The programme for the 2025 Manchester International Festival (MIF), the city’s lavish biennial celebration of the arts, has now been announced.

The timing of the 2023 MIF was so close to the opening of Aviva Studios, MIF became as much an introduction to the venue as a Festival. Although Aviva Studios is now firmly established as the operating venue/ headquarters of the Festival, the 2025 MIF continues the generous practice of staging events at other venues in the city as well and has gone so far as to venture outside the city centre.

The Royal Exchange Theatre will host Ntombizodwa Nyoni’s Liberation exploring the private lives of activists who fought to liberate Africa. Contact will stage verbatim show Balmy Army x Balmy UKraine and The Royal Northern College of Music will play host to the multi-disciplinary A Possibility. Sounds of the East, an evening of music woven together by Eastern tradition and inspiration, will be held at The Bridgewater Hall.

At the launch of the programme, mention was made of a unique feature of the MIF: as well as being international, all of the pieces are new. Yet the 2025 MIF begins with a show from an old favourite; in 2021, The Walk sought to raise awareness of difficulties facing people seeking asylum by way of 12-foot tall puppet of a Syrian refugee girl called Little Amal traveling from Turkey to the UK. The 2025, MIF opens with THE HERDS from The Walk Productions. THE HERDS is a large-scale public artwork involving life-size animal puppets fleeing climate disaster by charging through the streets of Manchester, Rochdale and Wigan.

THE HERDS is one of a number of free events at the 2025 MIF. Other free events include The Beginning of Knowledge at The Whitworth Art Gallery, the first international solo exhibition of works by Santiago Yahuarcani—artist, Indigenous activist and leader of the Aimeni (White Heron) clan of the Uitoto people. An untitled ‘sound installation’ by Mumbai-based artist Shilpa Gupta connects and collects stories with different communities at Rise Innovate in Rochdale.

Over 500 primary schoolchildren from across Greater Manchester, in conjunction with artists Andy Field, Beckie Darlington and Rosabel Tan, have prepared a ‘time capsule’ entitled An Inheritance on display at Manchester Art Gallery on the theme of Manchester 100 years from now and what the youngsters can leave behind for their children. Representatives of Manchester City Council will sign an oath written by the children promising to safeguard the collection for the next 100 years, and no politician has ever gone back on a promise.

While Venture Arts at Aviva Studios is free, booking may be required for some events. Michael Beard, dance Company Chameleon and Manchester Camerata operate a pop-up open studio providing art, movement and music.

There are even free events for people who do not want to leave the house. Factory Settings by design studio Superflux is an augmented reality experience on the Factory Settings free AR app exploring the ecological future of Aviva Studios’ post-industrial site.

The Theme of the 2025 MIF is ‘Dream Differently’, and there is a distinct aversion to conventionality. If you’re philistine enough to be looking for a show with a beginning, middle and end, you’re bang out of luck. Some of the works defy easy categorisation, being hybrid combinations of more than one art form. A Symphony of Flesh and Bones by Juliet Ellis, based upon her family’s experiences in bodybuilding and cage fighting, is described as both a film and an art installation.

MIF’s first-ever collaboration with The Royal Ballet is a dance based upon Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man at Aviva Studios. It is a hybrid piece of work not only featuring former Royal Ballet Principal Edward Watson in the central role but also singer-songwriter John Grant, performing his original songs live.

Fale Sā / Sacred House is an umbrella title applied to a month-long series of events (digital art, live cultural ceremony and a programme of films and talks) from Queer Indigenous collective FAFSWAG at HOME.

If audiences find Dear England at The Lowry leaves them wanting more theatre-based events with a football theme, then MIF obliges with Football City, Art United, a month-long programme at Aviva Studios. Eleven artists and footballers work together to produce interactive play arenas and sound installations to animation and sculpture.

The Manchester International Festival (MIF) runs from Thursday 3 July to Sunday 20 July 2025 and includes:

  • THE HERDS (3–5 July) at Manchester City Centre and Heywood and Leigh
  • A Single Man (2–6 July) at Aviva Studios
  • Football City, Art United. (4 July–24 August 2025) at Aviva Studios
  • A Symphony of Flesh and Bones (10–13 July) at Aviva Studios
  • Venture Arts: Michael Beard, Company Chameleon and Manchester Camerata (4–20 July) pop-up at The Lab, Aviva Studios
  • FALE SĀ / SACRED HOUSE (4 July–10 August) at HOME, Manchester
  • And Now I Know What Love Is (9–19 July) Blackhaine at Diecast
  • A Possibility (17–20 July) at The Royal Northern College of Music
  • Liberation (27 June–26 July) at the Royal Exchange Theatre
  • Santiago Yahuarcani: The Beginning of Knowledge (4 July 2025–4 January 2026) at the Whitworth
  • An Inheritance (4 July–2 November) at Manchester Art Gallery
  • Balmy Army x Balmy UKraine (8–10 July) at Contact
  • Shilpa Gupta (4–20 July) by Shilpa Gupta at Rise Innovate in Rochdale
  • Festival Square (4–20 July) at Aviva Studios
  • Ruhaniyat (رُوحانیت)—An Orchestral Sufi Experience (10 July) by Rushil Ranjan (the Orchestral Qawwali Project) with Manchester Camerata and a very special guest at Aviva Studios
  • Mary Anne Hobbs and Anna Phoebe (15 July) at Aviva Studios
  • Everything is Recorded (16 July) by Richard Russell at Aviva Studios
  • Surround Sounds (19 July) Celebrating 20 years of Sounds from the Other City at Aviva Studios.
  • Sounds of the East (6 July) by MIF and Hallé at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall
  • Factory Settings (3 July - 25 August) a free AR app