We’re just two weeks away from revealing our exciting #MIF19 programme. As we get ready for our big announcement, we asked some of our staff to reflect on their favourite Manchester International Festival memory…

“My favourite MIF memory is from MIF15. I got £12 tickets to Tree of Codes and dragged my boyfriend along who had never seen a ballet before, just because I knew about the book it was based on and liked Jamie XX. We both loved it and it was one of the most mesmerizing things I had ever seen with all the lights and mirror tricks. I liked it so much that I applied for a job at MIF a year later because of it!”

–  Ella Goel, Marketing Assistant

 

“My favourite MIF memory was watching Arca and Jesse Kanda perform at Hallé St Peter’s for MIF15. Arca is a genre-bending experimental musician who produces a sound quite unlike anything else you’ve heard before. For his set at MIF15 he performed on a runway in the middle of a former church wearing knee-high platform boots and leather pants with the bum cheeks cut out. As I was watching the performance I looked around and saw a crowd full of people ranging from obvious die-hard Arca fans to MIF volunteers to businessmen in suits who had obviously been given tickets to the show and had arrived without knowing what to expect. Seeing these people from completely different worlds come together to watch and enjoy something so outside their comfort zone in a venue they’d probably never been to is what makes MIF so special.”

– Ciaron Wilkinson, Cultural Connector

“I loved the (seemingly) endless Marten Spangberg dance performances in Mayfield from MIF13.  Completely hypnotic with ace costumes and great use of the space!”

– Andrea Lowe, Senior Development Account Manager

“My favourite MIF memory was in 2015 when I was interning from my Masters. I’d been working on Neck of the Woods, looking after Sacred Sounds Choir. One night, there was a party at the DoubleTree Hilton and the ladies took over the dance floor doing the Electric Slide (which they’d learned whilst in rehearsals). At one point one of the smallest women in the choir was dancing with the tallest person in the room – I’m 99% sure there are images of them floating around. Eventually, everyone was up doing the slide!”

– Eugenia Whitby, Production Administrator

“A couple of my favourite memories include when the first moment a large group experienced FlexN at the launch and were IMMEDIATELY won over! Seeing Jamie xx dancing in AXM on the launch night of MIF15, dancing to Mary Anne Hobbs playing out grime in Festival Square, Ed Atkins singing at Performance Capture on the final Sunday of MIF15, the moment when the Tree of Codes soundtrack was shared on the office speakers and every single Honest Crust pizza was a highlight as was every single birthday cake.”

–  Jamie-leigh Hargreaves, Senior Press Officer