Behind the scenes at the BBC, secret theatre, live archiving, umbrella doodles and paper sculpture: the next batch of tickets for art and culture event, the Manchester Weekender, go on sale

On sale now: Behind the scenes at BBC North, Borderline Vultures, Composite: Feedback, Umbrella Doodles & 3D paper sculpture. Check here to go back to the main Weekender page. 

Behind the Scenes at BBC North, times below, Saturday 13 October 2012, £8.50/£7.25/£5.75. Book via 0370 901 1227 only and quote ‘Creative Tourist offer’. Ever wondered what goes on behind closed doors at the new home of the BBC at The Quays? Want to see more of the place where Match of the Day, Dragons Den and Blue Peter are made? Here’s your chance, with our exclusive Weekender tours (there’s even the chance to make your own TV production in the interactive studio). Open to anyone aged 9 and up, with special tours for families with kids aged 6-11. Tour times: CBBC interactive tour (families, under 12s) 10.30am & 10.45am; BBC North tour (over 9s) 1.15pm, 1.30pm, 3.15pm & 3.30pm. #FF

Borderline Vultures at The Quays (secret location), 7.30pm-8.50pm 12, 13 & 14 October 2012, £12/£10. Readers can buy tickets for the 2.30pm performance on 13 Oct only at the special price of £7; quote ‘weekender’ when booking, telephone bookings only, 0843 208 0500. Infused with visual beauty and gut-wrenching pathos, Happystorm Theatre’s latest production, Borderline Vultures is an immersive, 360-degree adventure, putting you, the audience, at the heart of the action. The experience starts with finding a secret and unusual location at The Quays from where you will navigate your way through a multi-storey universe of touching and absurd encounters. At the time of writing that’s about as much as we know – but that’s Happystorm for you, an innovative theatre company whose unexpected approach merges the physical space and theatrical performance with audience participation to create exciting and compelling theatre. Young and fresh, this company has already won awards and, incidentally, are being mentored by local theatrical veterans and pyrotechnic wizards, Walk the Plank. Borderline Vultures is part of InOnTheAct, a festival of immersive and risk-taking theatre in familiar and unusual public spaces at The Quays and MediaCityUK.

Composite: Feedback at Cornerhouse, 3pm-7pm, Saturday 13 October 2012, free (booking required). A multimedia showcase and live archiving event curated by Liverpool’s Mercy, mixing together spoken-word performance with live sampling, notation, analogue processing, and projection – all in one self-generating feedback loop. A beautiful and absurd experiment, where the performers and array of interfaces are thrown into a productive conflict, and featuring poets Steven Fowler, Hannah Silva and Mercy’s own Nathan Jones, writer/artist Mark Greenwood and video design by Sam Meech. A Cornerhouse micro-commission, supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

Umbrella Doodles at The Quays, 11am-12.45pm, Saturday 13 October 2012, £3 (kids aged 7-11). If you’re not exactly singing in the rain, you soon will be with this walking art-workshop. What are we on about? In this wonderful walking tour, kids customise their own see-through umbrellas with the landscape they see as they walk around The Quays. Sarah Marsh leads the tour, drawing inspiration (see what we did there?) from the jagged edges of IWM North, the sleek curves of The Lowry and the new-look MediaCityUK, home of CBBC. As they walk, children will draw outlines on the inside of their umbrellas, finishing them off by adding colour back at the gallery. Beautiful – and really rather practical too. Meet at the Information Desk, The Lowry. #FF

Umbrella Doodles at The Royal Exchange Theatre, 11.15am-1pm & 1.30pm-3.13pm, Sunday 14 October 2012, £3 (kids aged 7-11). Missed Saturday’s event? Here’s your chance to try again: this time, the architecture of the city centre provides the inspiration. Meet at the Box Office, Royal Exchange Theatre. #FF 

Unlocking Salford Quays 3D Sculpture at The Lowry, 2pm-4pm, Saturday 13 October 2012, £3 (kids aged 7-11). The Quays were once among the busiest docks in the UK, opened in 1894 by Queen Victoria and responsible for importing exotic goods from all over the world. After sliding into post-industrial decline, The Quays became part of one of the largest urban regeneration projects in the UK, the move there by BBC North in 2011 the culmination of years of redevelopment. Which is all very interesting, but what links that to the Weekender? Well, a project called Unlocking Salford Quays, based on locals’ stories of the area, which led to the creation of a permanent public sculpture trail around The Quays. This trail is the inspiration for a two-hour, artist-led workshop where kids can create 3D Paper sculptures based on the ever-changing, post-industrial landscape that surrounds them. #FF

The full weekender programme is now live. Check our Weekender page for details or join our mailing list and we’ll keep you posted. #FF = family friendly.

Images (top to bottom): The Northern Quarter, Len Grant; IWM North; Borderline Vultures, photo by Christopher Matic; Composite: Feedback, courtesy Mercy; The Lowry, The Lowry interior, Creative Tourist.