That was the Manchester International Festival that was. Did it deliver and can it make Manchester a cultural centre? Neil Tague asks where we go from here
Manchester has debunked a lot of myths and shaken off some preconceptions in recent years, but visitors who came to the city for the first Manchester International Festival (MIF) in early July 2007 will most likely remember one of the hoariest clichxe9s around: the rain."We had three weeks of rain, virtually non-stop," says Alex Poots, festival director of MIF. "We had some criticism beforehand about not having many outdoor events, but I was determined not to expose the first festival to the vagaries of the weather."
Wisely as it turned out. By common consent, the appalling weather robbed MIF of any chance of building a carnival-type atmosphere over its course, although, as Poots acknowledges with a smile: "It may have helped sell a few more tickets to people seeking shelter."
Manchester City Council had conceived the festival as a legacy event that would build on the success of the 2002 Commonwealth Games. The unique selling point, tying in with the city's "Original, modern" tag, was that all the events should be new and original work.
Poots says: "While it's exciting to have a programme full of premieres, it's also very risky. But the response from audiences was remarkably positive. There were only one or two things that received a lukewarm reception. It says a lot for the artists.
"We were able to hit the ground running in terms of national and international visibility - not just audience numbers, but in terms of press coverage. Coming from Edinburgh, that's not something you can take for granted. We promised we'd achieve that and we did. We're also very proud that we raised more private sector funding than any other festival in the UK. For a festival with no track record, that's an achievement and makes it our sponsors' success as much as it does ours."
As well as setting the city on the road as a cultural events organiser, the festival had the goal of not being exclusive in any way - there was supposed to be as much for the average man in the street as for the arts pages-reading theatre regular. Did it achieve those goals?
Tony Farnworth, partner at Deloitte, says: "People in the city were certainly talking about it. The impact on the city could have been greater, but the weather was a real shame. People kept disappearing the moment it started throwing it down."
Stephen Benson, national senior partner at law firm Cobbetts, says: "The festival was an interesting step for the city to take and we never doubted it would be a success after the delivery of the Commonwealth Games. The regional cities are all looking to raise their profiles in London and internationally and it certainly succeeded in that. Getting coverage beyond the arts pages is a big challenge now."
Of the local impact, Benson feels more could have been done. "Locally, it was probably less successful and the promotion maybe came a little late in the day, after the international side," he says. "Most of the audience will be local, so you can't afford for things to go over the heads of the city's people. But it was a fantastic start, certainly."
Huw O'Connor is managing director of City Inn, the business hotel chain that signed up as MIF's hotel partner ahead of its opening in June 2007. He says: "We could see that it would be a suitable event to partner with, both because we've got a lot of connections with the arts and because our opening period coincided with it.
"We held several events relating to the festival and thought there was a really good buzz created around the whole thing. The people I associate with in London certainly noticed it and a lot travelled up, particularly to see Monkey: Journey to the West. The festival as a whole gets a thumbs up. It was high quality rather than high brow and we'd certainly consider sponsoring it again."
While no one doubts the success of selling the event nationally and internationally, not everyone is convinced it did anything for the city's own residents. This has come hand-in-hand with gripes from the PR community that things would have been so much better had a local agency been appointed by MIF.
Poots says: "Did the Festival hit home with the average Mancunian? They certainly bought tickets, to the equivalent number of a major pop festival. While we want healthy visitor numbers of course, the local market is hugely important too. To an extent there's always an element for whom the grass is always greener - things are never as exotic on your own doorstep. We'll hopefully reach a point where there's a sense of pride and ownership of the festival. And the free events had huge numbers of locals."
He also stands by the PR strategy. "We'd definitely go down the route of specialist PR again," he says. "The choice of agency is dependent on what the programme's like, but I'm very happy with the job Idea Generation did nationally and internationally, while Margaret Blackburn was seconded from Manchester City Council and also did a fine job."
It's a long road. "To really bleed into the fabric of the city will take two or three festivals. I'm not complacent after a good start," he says. "There's a lot of work to do to entrench this event into the city." MIF events were on average at least 80 per cent full, while hotel occupancy in the city was up slightly year-on-year.
Richard Sanders, head of sponsorship, says: "We're quietly encouraged by the feedback from our sponsors. They took a risk and it's great that we've delivered a critical and commercial success, although we know there are areas we can improve on. Did we provide the return on investment they hoped for? I think we did."
For next time, Benson feels work needs to start now to maintain the good start made. "We're keen to find a way to keep the impetus going, rather than waiting two years. If you've been going for 20 years, a biennial is fine, but we need to get momentum going - we don't want people to forget they've been and there's a risk of that," he says. "But it's up to us as sponsors to keep engaging. We all need to be proactive and we intend to be."
For his part Poots says: "Anything's possible if the money's available. We've been able to work well with all our partners and hopefully that will continue to be the case. There are no plans for events before 2009, but nothing's impossible."
So what happens now? The economic impact of the festival is currently being worked out by Manchester-based research consultancy Morris Hargreaves McIntyre.
The evaluation strategy will include: an e-survey of 20,000 individuals who attended events; stakeholder surveys; 500 participant surveys of staff and volunteers; 30 in-depth interviews with "influential peers and decision influencers"; perception studies both in the UK and internationally; a survey of 1,800 Greater Manchester residents; an internal audit and a media audit. The report will be published in late September 2007.
Also in: September 2007
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