A Year in Manchester

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It’s January and the start of a brand new chapter of amazing events here in Greater Manchester, so we’ve put together a month by month guide to some of this year’s highlights for you.

Kick off the New Year with a celebration of great music at The Bridgewater Hall. Reflections on Debussy launches on 20 January celebrating the composer’s greatest works with a series of concerts from international artists and performances by the BBC Philharmonic. Get a second chance to see some great theatre with Library Theatre Company's Replay Festival (17 Jan - 28 Jan) at The Lowry. Cornerhouse start the New Year with two feature exhibitions: Lost is Found (14 Jan – 19 Feb), in which a group of nine northern artists find beauty in the redundant and discarded, and Samantha Donnelly: Contour States (28Jan – 25 Mar), which addresses the human form and its relationship with today’s media.

This year is the Year of the Dragon and you can join the Chinese New Year celebrations in Chinatown and Albert Square on 29 January. Browse the stalls, enjoy the performances and marvel at the spectacular firework displays. There's also free fun for all the family at Heaton Park every Thursday with the Astronomy Club.

Celebrate Manchester this February with the Manchester Histories Festival. This year the event has expanded from just two days to ten and you can take part in events at various venues around the city. The Devil’s Wall by Idris Khan is the new exhibition opening on 24 February at Whitworth Art Gallery. Featuring three new sculptures and a series of drawings, the exhibition draws on the rituals and practices of the Hajj. Exposures Film Festival at Cornerhouse (21 - 23Feb) is your chance to see unique films made by some of the UK’s best emerging talent. It’s also half term this month, which means that there's plenty going on for the little ones. Enjoy Enchanting Tales of magic, mystery and mayhem in one of the atmospheric rooms of the John Rylands Library (4Feb) and on stage you can see Peppa Pig and Roald Dahl’s George’s Marvellous Medicine at the Opera House.

The region springs into action in March, April and May. New exhibitions include Alan Turning and Life’s Enigma at Manchester Museum, Roger Ballen Photographs 1969-2009 at Manchester Art Gallery, Commonwealth Games 10^th Anniversary Exhibition at MOSI and Subversion at Cornerhouse. March 2- 18 is the Manchester Irish Festival, a two week long celebration packed full of Irish themed food, music, and comedy. For something more quintessentially English try St George’s Festival in April. Festivals in May include Future Eveything, Eurocultured Street Festival, Turn (a dance festival at Contact), Un-Convention, Sounds from the Other City and Museums at Night a nocturnal celebration of art and culture. There are also some great sporting activities in May with the Bupa Junior and Mini Great Manchester Run and the 10k Great Manchester Run.

As the temperatures rise in June, July and August, Greater Manchester’s contribution to the Cultural Olympiad (the cultural celebration of the Olympics), starts to heat up. Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester Art Gallery and The Gallery of Costume all present displays of contemporary art from West Africa. In keeping with the international theme Contacting The World, delivered by Contact, brings together 12 international theatre companies showing some of the best youth theatre productions from around the world. In June change is afoot at People’s History Museum with the new exhibition on Temperance and look out for a selection of exciting events at Imperial War Museum North to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Towards the end of June, Hello Manchester (Manchester’s children’s book festival), brings you 11 days of fantastic literary entertainment. For some fresh, new theatre, catch the 24:7 Festival in July and then find your jazz with nine days of the best and newest in contemporary jazz as part of this year's Manchester Jazz Festival. In August we welcome back Pride Festival celebrating everything great about Greater Manchester’s LGBT community.

As autumn approaches it’s all change again at many of Greater Manchester’s museums and galleries. Catch David Hockney and William Hogarth: A Rakes Progress and Jane and Louise Wilson: Chernobyl at Whitworth Art Gallery. Manchester Museum introduces you to Breed: The British and Their Dogs and Manchester Art Gallery presents First Cut, a show of contemporary artists who use paper as a medium in revolutionary new ways. October festivals are back again celebrating science, art, food, film and literature. and you can enjoy innovative art and craft with the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, Buy Art Fair and The Manchester Contemporary in Spinningfields. November is a great month at Manchester Museum with the grand unveiling of the long awaited dramatic new design of its Ancient Worlds exhibit. Then get into the festive spirit once again with the opening of the Manchester Christmas Markets.

So that’s our selection of great events not to be missed this 2012. All you have to decide is what to do in between...

Feature by Donna Doodson
Photo of Manchester Opera House by Gareth Hacking.

Events

1. Lost is Found, Cornerhouse

Price from Free

Opening Times: 14/01/2012 - 19/02/2012

Category:Exhibitions.

Details: Displacement of identity, relics of childhood, secret desires, fragments of memory and traces of history are brought to life through sculpture, photography, installation and drawing.