Following its defunding by Arts Council England, English National Opera has announced a partnership with Greater Manchester to establish a new base in the region by 2029, while maintaining its existing programme at the London Coliseum.
ACE award the organisation £24m in July to establish a new base outside London, which this partnership is designed to fulfil, delivering "performances, wellbeing and learning activity with multiple partners and venues across the city-region, whilst continuing its substantial opera season every year at its London home, the London Coliseum."
While it hasn't been announced where in Greater Manchester they will be based—they refer only to working with "a range of venues and organisations across the city-region"—the press release is accompanied by quotes from the Leader of Manchester City Council, Bev Craig, and the Mayor of Salford, Paul Dennett, indicating that those cities have been the closest involved in negotiations.
Greater Manchester's Mayor, Andy Burnham, said they were "immensely proud" to bring ENO to the region, adding, “we’ve worked closely with them to set out a shared vision for a future in our city-region, where they can continue making groundbreaking opera, foster new collaborations with artists across the North, and bring their award-winning learning and wellbeing programmes to communities here."
Craig said that Manchester is, "a city that puts culture and the arts centre-stage and the impact of this can be seen in the audience numbers, range of venues, skills pipeline and local talent that already exists here in abundance," while Dennett added, "this welcome news offers significant new creative and innovative opportunities for Salford and Manchester within GM."