings galore. Children’s author Tom Palmer will be reading from his new novel Scrum! at MediaCityUK on Sunday, with support from Rugby League team Sale Sharks and the BBC Sports broadcasting team. There’s also a rugby-themed quiz and drop-kick contest. T

The Weekender has also teamed up with the Family Friendly Film Club for a special screening of Studio Ghibli’s anime classic Howl’s Moving Castle (Cert. U) in the spooky gothic surroundings of John Rylands Library and there’s something for all ages at the Manchester Museum’s Urban Harvest, part of Manchester Food & Drink Festival.

For a full schedule complete with booking information and ideas about where to eat, sleep and chill in Manchester, visit creativetourist.com

Statement from greenroom

It is with great sadness that we bring you the following statement from greenroom:

Statement from greenroom

Following the recent disappointing news that greenroom is not part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio for 2012/13 onwards, the Board has made a decision that greenroom, Manchester, will close to the public at the end of May this year.

We would like to have continued but are unable to do this without confirmed funding or alternative income going forward.

greenroom, since its inception, has been at the forefront of discovering and pioneering Manchester, national and international ‘firsts’. We have been consistently committed to developing and presenting new and experimental performance, and more recently supporting and enabling artists at the start of their careers to be innovative, take risks and experiment with new ideas.

Our aim is to ensure that this important work continues through other organisations and individual artists/ artist companies, producers and promoters.

We are working with the Arts Council to provide information for people interested in the future production of this work and this will be available shortly on request by emailing enquiries@artscouncil.org.uk

It is with regret that we find ourselves in this situation almost 25 years since the venue opened , and would like to extend our thanks to all of you who have recently sent us words of support. To view or add to these comments, please visit greenroomarts.tumblr.com

We would like to thank our long-standing funders: Arts Council England, AGMA and Manchester City Council, who have shown a significant commitment in supporting greenroom.

The current Board and staff feel proud and privileged to have been part of greenroom; and we’d like to thank everyone – including artists, audiences and partners – who have contributed to its rich history, and particularly to those who have at some point called greenroom ‘home’.

Further enquiries:
0161 615 0500
info@greenroomarts.org

Tourism Strategy Released

"An action plan to help the British tourism industry achieve its potential as part of Britain’s growth strategy has been unveiled by Tourism Minister John Penrose.

The strategy aims to exploit the opportunities of next year’s Olympics and Diamond Jubilee to help attract an extra four million overseas visitors over the next four years, bringing in an extra £2 billion of spending and creating thousands of jobs.

Proposals include simplifying the process of getting tourist visas, helping to improve staff skills in the tourism sector and consulting on whether to lengthen the tourism season by moving the May Day bank holiday."

Read more on the DCMS website

Howard Raynor to be remembered at the Bridgewater Hall

Howard Raynor and his extraordinary life will be celebrated at the Bridgewater Hall on Friday April 1st at 11am. Friends, colleagues and family will join together to remember Howard in the venue where he made his name in the city he loved.

During the first 5 years of World Class Service, so many of you will have got to know Howard, either directly or through one of our many projects. The celebration at the Hall is open to anyone who would like to join us to remember him.

If you would like to attend, please get in touch

Manchester Core Strategy 2012-27 available now

The Core Strategy is the key document in Manchester's Local Development Framework and covers a period of 15 years from 2012 to 2027. It describes Manchester today and outlines the council's vision for Manchester in 2027 along with the planning policies which will be used to deliver that vision.

You can view and comment on it here

QED. Manchester. Question. Explore. Discover.

QED comes to Manchester in February. We spoke to Dr. Janis Bennion, a neuroscientist from the University of Manchester to find out exactly what QED is.

If this all sounds very cerebral, don't worry. It certainly will be but it sounds like it will a lot of fun too. Dr. Janis Bennion explains.

What is the QED conference and how did it come to be?

QED, or Question. Explore. Discover. is a two-day science and skepticism event, being held in Manchester in February next year. It'll be a huge amount of fun; we've put a lot into bringing interesting, inspiring, and entertaining speakers from all sorts of backgrounds to Manchester to talk about their passions. From Jon Ronson (pictured) discussing new material from his upcoming book, to BBC favourie Jim Alkhalili and even Eugenie Scott, over from the USA to talk about her battle against creationism in the science classroom. At the same time, we still want to keep it accessible and fun for everyone, so there'll be lots of mingling, and a breakout room for panel sessions and workshops. For those unfamiliar with the term, skepticism is a questioning attitude, and 'skeptics' need claims to be well supported by evidence. If you're interested in critical thinking, and love the role science plays in understanding the world around us, helping to explain the 'unexplainable', this is for you!

QED came about from a discussion between two non-profit organisations; our 'Greater Manchester Skeptics' and 'The Merseyside Skeptics'. We'd enjoyed having support from each other or the monthly events we put on, and we agreed that something like this was certainly lacking from the North West. Despite it being a rather daunting task for small fry like us, we decided that we could make it happen as a collaborative effort.

There's a whole weekend full of great speakers and sessions. Are there any particular guests or events about which you are particularly excited?

It's hard to know where to begin with this, but since I got interested in skepticism after listening to 'The Skeptics Guide to the Universe' podcast, I have to admit that I'm thrilled that SGU host Steve Novella (pictured) will be speaking at QED... Actually I can't quite believe it! On the other hand, as a scientist interested in science communication, you can't help but be floored by the magnificent Eugenie Scott. If you're not sure- just go and find her on youtube- you'll be in awe too! Okay, I'm going to have to be careful here because I could easily go through the whole list and tell you why I think they're amazing...but then, that's kind of the point!

Manchester has got so many close links with science and progressive thinking. Is that why you chose to hold the QED conference here?

When we got together to talk about QED for the first time, we discussed possible locations for the event. The North West in general is a fantastic place for science these days, with fantastic Universities all over the place, and great 'buzzing' cities. Ultimately, we chose Manchester for the event because it had pretty much everything we were looking for- great venues, for the event itself and the fringe events we were planning, fantastic transport links- both for our speakers and for those wishing to attend the event from outside the area. There's also great bars and restaurants for those wanting to venture into the city.

Getting back to the science part of your question; Manchester is certainly a great place for a science and rational thinking event. We have great universities, but also- and often more relevant to people in the city day-to-day- we have great opportunities for people to get together and discuss issues, and learn new things in groups scattered across the city. We're organising some outreach activities around QED as fringe events with groups like these, and also with the Manchester Museum. It's really wonderful how approachable all these groups have been. I'm certainly learning a lot about Manchester as we progress with QED, and I really like what I see.

Thanks to Dr. Janis Bennion. For more information, visit www.qedcon.org

Last Minute Christmas ideas for Mancunians

It's getting late now so here's some last minute christmas ideas:

You could, of course, buy everyone socks or an Xbox but you could support the local economy and give some truly brilliant gifts at the same time. We think that's a good way to go so we're putting together a list of gift ideas with a difference which support Manchester businesses and celebrate everything that's good about this fine city of ours.

One for nature lovers (tickets to a World Premiere)

The ideal last minute Christmas presents is tickets. You can buy as many as you like for as many people as you like and not have to worry about postage or fighting through the crowds. What better then than tickets to a World Premiere of a stunning new concert?

Manchester-based World Class Service Ltd have teamed up with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the world's best Natural History film makers to make this stunning new live concert experience. The World Premier is in Liverpool on January 8th. There's a matinee at 2.30pm (as well as one at 7.30pm) so it's easy to get to and from Liverpool and makes for an excellent family outing or even a Hot (cold) date.

Experience the mighty RLPO playing the likes of Sibelius, Beethoven and Bach set to the most stunning footage of the Polar regions.



For tickets, visit www.polarconcert.com

Something for your Science-obsessed friends

The QED conference is a brand new 2 day celebration of all that's true and interesting in Manchester in February. Speakers include Jon Ronson of "The Men Who Stare at Goats" and Simon Singh who decided to try to bring about Libel Reform in the UK.

Tickets are £99 for the whole weekend of talks and activities. Not your average Christmas present but that's not what this list is about. Imagine the joy on the face of your sceptical friend on Christmas morning...and the pub conversations you'll be having for weeks after the event...

Not to mention the fact that any profits go to Sense About Science and The National Autistic Society

Something for the film buff

Manchester's Cornerhouse is something for us Mancunians to be proud of and the recent announcement of the alliance with The Library Theatre brings together two greats of the Manchester arts scene. For the film lover on your present list, there can be little better than membership of the Cornerhouse. For £25, you get exclusive offers and discounts and the chance to experience simply brilliant opportunities like having a Q&A with Chris Morris


A handmade gift, made right here in Manchester

Manchester Craft Centre is home to all sorts of independant, creative people. It's in the Northern Quarter and is the place to be if you want an individual, beautiful, hand-made gift. Jewellery, art, scultptures etc. Take a break from the high street shops and find something out of the ordinary for someone you love's stocking.

We'll keep looking for more and updating the list so keep checking back.