The Herds in Greater Manchester for MIF25 (Factory International; Photo – Chris Payne)

Manchester International Festival (May 2024 – March 2025)

Continuing my ongoing relationship with Factory International, this time as Executive Producer on two flagship projects for Manchester International Festival 2025: The Herds, a large-scale outdoor commission, and Festival Square, the central hub for MIF25’s free public programme…

Public art met climate action in The Herds – a monumental migration of puppet animals on a 20,000km journey from the Congo basin to the Arctic Circle. Brought to life by The Walk Productions, the international team behind Little Amal, and led by Artistic Director Amir Nizar Zuabi, The Herds was a visual dramatisation of the climate crisis and a stark warning of what may come if animals are forced to flee their natural habitats. For the opening event of MIF25, the displaced herd arrived in Manchester city centre, interrupting an orchestral performance by Manchester Camerata and scattering through the city. The following day they moved on to the residential streets of Rochdale before their final stop on their Greater Manchester journey in the wild beauty of Pennington Flash Country Park. I led the early scoping and development of the Greater Manchester activity, bringing the creative team together and developing strategic partnerships, stress-testing the concept, mapping out production models and establishing a budget and delivery timeline that could flex with the creative process as it evolved.

For MIF25, Festival Square once again transformed the public space outside Aviva Studios into a vibrant gathering place for the city – with live music, food, talks, and installations forming the free-to-access heart of the Festival. Following my role as Festival Square Producer in 2023 I led early development of the plans for 2025, working with the Factory team and key artistic leads to shape the early creative framework and explore different delivery models and budgets for this complex, multi-strand programme.

I was delighted to be able to pass both of the above projects on to outstanding delivery teams as I took a step back in Summer 2025 to focus on some family responsibilities.