Now for Tomorrow: Our Strategic Plan 2026-31

Having been founded as the biennial Manchester International Festival in 2007, in 2015 we were invited to work with Manchester City Council to develop a new venue for the city – a home year-round for the kind of the ambitious, original work regularly premiered at the Festival. In collaboration with architects OMA, we developed the vision for what became Aviva Studios – a super-flexible space that allows artists to imagine new possibilities, while also providing a meeting place for Manchester’s many communities. From the start it was acknowledged that the venue would need a strong commercial offer if it was to survive financially, and architectural choices also focused on creating a world-class space for music gigs and other profit-making events.

In 2023, the company was renamed Factory International (in tribute to the seminal Factory Records), an organisation with several artistic platforms, including the venue and the Festival, and with creative opportunity at its core.

The current plan outlines ambitions across the full range of Factory International’s programmes, now that the milestone of opening Aviva Studios has been achieved. It has been developed with wide consultation from partners and stakeholders. Priorities have been identified and agreed by the company’s leadership and staff, our Board of Directors, and our Peoples’ Forum (a group of community-members who contribute to Factory International’s planning and decision-making).

Invent. To take risk on ambitious new artistic work and on new experiences for audiences, bold in scale and focused on the future.

• Commission, produce and present large-scale new work by leading artists, embracing new technologies and innovative thinking.
• Build international partnerships to develop and deliver new work. Be seen globally and make our international work visible at home, physically and digitally.
• Explore creative use of new technologies through a range of research and residencies. Share learnings and build networks globally.
• Provide opportunities for Northern artists to explore work at scale and with new technologies. Develop events and online platforms to share knowledge and experience.
• Platform the knowledge of marginalised and global majority communities, including working class lives. Be open to art forms and activities valued by these communities.
• Identify themes and thinking within our programmes of work that can open new ways of looking at the world. Highlight and share these ideas.

Tomorrow. Pioneer new models of sustainability – environmental, human, operational and financial – in all areas of our work.

• Develop a 5 Year plan and a 50 Year plan for environmental sustainability of our venue, and our wider activity, drawing on partnerships city-wide and internationally.
• Create routes into and through the industry for those most under-represented. Invest in the skills, creativity and happiness of all our staff, (including casual and freelance team members) with the goal of impacting on the diversity and standards of the wider industry.
• Develop a national and international market for our many areas of expertise, investing in our teams, and benefitting from that investment. Encourage entrepreneurialism across the whole team.
• Develop a reliable base of commercial users and partners, with the closest possible match to Factory International values, emphasising a strong public offer. Build our community of donors and philanthropic partners.
• Build Aviva Studios’ reputation as an exceptional music venue – with world class acoustics - ensuring that commercial music forms a substantial source of income, and that the music programme draws wide-ranging audiences.
• Establish a robust financial model and decision-making framework that balances investment in our artistic programme with income-generating activity and fit-for-purpose operational costs, whilst allowing for long-term planning and risk-taking. Ensure our operational model is equally robust and resilient.

Together. Create playgrounds, meeting places, spaces to learn from each other, locally and globally.

• Build and centralise community involvement in decision-making and delivery. Develop and expand community-led programming and commissioning (co-curation), alongside training/support for underrepresented communities.
• Re-imagine the public realm of Aviva Studios to create an ever-more welcoming and unique environment, with opportunities to engage and socialise. Create a visible, interactive, digital experience for visitors – easy to access, relevant to their visit and fun to engage with.
• Work with Manchester artists to develop their ownership of our spaces, and the visibility of the work going on.
• Prioritise work within Manchester and Greater Manchester communities, including events in local areas, designed by residents, with inventive, international and technological features.
• Build more pathways into employment for Manchester residents through stronger collaboration between Factory Academy, Learning, and Public Engagement teams, with direct outreach into under-represented communities.
• Develop wide-ranging programmes for debate, discussion and reflection around key issues, with a focus on creative solutions.