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Announcing Distractions for July 2019

Distractions is a new three-day summit for Greater Manchester, 18-20 July — the future isn’t what it used to be

Technology changes everything. Where and what we listen to. Who and when we watch. How we create, play and consume. Online, offline, all day, and keeping us up at night – in a world of streaming, sharing and augmented realities, our entertainment experiences are almost entirely shaped by technology. But in this brave new world of tech, who is in control? Makers or players? Artists or consumers? Platforms or publishers? And in this world – are we too digitally distracted to care?

Distractions is a three-day tech summit in Manchester – a long weekend of debates, talks, panels, content and new music showcases with some of the world’s leading tech companies, artists and producers.

Presented by Manchester International Festival, Sound City and FutureEverything, developed by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham and Greater Manchester Combined Authority, with the support of Peter Saville, Rose Marley and Modern Designers. The recreational future starts here.

What's on?

18 July — Alternate Futures Symposium
Led by futureEverything in collaboration with GMCA, the Alternate Futures Symposium will kick off the three-day summit, asking: what is the future for Greater Manchester? And how can technology empower rather than distract? This one-day symposium of talks, workshops and debate will bring artists, makers and industry together with the people and policy makers of Greater Manchester to connect their ideas for the future. 

Book tickets

19 July — Sound City Manchester
Bringing their expertise in music festival and conference delivery, Sound City have joined forces with Distractions to create Manchester’s newest, music and tech focussed conference. They will debate how tech is driving the future of entertainment with some of the world’s leading tech companies and artist managers. Alongside the conference will run a diverse and exciting music program at Festival Square in collaboration with MIF.

20 July — Manchester International Festival
Manchester International Festival will present the third of their Interdependence series, Life Hacked, exploring how science and technology enable us to reconfigure our minds, bodies and relationships with each other and the world around us. Taking inspiration from key commissions and events at this year’s festival, MIF19, Life Hacked will hear from artists and futurists visualising new worlds and tackling big ideas.

Distractions is presented by Manchester International Festival, Sound City and FutureEverything, developed by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham and Greater Manchester Combined Authority… the future starts here!