Future Libraries commissioning opportunity

The Festival of Libraries will be a five-day celebration of Greater Manchester’s libraries taking place between 9 and 13 June 2021. This new, multi-venue festival will feature a vibrant programme of digital art commissions, artist residencies, dance, performance, panel talks and walking tours.

The inaugural Libraries Festival has four main aims:

• Celebrate people: the librarians who run the spaces, the users who make use of the services and the extraordinary stories that emerge from the everyday use of libraries.
• Reposition the public perception of independent and public libraries, as well as specialist libraries (medical, heritage, etc)
• Engage with those with low levels of cultural engagement, lapsed library users and cultural tourists.
• Grow into an annual celebration and to become a major festival of local engagement and international profile.

Library partners include: Archives+, Central Library, Chetham’s Library, John Rylands Library, Manchester Poetry Library, NHS Libraries, The Portico, Working Class Movement Library, the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University and Greater Manchester libraries (Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan).

For the full brief please see the Key Documents below.

Deadline for applications is Wednesday 7th April.

Please send an expression of interest for this brief including:

• a brief description of your current practice, the reasons for your interest in this project and how you would like to work in a partnership
• Examples of work relevant to the brief or ideas/examples that inspire you thinking about this project
• a CV