Manchester International Festival (MIF) is the world’s first festival of original, new work and special events and takes place biennially, in Manchester, UK. In August 2016 I was appointed as lead Producer on 2 major new commissions planned for the 2017 festival. Both projects will be announced in March 2017.
The Festival launched in 2007 as an artist-led, commissioning Festival presenting new works from across the spectrum of performing arts, visual arts and popular culture. Some highlights of the first four Festivals include premieres of Steve McQueen’s commemoration of fallen British soldiers, Queen and Country; Björk's three-week Biophilia residency; director Robert Wilson's The Life and Death of Marina Abramović, starring Abramović, Willem Dafoe and Antony; The xx performing in a hidden city centre space for audiences of just 60 and Kenneth Branagh’s Macbeth.
In 2015 highlights included contemporary-ballet Tree of Codes a spellbinding collaboration between Wayne McGregor, Olafur Eliasson and Jamie xx that featured dancers for Company Wayne McGregor and Paris Opera Ballet; Gerhard Richter and Arvo Pärt dedicating work to each other for Richter/Pärt and FKA twigs’ Soundtrack 7 residency where audiences observed the artist’s creative process at close quarters.