Free things to do in Manchester this week ft Holocaust Memorial and Spoken Word

With Christmas and New Year out the way, normality finally starts to kick in. Event promoters, reluctant to stage anything round the festive season, start to find their feet again and we find the cultural calendars filling up once more. But for many of us the boozy days that we swore off through a Hogmanay hangover are still weeks away, saved up for the debauchery of February. So here’s three things you can do this week that will neither break the bank or any of them resolutions you made on January 1st.

Holocaust Memorial at IWM
Marking 70 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, the Imperial War Museum is staging a series of free-entry events to commemorate the atrocities committed, which runs until the end of the month. There’s a plenty to delve into, from the personal accounts of survivors to the artwork of Edith Birkin. On Sunday 25th, there’s also a performance of traditional Jewish folk music from The Burning Bush.
Mon 19 Jan – Sat 31 Jan, IWM North, Quay West, Trafford Wharf Rd, M17 1TZ, 10am – 5pm, www.iwm.org.uk

The Real Story at Gullivers (pictured)
A night of free storytelling, the hook being that it’s all non-fiction. This is the first in what looks to be a regular series of live literary events and features Radio 4 broadcaster and novelist Laura Barton as its headliner.
Tue 20 Jan, Gullivers, 109 Oldham Street, M4 1LW, Tel: 0161 819 2970, 7.30pm, therealstory.org

Stilled at The Lowry
Described as a ‘durational dance piece’ by its creators Fevered Sleep, Stilled is an afternoon-long slog mixes dance and improvisation with pinhole cameras and long-exposure film. Still photographs, shot over time, then come to form part of performance itself. A brave, interesting and experimental work of performance art.
Tue 20 Jan – Wed 21 Jan, The Lowry, Pier 8, Salford Quays, M50 3AZ, 2pm – 8pm, www.thelowry.com