Things to do in October 2016: Yves Klein & a Comic Art Festival

Polly Checkland Harding

The Creative Tourist Cultural Calendar. This month: Yves Klein in Liverpool and two major Manchester festivals.

Lakes International Comic Art Festival. The only UK festival of its kind, the entire town of Kendal will be given over to Comic Art for a weekend in October. A highlight will be the free comics clocktower, full of independent creators, publishers and retailers representing comics from all over the world. Kendal, Cumbria, 14-16 Oct 

Manchester Science Festival. The tenth Manchester Science Festival  returns in October for 11 great more days of explosions, experiments, extraordinary science and exciting events for all ages in unusual and creative spaces and venues across the city. Various venues, Manchester, 22 Oct – 1 Nov

People on Paper. This exhibition brings together some of the finest examples of drawings of people, from posed life drawings to people caught unawares, all from the Arts Council Collection. It includes work by the likes of L. S. Lowry, Peter Blake and Lucian Freud. Abbot Hall, Kendal, Cumbria, 29 Oct – 17 Dec

Manchester Literature Festival. For its eleventh outing, the festival is providing its usual compelling mix of authors, poets, spoken word performers, broadcasters and musicians. Various venues, Manchester, 7-22 Oct

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair. The GNCCF is recognised as one of the leading events for contemporary craft in the UK. It showcases contemporary craft from over 160 carefully selected designer-makers to more than 6,000 visitors. Old Granada Studios, Manchester, 6-9 Oct

Yves Klein. A major figure of post war art, Yves Klein (1928–1962) is renowned for his dazzling monochrome paintings and for pioneering new attitudes on the relationship between art and life. This will be the first UK exhibition in over twenty years, exploring in-depth the full range of his work. Tate Liverpool, 21 Oct 2016 – 12 Mar 2017

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

Theatre

Closer, riskier, more immediate. Focusing on smaller stages, our latest theatre picks stretch from unsettling fables about nationhood to the inner workings of a mind trying to hold itself together.

Ceramic Sculpture
Exhibitions

Across Manchester and Salford, exhibitions are thinking hard about how things are made – and how materials carry stories.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Cinema in the North

There's no shortage of great films out at the moment, whether you're looking for the latest blockbuster, that hot arthouse flick fresh from Cannes or a cosy classic.

Fatoumata Diawara by Alun Be.
Music

This month’s live music picks move between ambitious new work, grassroots celebrations and a few memorable settings.

Food and Drink in the North

Spring has arrived, bringing with it al fresco dining and a rush of high-profile food and drink-related events in Manchester.

Emily Lloyd-Saini as Grace in Space and Harrie Hayes as Lieutenant Strong in Horrible Science
Family things to do in the North

Whether you’re after storybook theatre, museum wanderings or illusion-bending play spaces, there’s plenty to keep curiosity ticking through winter and beyond.