Street Theatre with a Twist
A wicked, weird and wondrous (or maybe none of these) weekend of street theatre, circus, puppets, dance and music with street food and possibly some surprises…
- The truth about the state of the NHS (Safetycatch Productions)
- The Invisible Man – he’s behind you (oh no he isn’t)! (Altered States Street Theatre)
- A giant wolf and an even bigger lobster (Artizani)
- Strong ladies (well, at least one) (Strong Lady Productions)
- A tribute to Victoria Wood and Julie Walters
- Godzilla battling the Fatberg – How?, Why?, What? (Whalley Range All Stars)
- Great Klezmer music from the Brighton shtetl
- Circus performers coming to a grisly end
- Dancers getting very wet (Kapow Dance)
FREE Sat 30 July, 2 – 10pm and Sun 31 July, 2 – 7pm
Roman Fort, Arena and all around Castlefield (M3 4NQ)
Manchester International Arts (MIA) was created in 1988 to present international, multi-cultural and animatory street art events and festivals in Greater Manchester – mostly outdoors and mostly free.
Over the last 30 years, our energy and imagination have been devoted to organising large and vibrant street festivals and special events in urban centres and parks, transforming spaces and offering countless opportunities for public engagement. Our major projects in Greater Manchester have included Ona Catalana, Streets Ahead, The Commonwealth Games Festival, The Garden of Delights and Feast – picnic by the lake.
We have extended our network to collaborate on outdoor festivals across the North of England, taking the ‘Streets Ahead’ festival concept to Liverpool for Capital of Culture 2008, programming large-scale street theatre performances in Huddersfield and Dewsbury, working with Dance Initiative Greater Manchester (DiGM) on Manchester’s Bi-annual Urban Moves Dance festival and with our partners Kendal Arts International working on the Lakes Alive programme of events across Cumbria, a legacy trust-funded programme of events and part of the cultural Olympiad for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games; this has also included Mintfest, and Kendal’s International Festival of Street Arts. We have now taken on the role of Artistic Director of the long-established SIRF (the Stockton International Riverside Festival) which is one of the biggest street festivals in the U.K. and are helping to programme street art events at the newly renovated Piece Hall in Halifax.
Across all of our work, we have brought many of the most wonderful, engaging, imaginative and colourful street theatre and outdoor performance companies from the UK and overseas, often for the first time, to Greater Manchester and the wider region.
Our festival work has an all-important goal:
‘To create an exciting, energising atmosphere in a town or city centre that maximises its existing potential (i.e. shops, cafes, restaurants, open spaces and squares) by the addition of carefully chosen special events and street arts.’
We choose the arts as a starting point (though it is obviously possible to use sporting activities, markets and other types of events). We believe that the interaction between performers and audience and, as importantly, between the audience and each other, is best guaranteed this way. It is this interaction that sparks the ‘animation’.
The Company was founded by Anne Tucker and Jeremy Shine, who have both worked for many years in a variety of different areas of the arts, in Greater Manchester and London. Following Anne’s retirement, Jeremy has continued to develop new projects. Additionally, we use a team of freelancers with experience in artistic planning, production and event management.
