The line-up for the 2025 Manchester International Festival has been unveiled, featuring giant puppets which will roam the region, an exhibition of football prowess and art from Juan Mata and Edgar Davids and the first ever collaboration between MIF and the Royal Ballet.
Running from 3 July to 20 July, 2025, at Aviva Studios, the festival will also expand beyond the city centre, with events happening as far out as Wigan and Rochdale.
Among this year’s highlights will be The Herds, by artist Amir Nizar Zubai, feted for The Walk from 2021, in which the puppet of a 12-foot-high refugee girl called Amal made her way from Turkey to the UK.
This time, Zubai will create a herd of animals that will flee climate disaster, visiting cities across Africa and Europe, arriving in Manchester in July to roam from Wigan and Rochdale to the city centre.
Elsewhere, the Royal Ballet will partner with MIF to present a stage version of Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man, with music from John Grant.
The Royal Ballet presents A Single Man
From the world of football, Juan Mata will collaborate with director Hans Ulrich Obrist to bring towering figures from the beautiful game – including Edgar Davids, Maradona and Eric Cantona – into the world of art.
Chorley-born choreographer and rapper Blackhaine, known for work with the likes of Kanye West and Playboi Carti, will also present new work – And Now I Know What Love Is – taking in contemporary dance and experimental music.
For the duration of the festival, FAFSWAG will take over HOME. The Queer Indigenous collective will present a programme of films, talks and ceremonies grounded in Pacific identity and culture.
Artist Michael Beard will collaborate with dance company Company Chameleon and chamber orchestra Manchester Camerata on a new commission all about movement at Venture Arts’ pop-up studio.
Over at Manchester Art Gallery, artists Andy Field, Beckie Darlington and Rosabel Tan present An Inheritance, a sprawling collection of stories an observations about the future of Manchester from over 500 primary school children.
Elsewhere, Balmy Army team up with young people from Ukraine, Shilpa Gupta creates a sound installation for Rochdale, Superflux create an augmented reality experience and The Hallé along with Mary Anne Hobbs and Anna Phoebe head up the music programme.
Festival Square returns to it’s new home at Aviva Studios, on the banks of the Irwell, with free entertainment for all ages, as well as food and drink.
Under new creative director Low Kee Hong, 8000 tickets for the festival will be available for £10 or less, with free events happening across the two weeks.
Read more:
Ornella’s comes to Freight Island
The best BYOB in Manchester
Manchester’s best Korean food
