The inspiration for ‘not part of Manchester International Festival’ was, not unsurprisingly, the MIF itself. I had written a play (LOVERsTALK, 29th June – 2nd July, Britons Protection) that I naively thought could be part of the MIF. I discovered that what made MIF unique was that it was comprised solely of new, original work. Then I discovered that all the work had been commissioned by the MIF. My understanding of that was that all artists had been sought out and chosen by the festival (I have recently been told that you could send your stuff into MIF to be commissioned but I didn’t know that at the time).

Over the last few years I had been writing the play in my head, and sometimes on the computer and now it was finished I had this fantastic opportunity to get it seen but I couldn’t be part of the MIF. So I decided to be, officially, not part of Manchester International Festival. And the more I discussed the concept with, first my wife, and then other people I realised that it was a idea that people were interested in. This generated a few creative people with foresight to bring their events to us. Then we started looking for more.

Some of these performances would be musical; gigs, club nights, etc. Some would be performance based; plays stand up. Some would be visual art or spoken word. We would not ask for purely new, original work or indeed place any artistic criteria on our events but, if creative people were willing & able to put an event on themselves, we would provide a network & platform to promote them. We not only celebrate those things already happening in Manchester that make it such a creative, vibrant place but, also, an artists need, desire and ability to get their art seen by people, no matter the cost. The MIF is an event with leading international artists; those that have got that audition, contract, commission. To complement it, and to redress the balance, the ‘not part of Manchester International Festival’ aims to celebrate those that haven’t yet got that audition or commission but never allow that to stop them.

At its core, the NPMIF has a very simple concept. All artists & events involved promote themselves and everyone else by carrying www.notmanchesterinternationalfestival.co.uk on all their promo material. They promote themselves and spread the word and we spread the word and promote everyone.

Like heaven, there are steps to being not part of the MIF. But unlike heaven, we're not exclusive.

STEPS

1. ALREADY HAVE, OR PUT ON, AN EVENT IN MCR BETWEEN 29TH JUNE & 15TH JULY
2. TELL US ABOUT IT
3. VOW TO PUT "www.notmanchesterinternationalfestival.co.uk" ON ALL YOUR PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL AND SPREAD THE WORD
4. CONGRATULATIONS, YOU CAN TELL ALL YOU FRIENDS YOU'RE NOT PART OF MIF

Manchester International Festival has provided us with the opportunity to do this. Without them we couldn’t possibly do it. We need them to do well so we can come back and do this again in two, six, ten years. For this reason I am probably one of the biggest MIF fans in … well, anywhere. They’ve got a great bill and if I make some money off the play (LOVERsTALK, 29th June – 2nd July, Britons Protection) then I’ll certainly check some of them out. All we suggest is that if you go and see, for example, The Pianist at The Science & Industry why not go out afterwards and cheer yourself up at, for example, I’m So Indie (My Band Wouldn’t Play Manchester International Festival If They Asked, Which They Haven’t) at Dry Bar? You’ve got to admit, doing something like that sounds good already.

Welcome to the first ‘not part of Manchester International Festival’. We’re not the finished article yet. We’re still looking for events and announcing them all the time. But it’s going to be a great summer. We’ll see you there.

Gareth McCann