Free things to do in Manchester this week ft. the Whitworth Frost Fair, Anthony Joseph at the Poetry Library & more

Get ready for The Whitworth’s much-anticipated bi-annual event, Frost Fair, featuring the biggest outdoor dancefloor in the entire city. Not only is there a whopping stage to test out your grooves on, but the Frost Fair’s stacked programme includes an outdoor cinema, markets, street food vendors, wicked bars, workshops, live music and some cracking entertainment.

With the likes of MC Kwasi, Me Gusta Collective, Mr Scruff, Mikey D.O.N, P-RO, PINS, DJ Paulette and the brilliant A Certain Ratio—this is bound to get you ready for this wintery party season.

Head to the North West’s first-ever poetry library to see award-winning poet, Anthony Joseph, perform his powerful pieces to inaugurate the Poetry Library’s brand-new audio collection on vinyl.

Author of four brilliant poetry collections and three evocative novels including the titles, Kitch: A Fictional Biography of a Calypso Icon and The African Origins of UFOs, he’s the perfect choice to kick off this all-new audio collection at the literary hotspot. Blending music with poetry, the incredibly accomplished poet will be joined by Andrew John on bass for a brilliant collab between the two art mediums.

Over in the bustling Oxford Road Corridor, Contact Theatre is renowned for putting on wonderfully eclectic events, many of which are free. Coming up as the perfect mid-week thing to do is their Playing with Fire event, brought to you by The Men’s Room.

Expect an evening of nibbles, drink and some thoughtful discussion all about the theatre’s new creative vision and direction around a metaphorical campfire. Get involved with your local arts scene, use your imagination and add your two cents to the discussions around the ways you can get stuck into such a culturally rich and vibrant artistic space.

Head over to this Manchester nightlife stalwart and celebrate the city’s soundscape with personal record stalls from Tim Burgess, We Are Scientists, Badly Drawn Boy and many more.

Uniting the entire city through a shared love of good music, Gorilla’s Vinyl Adventures day party is the perfect way to end your week. All the great Manc record shops have also got involved in the event, which will be raising money for the Music Venue Trust, including the likes of Clampdown, Eastern Bloc and Piccadilly Records. Featuring some very special guests alongside a large range of stalls to browse through, SK1 Records, Shed Load Of Vinyl and Tapestry Of Delights, will also be present—turn up for vinyl galore!

Head to the Castlefield Gallery for a late opening of their popular exhibition, Cyberjunk. Accompanying the exhibition, John Powell-Jones and Lauren de Sá Naylor will be soundtracking the event with live music performances to intensify the experience of Powell-Jone’s 2D and 3D animation, huge life-size characters, intricate ceramics, comic books and ornate wall hangings.

Featuring the weird and wonderful, alongside cyborgs and maggots, and seamlessly blending together music with art with politics—this is definitely one to keep an eye out for if you’re looking for anything a little bit different to do mid-week.