Highlights for the upcoming Manchester international Festival has been announced today. The event, due to take place from 1 to 18 July, will include indoor and outdoor productions alongside livestreams and work created especially for digital platforms. 

Most of the work has been created over the last year, with this year’s presenting a unique snapshot of these unprecedented times. As one of the first major public events in Manchester, the festival will play a key role in the reopening of the economy as well as providing employment for hundreds of freelancers and artists. 

Highlights include Sea Change, a new dance piece by Boris Charmatz, bringing a huge human flipbook to life on the streets of Manchester; the world premiere of The Patience of Trees, a concert inspired by the healing potential and power of the natural world; and All of This Unreal Time, a unique artform collaboration exploring one man’s failings. Postcards from Now will feature five films from leading international artists asking what happens next in relation to the global pandemic.

Director and Chief Executive of the festival, John McGrath, said: “MIF has always been a festival like no other – with almost all the work being created especially for us in the months and years leading up to each festival edition. But who would have guessed two years ago what a changed world the artists making work for our 2021 festival would be working in? I am thrilled to be revealing the projects that we will be presenting from 1-18 July this year – a truly international programme of work made in the heat of the past year and a vibrant response to our times. Created with safety and wellbeing at the heart of everything, it is flexible to ever-changing circumstances, and boldly explores both real and digital space.”

Tickets for the festival go on sale on 20 May here.