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March

Creative Tourist

It’s March, spring’s coming into view and our cultural calendar is filling up nicely.

Including a host of great events taking place around International Women’s Day, there are stunning exhibitions, acclaimed music performances and theatre shows galore running throughout the month. Take a look at our highlights below.

Fancy a spring day out? Check out our guides to Stately Homes in the North and Outdoor Art in the North. And if you’ve really got a spring in your step, try our guide to Wild Swimming.

Seasonal Guides

The Jungle Book at Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre
Open Air Theatre in Manchester and the North

Open air theatre shows are happening across the north over the next few months – we’ve collated our top picks into a neat guide for you.

Helen Chadwick posing with a sculpture called Piss Flowers taken during the exhibition Helen Chadwick: Effluvia, held at the Serpentine Gallery, London, in 1994
Cultural Calendar 2025

Our editors’ biannually updated list of some of the best-looking arts and cultural events in Manchester and the North in 2025.
Festival-goers at Green Island
Festivals

Here’s our guide to the best summer festivals with experiences taking place in a field or on the streets near you.
Summer Holidays: the best things to do with kids
Summer Holidays: the best things to do with kids

Check out our definitive and regularly updated guide of things to do with the family over the summer holidays.
Outdoor Art in the North

Our guide to the North’s outdoor art, which has a special relationship to community, cultural heritage and the landscape it’s situated in.
Outdoor Activities

Get out and about with our guide to interesting, unusual and distinctly cultural outdoor events and outdoor activities.
FaleSaSacred House
Visual Arts at MIF25

From indigenous wisdom in paint and performance to immersive sound installations, MIF25 returns with a unique visual arts programme.

Destinations

Image by Jonathan Schofield.
Spotlight on

Walking Tours in Manchester by Jonathan Schofield

Presenting the best walking tours in Manchester for history buffs, culture enthusiasts, and those looking to scratch beneath the surface of the city.

Take me there

Culture Guides

Sprints
Music in the North

10 fresh shows across Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool, threading together noise, ritual, euphoria and release in all their messy, beautiful forms.

Detail of an abstract sculpture, with burned materials and rusty chicken wire at the centre, with rusted metal bars bent around it.
Exhibitions in the North

Chocolate fountains, beautiful batiks and medieval marginalia - this month's supersized Exhibitions Guide has it all.

Two women stand next to an orange car.
Cinema in the North

August brings a huge LGBTQ+ film festival, plus a reggae classic and a spotlight on Japanese animation.

Theatre in Manchester and the North.
Theatre in the North

From outdoor shows to drama in the dark, our theatre guide celebrates genre-pushing work, new writing and contemporary performance.

Author portrait
Literature Events in the North

Our latest round-up features plenty of one-off live literature events to wrap your ears about, so get those diaries ticking over...