THE TENTS are going up in Albert Square. Actors, dancers, choreographers and musicians are putting themselves through final rehearsals. The sun is even threatening to shine.
While MIF was receiving its 50% increase from the Arts Council, the Lowry (which serves Northern cultural life all year round) was cut by 22%
But for all the excitement of the final preparations for the Manchester International Festival (2-19 July) there is an undercurrent of discontent in some sections of Manchester’s artistic community.
The ambiguity is right there in the name. Manchester International Festival. Where should the emphasis be? Manchester International Festival or Manchester International Festival? Has the dazzling carnival of culture, with its big names from all over the globe, been so focused on its worldwide reputation that it has forgotten the little matter of the M word?
“MIF have pulled off a very clever trick by incorporating the word 'international' in their title,” says Manchester artist David Gledhill. “Many people think the inclusion of that word relieves them of any responsibility to the regional arts community but it's symptomatic of the sclerotic state of the arts that international always means 'somewhere else'. Everyone is international and many Manchester-based artists are showing all over the world.” Recent debates have included talk of a ‘glass ceiling’ for regional artists that are not helped by the perceived cultural elitism and sheer impenetrability of events such as MIF.
Festival Square, Albert Square, 2013This is not just semantics. It’s pragmatics too. Money, as the Right Honourable Member of Parliament for Tatton is constantly reminding us, is tight and one of the areas hardest hit by cuts has been the arts. So how every drop is spent needs to be scrutinised.
MIF has been rewarded by Arts Council England (ACE) for its success with a 50% increase to £729,000, while Manchester City Council has added £2m to its coffers. Sponsors have been queuing up to add further funds – bringing the total for this year up to a reported £12m. Brilliant, you might think, MIF attracts money, what’s the problem? But the difficulty is that it might be tempting for private sponsors and guardians of public money to think, 'check, that’s our Northern donation done for the year', and consequently other institutions lose out. While MIF was receiving its 50% increase from ACE, the Lowry (which serves Northern cultural life all year round) was cut by 22% and when government arts spending is so skewed towards the capital (£10.11 per head in the North West vs £28.17 for London), it’s not just every penny, but the direction of every penny, that counts.
One stinging criticism of MIF is that precious funding has been wasted on costly exercises such as 'The Age of Starlight', which at the time of commission was described as “a virtual reality journey through the spectacular origins of the universe using kit so cutting-edge and so futuristic that it has yet to be fully created.” Not surprisingly for a show that relies on uninvented tech, The Age of Starlight has spluttered out to a mere preview (the organisers are hoping the real show will be ready for MIF '17). Local curators are bound to be wondering what they could have done with the cash.
And money isn’t the only benefit some would like to see spread more widely. MIF is a focal point for a whole other host of intangibles that the art world does so well. Reputation, profile, status, call it what you will, MIF certainly has it in spades. In the pro-camp, the argument is that just by its very existence MIF raises the cultural profile of Manchester to greater heights, so that even when the festival is not on the city benefits from being known as a cultural destination. Thom Hetherington of Buy Art Fair is someone who subscribes to this trickle-down theory:
“I think MIF has been a significant factor in arts raising the profile of the arts within Manchester, and also of Manchester’s art scene within the wider world. It’s not done this in isolation of course, we’ve reached a Gladwell-esque tipping point with the Whitworth, HOME, Factory etc, but undoubtedly when we talk to potential sponsors or partners about Buy Art Fair we find that engaging with the arts is much higher up their agenda than it was a decade ago. It’s about making the arts familiar, and habitual, and establishing a culture of participation and support. MIF has helped lead that charge.”
Björk will return to MIF after debuting her Biophilia project at the festival in 2011 Just as importantly, this surge of confidence has an effect on creatives themselves. Independent theatre director Benedict Power (whose work 'Real Life' will be at the Royal Exchange Studio while MIF's 'The Skriker' plays the main stage) says, “MIF is very important for the city's cultural status and certainly helps Manchester feel like a place where creative excellence and ambitious production is possible. This is very important when the draw of moving to London often feels like the most obvious and opportune way to 'get on'.”
David Gledhill, however, warns that “Bending over backwards to lure London audiences up North for two weeks every other year is short-termism at its worst because getting behind North West-based artists, advocating and promoting them to the world will win a higher international profile for Manchester than any number of festivals ever could. Vast amounts of money are being poured into gallery refurbishment and new venues in Manchester on the basis that this will attract cultural tourism to the city. Whilst this is a laudable aim, if the quality of arts production in Greater Manchester isn't recognised and supported we'll end up as a kind of second rate repertory stop for big international acts who are coasting on their reputations.”
Legacy has been a buzzword ever since the 2002 Commonwealth Games and then the 2012 Olympics. The principle – that a huge, money-guzzling spectacular will leave behind something more than discarded programmes and a few happy memories, but a real change in the local infrastructure - is a laudable one. Indeed MIF say, “a key aim is to develop once-in-a-lifetime experiences, underpinned by mechanisms to support longer-term legacy and lasting local impact”.
This year’s ‘impactful’ activities include involving groups of schoolchildren with special educational needs with The Tale of Mr Tumble, bringing back the Sacred Sounds choir from MIF13 for Neck of the Woods and selecting ten local street dancers to be part of the FlexN. MIF also claim to have a learning strand to their impact agenda - in fact this year it was to be based around the above-mentioned Age of Twilight, but as the show got shunted to the 2017 programme the learning strand has gone quiet. And while big-name cultural institutions like the Whitworth are working closely with MIF, previous partners such as Hulme’s Z-arts are not involved this time around. Is this really enough from an event with a reputed £12m in its wallet?
It will be interesting to see how incoming festival director John McGrath approaches this segment of MIF’s agenda. It has been noted that McGrath’s appointment, with his previous history in Manchester as artistic director of Contact (which has taken great pride in its work with local young people), could be a sign of a change in focus for MIF.
Incoming festival director John McGrath - a change of focus?Benedict Power says: “If 'The Factory' gets off the ground, then I would say that one of the most important things it could do is offer space, support and opportunity to local people, especially between festivals, when the building might be less active. A 'mega theatre' is a great idea, but Manchester can only sustain so many 'mega productions', so it needs to think about balancing it's offer across the whole scale of new emerging work, developing artists, and offering a platform for established 'international' work.”
So there you have it, thinking big and staying true don’t have to be mutually exclusive. As Hetherington rightly points out, community spirit and self-interest can go hand-in-hand:
“Yes of course it’s beneficial to the future arts ecology to increase the breadth and depth of skills and experience in the region, but equally there is so much brilliance and potential out there in Greater Manchester right now that it would be sheer commercial lunacy not to snap it up.”
But it is not just down to MIF to extend a helping hand to regional artists; they are getting out there and doing things for themselves. In previous editions of MIF, the Not Part Of festival ran alongside it, providing an alternative (some said antagonistic) platform to the festival. That model died out, and the 24/7 Theatre Festival has also reduced to a weekend of events. Instead the Greater Manchester Fringe runs throughout July, although it doesn’t position itself as alternative to MIF as Not Part Of did. This year will also see the pilot of Manifest, two days of arts events explicitly timed to take advantage of the MIF buzz. Of course the blueprint for a festival fringe is Edinburgh, that great example of cultural symbiosis. While a Fringe isn’t a Fringe if it gets too much endorsement from its establishment host, a spot of discreet assistance with promotion and organisation from MIF could only benefit both parties.
The electrifying cultural life of this city is something every Mancunian can be proud of. And there is no denying that MIF is a genuine and important driver of that. But any artist will tell you that making art takes constant striving, a relentless questioning in order to render the fat of life down to a few pure drops of the sublime. There is no place for complacency. So it’s up to curators, performers, commentators, audiences – every one of us – to keep asking and keep pushing to see if this remarkable event is everything it can be for Manchester; during the next few days and the fallow year to follow.
Follow MIF 2015 here on Manchester Confidential
