Friends and furniture: Fringe festival launches
Harry Hill, dinner theatre, and hoofing are just some of the acts that make up the 158-event line up for this year’s Not Part Of festival.
Launched today amidst the funky furniture of Ferrious, the 2011 Manchester International Festival fringe boasts the largest and most unique line up yet, with some 800 artists involved across 48 venues. Events include ‘Fables’ a street-based opera, ‘Percussive Feet’, an evening of American Tap or ‘hoofing’, a two-man performance of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime’ amidst a three course meal at the Palace Hotel, and ‘Re-covering’ an exhibition featuring the artistic work of over forty individuals including comedian, Harry Hill.
The fourth biannual fringe festival will return in the summer from 30th June to 16th July for 17 days of the latest and most original untapped artistic talent. This year’s Not Part Of is once again supported by Forever Manchester and the University of Salford, in recognition of its efforts to provide emerging artists with a platform to showcase their work, as the cultural spotlight is placed firmly on Manchester.
Unlike fellow fringe festivals, Edinburgh and Brighton, Not Part Of draws artists from across all artistic genres without charging them. Organisers simply assess individual artist requirements and then match them up with an appropriate venue, allowing both artist and venue to benefit from the huge numbers of visitors in the city for MIF. It is a celebration of Manchester’s exceptional cultural climate and its reputation as a place that embraces new forms, new expressions and new people, and this year expects to attract in excess of twelve thousand visitors.
Beth McCann, director of Not Part Of, told us “Manchester has always been a hub of creativity and an incubator for new art forms. This year’s Not Part Of once again draws on this speciality and is back even bigger and better, with a huge range of events that go beyond the mainstream to provide MIF audiences with an inclusive alternative. Emerging as a vehicle that represents the city’s cultural identity, Not Part Of 2011 will showcase all this is truly original and modern.”
Nick Massey, Chief Executive of Forever Manchester, added: “We are very pleased to be associated with such an initiative and especially pleased that as well as supporting the artistic community, Not Part Of now supports community groups across Manchester.”
For more information please visit the Not Part Of website www.notpartof.org
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