MANCHESTER LIGHTS UP THE CITY’S CULTURAL HOTSPOTS AFTER HOURS
Manchester’s already buzzing cultural scene is going to get a whole lot buzzier next month when the city’s annual after-hours festival of arts, culture and heritage returns for Manchester After Hours 2016. Part of the bi-annual and UK wide celebration of nocturnal culture – Museums at Night – hundreds of museums, galleries and historic spaces all over the UK open their doors after dark to put on an impressive and diverse array of special and unique events. Manchester After Hours will take northern culture buffs on a night-time adventure around the city for one night only on Thursday May 12th to enjoy a strange mixology of cultural combos, odd couplings and unexpected partnerships.
FULL LISTINGS:
Join the D’Arts and the art along Oxford Road:
D’Arts Festival
Engine invites you to experience art in an extraordinary context as darts teams battle it out in the Whitworth’s Grand Hall. Complete with compere and all the trappings, our players will throw their darts at specially commissioned oches designed and made by artists, Jai Redman, Mary Griffiths, Joe Hartley & Rob Bailey. Enjoy music, drinks and pub games throughout the gallery.
7pm – 11pm (final at 10pm).
The Whitworth, part of University of Manchester, Oxford Road
Spectators Free (first come, first served). Teams of 5 Players must register in advance £20
@whitworthart @WeAreEngine #DArtsfest
After Hours: SEESAW
presents an interactive, live drawing event at Manchester Museum
Get involved and explore the relationship between sound and image with artist led
drawing sessions within the stunning setting of the Living Worlds gallery. See your work projected in the space and enjoy performances scored by sound artist JC.
6.30-10pm Performances at 8 & 9.30
Manchester Museum, Oxford Road
Free
@seesawprojects @McrMuseum
After Hours: Climate Control
Polar Bears, Peppered Moths and tropical frogs are all present in this new exhibition exploring climate change. Visitors are challenged to ask what kind of future they hope for, and what it would take to help make it a reality.
6-9pm Manchester Museum, Oxford Road
Free
@McrMuseum
Circle around St Peter’s Square
Bad Uncle’s TV Party
Join Bad Uncle for a trip into the weird and wonderful world of children’s television. Presenting the lowest form of entertainment in a place of high learning, showcasing often overlooked, and sometimes bizarre clips and shows.
5.30-7.30
Performance space 2&3, Central Library, St Peters Square
Free (drop in)
@badunclemusic
Unit X
Take a look around 48,000 sq ft of office space which has been transformed into an urban gallery where Unit X present a multimedia exhibition from some of the city’s best up and coming animators, artists, designers, photographers and filmmakers from Manchester School of Art.
6-9pm,
London Scottish House, Mount St
Free
@ProjectUnitX
Physical at The Portico
Poet and Guardian First Book Award Winner, Andrew McMillan teams up with contemporary dancer and choreographer Joshua Hubbard for an intimate performance of reading and dance inside the exquisite Georgian library.
6-9pm, performances at 6.15, 7.15 & 8.15
The Portico Library, Mosley St
Free
@theportico
Hop between Castlefield and Spinningfield
Castlefield Food Festival
Castlefield Food Festival will be serving up street food, a farmers/producers market, food demos, master classes and live music.
4 – 10pm, Castlefield Bowl
Entry Free – charges for food apply
@CastlefieldFood
Sounds from the Stores
Enter a sensory den of sound and vision for a special performance by some of Manchester’s most unique sound artists. Hear newly commissioned pieces inspired and created from the Museum’s wealth of archive material, exploring some of today’s most socially and politically relevant issues.
6-8pm,
People’s History Museum, Left Bank
Free
@PHMMcr @InstigateArts
Hey! Manchester steam train tour at the Museum of Science and Industry
All aboard for a musical tour on board the world’s oldest surviving passenger railway. The museum’s new train ride experience reveals the story of the railway in a whistle-stop tour, while Hey! Manchester’s favourite acts give one off acoustic performances on the station’s historic platform.
6.30, 7.45 & 9, each performance lasts approx 45 minutes
Museum of Science and Industry, Castlefield, Liverpool St
£3.50 http://bit.ly/1SBcV67
@msimanchester @heymanchester
Neon Sonnets; The John Rylands Library and RNCM light up the bard
John Rylands Library celebrate William Shakespeare with light, music and movement as the Royal Northern College of Music perform original compositions inspired by the Library’s Shakespeare collection.
Performances at 6, 7 & 8pm, John Rylands Library, Deansgate
Free
@TheJohnRylands @rncmvoice
Manchester Left Writers and Vocal Harum
Concerned about urban regeneration, Manchester Left Writers have been searching for parts of Manchester they think are “free” space. See and hear their response as they present films, publications and live poetry, accompanied by songs from Vocal Harum.
7.30-9pm,
Castlefield Gallery, Hewitt St
Free
@castlefieldgall
Take a trip Salford and The Quays
Salford’s Sarsaparilla Sounds
Three of Salford’s top creative institutions collaborate and open their doors for an evening of live music and spoken word. Curated by promoters Fat Out, performances have been chosen to reflect each building’s unique character.
5-7.30pm
Working Class Movement Library, Salford Museum & Art Gallery,The Crescent, Salford
Free
@islingtonmill // @wcmlibrary // @SalfordMuseum
From the Medieval Quarter down to Cheetham Hill
Voices of the City
Bad Language presents a series of short stories and poems inspired by archival footage of
Manchester in a unique live literature experience from the heart of one of the city’s finest hidden gems – Manchester Jewish Museum.
8.15pm doors, 9pm-10.45pm performances
Manchester Jewish Museum, Cheetham Hill
£5 adv from Quay Tickets http://bit.ly/1MVgKPj
@badlanguagemcr @manjewishmuseum @NWfilmarchive
Poetry Night at Chethams
Spoken word poetry, live music, performance and creative workshops sit alongside a new exhibition of nineteenth century poetry, all inside the atmospheric surrounding of the oldest public library in the UK.
7 – 10pm
Chethams Library, Long Millgate
Free
After dark in the Northern Quarter
The Photographic Grid
Join Redeye and The Grid Project, to create a photographic map of the city. Photographers and non photographers welcome. Get involved at #MAHGRID16
Jasmine Suite, CFCCA, Thomas Street
Free
@RedeyeNetwork @GridProjectUK #MAHGRID16
The China Connection
Visit an exhibition created by the public from #TheChinaConnection competition, a selection of images that reflect Chinese culture in Manchester in response to Stanley Chow’s inStanGram exhibition. For more details visit CFCCA.org.uk
6-8pm,
CFCCA, Thomas St
Free
@CFCCA_UK #TheChinaConnection
International Photobooth Convention
Fred Aldous and The International Photobooth Convention host a creative collaboration;
photobooth mugshots, 3 minute live portraits and the legendary Freds at Night Risograph zine workshop.
6-8.30pm
Fred Aldous, Lever St
Free
@FredAldous
After Hours: Behind Closed Doors
Musician Avital Raz performs a new piece inspired by Verity Howard’s Behind Closed Doors
Exhibition – a thought provoking performance connecting Avital’s unnerving musical style with Verity’s ability to capture snapshots into people’s lives.
6-8pm, performances at 6.30 & 7.30
Manchester Craft & Design Centre, Oak Street
Free
@ManchesterCraft @brightersound
Manchester Camerata at Common
‘Britain’s most adventurous orchestra’ (The Times) takes over Common bar with 2 live, intimate, performances from musicians Caroline Pether & Hannah Roberts alongside a Camerata curated soundtrack of Steve Reich to Bach.
6-10pm, performances at 6.30 & 8
Common bar, Edge St
Free Entry
@common_bar @MancCamerata
Jessop & Williamson present a Night in the Life of Christopher Credence
Join future musicians Jessop & Williamson for an Immersive and intimate evening of pleasure and pain, sadness and hope, willingness and not wanting to. Through live performance experience the dreams of one man.
8, 8.50 & 9.40 (performances last approx 30 minutes)
Oklahoma, High St
Free (first come, first served)
@OklahomaMCR
Bebop, Beats & Bass
Walrus basement club transforms for a diverse fusion of bebop, jazz and bass, as local musicians and artists come together for musical journey; from 1930’s jazz and swing through to Neo Soul and hip hop.
9pm – late
Walrus, High St
Free
@WalrusMCR
This is a taster of what’s on with new events being added to the programme all the time: www.manchesterafterhours.co.uk #McrAfterHours.
Manchester After Hours is part of Museums at Night and runs on Thursday May 12th.
PR: RACHEL FURST PR, 07957 457668 rachelfurstcomms@gmail.com @rachelfurst1
Light Night runs in Liverpool on Friday 13 May
The Late Show takes over Newcastle on Saturday 14 May.
Manchester After Hours has been coordinated by Creative Tourist and is funded by Arts Council England, National Lottery.
For details of all venues, events and activities visit www.museumsatnight.org.uk, where listings information will be continually updated right up until the weekend itself.
