A spectacular design come to life

With more than 700,000 visitors welcomed through Aviva Studios' doors, the opening year has seen the OMA-designed, ultra-flexible venue wow audiences and critics alike – TIME magazine even named Aviva Studios as one of the 100 best places to visit in the world.

Watch an interview below with lead architect Ellen van Loon.

An opening moment like no other

The official opening production – the Matrix-inspired Free Your Mind created by Danny Boyle, Es Devlin, Boy Blue co-founders Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy and Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante and Sabrina Mahfouz – caught headlines across the world back in October 2023. This once-in-a-lifetime production also saw 100 Greater Manchester residents take part. In fact, 13,174 people from Greater Manchester have taken part in Factory International engagement events and programme overall since opening the building.

5000 Aviva £10 tickets were made available for Free Your Mind as part of the launch of our affordable ticket scheme. Since opening over 21,000 Aviva £10 tickets have been issued – helping to ensure that incredible art is accessible to everyone.

Meet some of the Greater Manchester residents who took part in Free Your Mind in the short film below.

An iconic curtain raiser

People from all over Greater Manchester and the world flocked to our spectacular summer curtain raiser, Yayoi Kusama’s You Me and the Balloons. This bright and bold exhibition also saw 12,500 children take part in free workshops, and over 6,500 children participate in schools activities in the community, including a creative fashion project responding to the iconic style of Yayoi Kusama culminating in a fashion show on Festival Square.

'This building is ours and I’m claiming it for our city’

In November 2023, The Welcome took over Aviva Studios. Curated by the Factory Assembly, a group of local residents who spent two years working on a dream programme, we asked them, if you had the run of this place, what would you do and who would you invite?

Together we welcomed over 11,000 visitors to Aviva Studios over 9 days who enjoyed everything from live circus acts and skate demos, to colourful art and an exhibition celebrating the people who make Greater Manchester so great.

An incredible addition to the city's music scene

Aviva Studios has played host to some of our most cherished musicians from Johnny Marr, who presented two nights of music with an orchestra of northern musicians, and electronic pioneers Underworld, to Angélique Kidjo's first show in the city for a decade and a three night residency from the shapeshifting superstar Janelle Monáe.

Watch a session from the Manchester legend Johnny Marr performing live from the Warehouse.

Inspiring the next generation

We’re also training the creative workforce of the future through the Factory Academy, supporting a pipeline of talent to work in the arts for generations to come. To date 1,000 Greater Manchester residents have graduated from Factory Academy courses, with 100 Factory Academy alumni taking on roles at Factory International and 80% of Factory Academy graduates declaring a characteristic that's underrepresented in the industry.

At the same time, we've worked with over 25,000 children and young people through family-friendly events and activities as part of our year round programme of events at Aviva Studios, as well as through relationships with early years centres, schools, colleges, the city’s universities, youth zones and community hubs.

Supporting local artists

102 artists from the North of England have been supported by development opportunities. From Factory Fellows shadowing our productions at Aviva Studios and Artist Takeovers inviting collectives to use our space, to musicians being mentored on our Factory Sounds programme, our artist development team are supporting creatives at every step in their career – making Aviva Studios a home for emerging and established artists alike.

Hear from one of our Factory Fellows in the short film below.