On a balmy Thursday evening the Whitworth hosted the unofficial start of Manchester International Festival: our volunteer launch party! Over 450 volunteers will support the running of the Festival by providing a friendly welcome across our venues and events.

After a speech from Artistic Director John McGrath and a beautiful poem by Judith (a long-term volunteer at the Festival), singer Marco Woolf took to the stage. Marco is part of MIF’s family, having taken part in the Festival in My House New Islington Sessions, and you can listen to him here.

Gathering our volunteer team together for a sociable shindig before the Festival felt like a real celebration of Manchester. Our fabulous 450 are a diverse team, from a variety of cultural backgrounds plus at different stages of life. Our team includes A-Level students, recent university graduates, a radio presenter, a civil engineer, cyclists, people who speak fluent Mandarin, a cosplayer, poets, artists, born and bred Mancunians, people who have moved here in the past three months… the list goes on! What links everybody together is a passion for our great city, and for this great Festival. As MIF’s Volunteer Coordinator, I feel very proud to be looking after such an inspiring community of people.

Thank you to Regatta for supporting Manchester International Festival’s volunteer programme by providing waterproof jackets and rucksacks, and to N Brown Group for providing the gorgeous blue t-shirts our volunteers will be wearing on shift! And thank you to the Whitworth for their being excellent hosts.

Jacqueline Hall – Volunteer Coordinator

Check out the event below…