Manchester International Festival

Manchester International Festival (MIF) is the world’s first festival of original, new work and special events. The Festival is staged every two years in Manchester, UK – the next edition will take place in 2019.

MIF brings together artists from different art forms and backgrounds to create dynamic, innovative and forward-thinking new work, which we stage in a rich tapestry of venues across Greater Manchester – from theatres, galleries and concert halls to railway depots, churches and car parks. MIF launched in 2007 as an artist-led festival presenting new works from across the spectrum of performing arts, visual arts and popular culture. MIF has commissioned, produced and presented world premieres by artists as diverse as Björk, Steve McQueen, Robert Wilson, Wayne McGregor, Damon Albarn, Maxine Peake, The xx, Zaha Hadid Architects, Abida Parveen, Punchdrunk, Elbow and Marina Abramović, among many others.

MIF works widely within communities around Manchester with My Festival, MIF’s creative community. My Festival is a diverse network of creative people who are forging closer connections with MIF – taking part in public projects, connecting the Festival to their communities, and joining our programmes of training activities, workshops and other special events.

MIF will be the operator for Factory; an exceptional new arts and culture centre for Manchester creating a year-round programme of work, which is due to open 2020. Factory will give audiences the opportunity to enjoy the broadest range of art forms and cultural experiences – including dance, theatre, music, opera, visual arts, spoken word, popular culture and innovative contemporary work incorporating multiple media and technologies. Artists from across the world will be invited to create new work in the building’s extraordinary spaces. The building is designed by Rem Koolhaas’ Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), their first major public building in the UK.