Manchester International Festival unveils 2025 season

Manchester International Festival (MIF) has today revealed its 2025 programming, the first under new creative director Low Kee Hong.

The multi-artform programme invites audiences to ‘dream differently’ and includes world premieres championing indigenous artists and creators from the Global South, as well as local artists and communities in the North West of England – with nearly 800 residents and 600 schoolchildren taking part.

Some of the names contributing the the bi-annual event include: Blackhaine, Eric Cantona, Edgar Davids, Juliet Ellis, FAFSWAG, Andy Field and Becky Darlington, Ryan Gander, John Grant, Shilpa Gupta, Germaine Kruip, Juan Mata, Amir Nizar Nuabi, Ntombizodwa Nyoni, Orchestral Qawwali Project, Paul Pfieffer Keiken, The Royal Ballet, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Rosabel Tan, Ella Toone, Venture Arts, Jonathan Watkins, Ed Watson, Josh Willdigg and Santiago Yahuarcani.

It’ll take place from 3 July to 20 July 2025.

Hong said: “It has been an incredible journey building the MIF25 programme with such a diverse range of artists from around the world whose voices are ever more critical in these challenging times. They encourage us to lean into visions of other possible futures, encounter cosmologies unfamiliar to our own, and enter into worlds that propose a re-enchantment of dreaming to rediscover our ability for joy, hope and belief in each other and our communities to build these tomorrows we want to be part of.”

This year will be the first edition of MIF hosted within the fully operational Aviva Studios, home of Factory International. The festival will also span partner venues, including HOME and the Royal Exchange, as well as spilling out into the city streets.

The Herds will mark the opening weekend of the festival and see hundreds of participants join puppeteers to parade animals through the city streets. Then, a schools showcase will take over Festival Square, while other school children will work alongside artists to create The Inheritance – a curation of knowledge, advice, objects and jokes (4 July to 2 November).

MIF’s Neighbourhood Organisers will host afternoon showcases of cabaret, performance and comedy.

There will be a free programme of live music and performances outside Aviva Studios in Festival Square, and also inside at the Social. A talks programme is to be revealed.

Other highlights include a stage version of Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man led by former Royal Ballet principal Ed Watson. Created by Jonathan Watkins, the world premiere has new music by Jasmin Kent Rodgman and John Grant, who will also perform live.

The Football City, Art United exhibition, from 4 July to 24 August, will pair 11 artists and footballs to create new work.

Juliet Ellis’ A Symphony of Flesh and Bones will explore how and why we build our bodies as shelters or armour–and how the physical effects of aging impact the different identities we construct, from 10 to 13 July in the South Warehouse at Aviva Studios.

Local artist in residence Michael Beard will perform live and host interactive workshops in The Lab from 4 to 20 July.

Queer Indigenous collective FAFSWAG take over HOME for the duration of MIF25 – with digital art, live cultural ceremony and a programme of films and talks grounded in Pacific identity and culture, from 4 July to 10 August.

Blackhaine will take up residence in Diecast for the world premiere of And Now I Know What Love Is, performed by a company of dancers and inspired by the rich, urban landscape of North West England, from 9 to 19 July.

The Royal Northern College of Music will play host to new artwork by Germaine Kruip from 17 to 20 July. Part sculptural installation, part soundscape, part immersive experience, A Possibility features music by Emily Howard and Hahn Rowe performed by percussionists using Kruip’s specially made brass sculptures.

Liberation will receive its world premiere at the Royal Exchange. The new play by Ntombizodwa Nyoni will be directed by Monique Touko and explore the private lives of activists who fought to liberate Africa, and why their story remains relevant in 2025.

The Beginning of Knowledge, the first international solo exhibition of works by Santiago Yahuarcani, will be presented by the Whitworth as part of MIF25 from 4 July 2025 to 4 January 2026

Balmy Army will return to join forces with young people from Ukraine for a three-day takeover of art and activism at Contact, from 8 to 10 July.

Mumbai-based artist Shilpa Gupta will connect and collect stories with different communities to create a thought-provoking sound installation at RKIX in Rochdale from 4 to 20 July

Rushil Ranjan’s (the Orchestral Qawwali Project) Ruhaniyat (رُوحانیت) – An Orchestral Sufi Experience will premiere on 10 July, with Manchester Camerata and a special guest.

Mary Anne Hobbs and Anna Phoebe will offer a unique musical experience asking: what do you want? They’ll perform it once at MIF5 on 15 July.

Meanwhile, Richard Russell’s ever-evolving music project Everything is Recorded will be performed with collaborators and guests in-the-round on 16 July.

On 19 July, Surround Sounds will see the South Warehouse become an in-the-round stage for non-stop sounds throughout the day.

MIF and Hallé present Sounds of the East at Bridgewater Hall on 6 July. Hallé’s new Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, Kahchun Wong will conduct an evening of music woven together by Eastern tradition and inspiration.

A new project from Superflux will launch with an augmented reality experience on the Factory Settings app. It’ll be available 3 July to 25 August.

The International Artists Residency artists for 2025 will be: Selma and Sofiane Ouissi; Chiara Bersani; Hung Chien-han and Ray Tseng; Shareef Sarhan.