DIG THE CITY | City Centre | Fri 31 Jul - 6 Aug
Dig The City, Manchester's summer gardening festival, will see a week’s worth of pop-up picnics, music, markets, fashion, street-food and or course, gardens galore. The seven day summer festival, sponsored by NCP, will transform the city centre into a network of living, green streets from Market Street, New Cathedral Street, St Ann’s Square, King Street and Greengate Square. See the full schedule of free events here
Dig The City
MANCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL | Various venues | Fri 31 Jul - 9 Aug
2015 sees the twentieth Manchester Jazz Festival return this weekend to celebrate twenty summers of jazz over ten days. Mjf is Manchester’s longest-running music festival and is one of the highlights of Manchester’s cultural calendar, attracting over 60,000 visitors in 2014. The full festival line-up features 78 gigs, with over 400 artists, from across the UK and abroad, performing in ten landmark venues.
Find big brass-band acts at the Thwaites Festival pavillion at Albert Square and skillful skoo-be-de-bopping in popular Manchester Jazz haunts such as the Northern Quarter's Matt and Phreds. Artistic Director, Steve Mead will run unique strands to commission new work from talented regional artists with our mjf originals and mjf introduces schemes. Highlights of this year's festival includes GoGo Penguin, Robert Glasper, Riot Jazz Brass Band, Baked à La Ska, Airelle Besson and John Surman.
Manchester Jazz FestivalTeaser to commisioned MJF works
FAULTY TOWERS – THE DINING EXPERIENCE | The Lowry | 30 Jul – 2 Aug
A tribute to the much-loved TV sitcom, this interactive dining experience is sure to have you laughing till it hurts. With two thirds of the show unscripted, and three actors attempting to impersonate the characters, you never know what will come next.
PLAY IT! | Manchester Science and Industry Museum | Until Sun 9 Aug
Museum of Science and Industry is hosting its first ever gaming event, featuring some of the most popular video games of the past 30 years. From Pong and Pacman to Minecraft and Halo there is a game to suit beginners and experts, dads and daughters, multiplayers, retro fans and everybody else in between. Over 120 games and consoles are available to play during each 90 minute pre-bookable gaming session, which run at set times throughout this family friendly sixteen day event.
BADLY DRAWN BOY | Bridgewater Hall | Fri 31 Jul
Bolton singer-songwriter and Mercury prize-winner, Badly Drawn Boy (Damon Gough) will mark the fifteenth anniversary of his seminal album, The Hour of the Wilderbeast at the Bridgewater Hall. The album, released in 2000, famously lead to the troubador writing the score for acclaimed film, About A Boy.
Badly Drawn BoyCOME TO THE BEACH | Heaton Park | Until Sept 6
Ok, this is not quite a beach but a very, very big sandpit. Come to the Beach returns to Heaton Park for the summer holidays with a giant beach area complete with deck chairs, buckets and spades, face painting, children's entertainment and character appearances on a weekend, and it's own seaside fun park complete with traditional family rides and attractions.
Rides include the crazy cars, sizzler twist, roller coaster, the flying dumbo's, fun house and lots of kids rides which can be sampled with individual ride tokens or with an unlimited ride wristband for just £7.99 (Water walkers, Bungees and water boats not included in wristband promotion. Admission is free and events is open daily from Sat 18 July until Sun 6 Sept from 12 noon until 5pm.
Come to the BeachBEYOND THE GRIT AND THE GRIME | Stockport Art Gallery | Until Sat 8 Aug
Award winning artist, Michael Pritchard, known for his depiction of what remains of the industrial heritage of the North Staffordshire Potteries, will exhibit his contemporary portfolio looking beyond ' the unpleasant grimy atmosphere, with its decline and decay to create compositions inspired by the majestic shapes of the bottle kilns, the architectural features of the factory workshops and built environments.'
Michael Pritchard
