Star date: 15th June 2015

CASH STRAPPED SALFORD COUNCIL SPONSORS MANC FESTIVAL

Salford Council is providing £30,000 sponsorship to the Manchester International Festival (MIF) this year. It's the only local authority, outside Manchester itself, to provide funding, as the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, or AGMA, has already sponsored the Festival.

In return MIF's managing director, Christine Cort, told the Salford Star that young people will benefit from workshops and primary school pupils will get tickets to see Mr Tumble.

Full details here...

Cash strapped Salford Council, set to rely on volunteers and crowd funding to finance the city's cultural activities (see previous Salford Star article – click here), is sponsoring the Manchester International Festival (MIF) with £30,000.

There are no MIF shows taking place in the city, and Salford is the only local authority outside of Manchester itself to provide funding to the prestigious Festival as AGMA, or the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, has already funded the event.

The Council's sponsorship of MIF has previously caused controversy, with the £300,000 `pea growing' project at the Biospheric Foundation in 2012 (see here) and the £110,000 sponsorship of Cuban ballet star Carlos Acosta in 2009 (see here).

This year, in return for the £30,000 sponsorship, there will be workshops for young people and free tickets for primary school children to see Mr Tumble...

"We're very pleased to be working with Salford City Council again this Festival, as we have on each MIF" Christine Cort, Managing Director of Manchester International Festival, told the Salford Star "Hundreds of children, young people and students from schools, Salford City College and Salford University are going to benefit this year from workshops and projects across the city as part of the festival.

"These include Flex dancing workshops with dancers from New York for Pendleton College and All Hallows School students; working with MIF's creative teams in performances for Salford primary and secondary school children; digital development projects and master classes for Salford University and secondary school students around the Performance Capture event, and free tickets to see Mr Tumble for primary school children from across the city" she explained

 "MIF is an artist-led Festival and each biennial is different - this is reflected in our relationships with our sponsors and partners" she added "Our partnership with SCC may be on a smaller scale this year - but is still very important to us as a Greater Manchester organisation."
 
The Manchester International Festival runs 5th-19th July – click here for details