The full programme for Manchester International Festival 2025 has arrived

From April to August, a public artwork on a scale ‘never before attempted’ will see hundreds of life-sized puppet animals roaming the streets of Manchester, Rochdale and Wigan.

THE HERDS is presented by The Walk Productions and led by Artistic Director Amir Nizar Zubai. The installation will follow the journey of these mass-scale puppets as they flee climate disaster, making their way from Africa and across Europe.

For the first time ever, MIF will partner with The Royal Ballet to present a new stage version of Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man. Created by Jonathan Watkins with music by Jamin Kent Rodgman and John Grant, who will perform live at the centre of the production, the world premiere of A Single Man will see former Royal Ballet Principal Ed Watson in the leading role.

An ambitious group exhibition pairs 11 artists and footballers to create a series of new works. World Cup-winner and adopted Mancunian Juan Mata, renowned Serpentine Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Orbist and writer Josh Willdigg have collaborated for the exhibition, which features everything from interactive play arenas and sound installations to animation and sculpture.

Honing in on the experiences of her father Lloyd, a world champion bodybuilder, and her brother Antony, a former cage fighter, A Symphony of Flesh and Bones is an immersive and dreamlike film and installation from award-winning artist Juliet Ellis.

Ellis’ latest work explores how and why we build our bodies as shelters or armour, and how the physical effects of aging impact the different identities we construct.

A live collaborative performance from Michael Beard, dance Company Chameloen, and Manchester Camerata fills the lab at Aviva Studios with art, movement and music, inviting visitors to experience a live performance series along with interactive workshops.

Acclaimed Queer Indigenous collective FAFSWAG take over HOME for the duration of MIF25, bringing a programme of stunning digital art, live cultural ceremony and a series of films and talks grounded in Pacific identity and culture.

FALE SĀ / SACRED HOUSE is a response to the reality that home is a precarious notion for cultures in a constant state of motion and displacement.

Internationally acclaimed artist, choreographer and musician Blackhaine takes over the industrial space at Diecast for the world premiere of And Now I Know What Love Is.

Inspired by the rich, urban landscapes of North West England where he grew up, the immersive show invites audiences to question our sense of belonging and love in a world of despair.

The Royal Northern College of Music hosts a new artwork by Germaine Kruip. Part sculptural installation, part soundscape, part immersive experience, A Possibility features music by Emily Howard and Hahn Row, performed by percussionists using Kruip’s specially made brass sculptures.

Inspired by true events in Black British History, the world premiere of Liberation — a powerful new play by writer Ntombizodwa Nyoni, directed by Monique Touko — arrives at the Royal Exchange Theatre as part of MIF25.

Commissioned and staged by the famous theatre 80 years after the Fifth Pan African Congress took place in Manchester, Liberation explores the private lives of activists who fought to liberate Africa, and why their stories remain relevant in 2025.

The Beginning of Knowledge is 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 town in northern Peru.

Yahuarcani creates large-scale, narrative-rich paintings exploring the relationship between the Uitoto people and the natural world. The Whitworth hosts the collection, which makes use of natural pigments and materials, existing outside of Western art history, instead harnessing the memories, history and wisdom of his ancestors.

Showing at Manchester Art Gallery, An Inheritance brings together a sprawling collection of knowledge, advice, jokes, memories and objects curated by over 500 primary school children from across every borough of Greater Manchester.

Working with artists Andy Field, Beckie Darlington and Rosabel Tan, this collective of young people have been thinking about Manchester 100 years from now, and what they can leave behind for its children. To make sure the inheritance is ‘passed down’, key representatives from the city will attend a special ceremony during which they’ll sign an oath written by the children promising to safeguard the collection ready for display again in 100 years.

Manchester’s youth-led art, activism and mutual care project, Balm Army, returns to join forces with young people from Ukraine for a three-day takeover of art and activism at Contact.

Mumbai-based artist Shilpa Gupta connects and collects stories with different communities to create a thought-provoking sound installation at Rise Innovate in Rochdale.

Returning to the banks of the River Irwell at Aviva Studios, and sprawling indoors to the Social, Festival Square showcases the best talent from the city and beyond with a free programme of live music, performances and street food.

A World Premiere sees Rushil Ranjan (the Orchestral Qawwali Project) join forces with the Manchester Camerata and a very special guest.

Rushil Ranjan is a self-taught, critically-acclaimed, award-winning composer, arranger and producer, known for his work in bridging classical art forms from around the world. For MIF25, he brings Orchestral Qawwali Project to Aviva Studios — established in 2020 by Ranjan and his partner Abi Sampa, the Orchestral Qawwali Project has soared to prominence with its unique blend of Sufi poetry, Indian Classical dance and orchestral arrangements.

Mary Anne Hobbs and Anna Phoebe offer a unique hybrid performance, bringing together live DJing, sound design and voice, with violins, viola and live electronics.

The performance will feature elements drawn from raw Manchester sources and bespoke music written for the space. This 45-minute piece will only ever be performed once, in the form it takes at MIF25.

Richard Russell brings his ever-evolving collaborative music project, Everything is Recorded, to MIF25. As the multi-talented producer and founder of XL Recordings, Richard Russell invites audiences into his musical world for a night of innovation and collaboration.

This performance marks a significant milestone, as Russell will be joined on stage by an expanded lineup of collaborators and special guests, performing live for the first time. Expect intimate shows in-the-round, where live vocals, a diverse array of instruments, and a few surprises will transform Everything is Recorded into a dynamic, one-of-a-kind performance.

Celebrating 20 years of Sounds from the Other City, Surround Sounds injects the ‘heady atmosphere and no-holds barred energy’ of one of the UK’s most venerated independent music festivals right into the heart of Aviva Studios.

Specially for MIF 2025, the South Warehouse will become an in-the-round stage; a non-stop carousel of sounds, unexpected performances, experiencing an array of artists that exemplify the kaleidoscope of styles, energies and characters that have graced SFTOC stages over the past two decades.

MIF and Hallé present Sounds of the East – an evening of music woven together by Eastern tradition and inspiration at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall under the baton of the Hallé’s new Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, Kahchun Wong. The concert opens with a European premiere; Cambodian-American composer Chinary Ung’s Grand Spiral (Desert Flowers Bloom).

A new project by award-winning design studio Superflux marks the beginning of a long-term partnership which will explore the ecological future of Aviva Studios’ post-industrial site. The collaboration will launch with an augmented reality experience on the Factory Settings app, a free AR app where users can choose a particular lens and inhabit experiences crafted by artists.