Top Picks
Guides
What’s on
Where to go
See all

The Welcome: Community Takeover at Aviva Studios

Creative Tourist

Visit now

The Welcome: Community Takeover

Aviva Studios, Manchester
11-19 November 2023

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Free
The Welcome: Community Takeover at Aviva Studios
Image courtesy of Factory International.
Book now

The Welcome is a huge nine-day celebration to mark the opening of Manchester’s phenomenal new arts venue, Aviva Studios, home of Factory International. And everybody’s invited to the Community Takeover, a special series of free events happening as part of The Welcome.

Enjoy a fascinating free programme of creative workshops, conversations, family fun, film screenings and the best local music. Learn a new skill at one of the free workshops led by local creatives; discover more about radical artists with the Inclusive Art History Club or recycle your favourite garment at an upcycling session. Whether you’re into songwriting, poetry or African drumming – Factory International has got it all covered.

Just drop by The Welcome this November. There’s always something going on.

 

What's on at Aviva Studios

–
FestivalsCity Centre
MIF25: Festival Square

Festival Square is the beating heart of Manchester International Festival 2025, returning to its riverside location once again.

Free entry
Free Activity at Aviva Studios
Until
ComedyManchester
Free Activity at Aviva Studios

From comedy nights to drop-in family craft sessions, Factory International bring an accessible and inclusive programme of events this spring – the best thing, it’s all free.

Free entry

Where to go near The Welcome: Community Takeover at Aviva Studios

Castlefield
Event venue
Old Granada Studios

Manchester’s old Granada Studios is an iconic piece of the city’s history and home to Sidney Bernstein’s television empire.

Castlefield
Restaurant
The Loft Manchester

Smart event space in the building previously occupied by Walkabout, and now host to all manner of exciting one-off happenings

Manchester Opera House by Phil Tragen
City Centre
Theatre
Manchester Opera House

A commercial touring theatre, the Manchester Opera House is reopening in August 2021, all set to host the city’s finest mainstream theatrical productions, music gigs, opera and ballet.

City Centre
Music venue
Low Four Studio

Old Granada Studios has announced Low Four: a new studio and music project that will stream and archive live music performance as part of a new generation of music TV programming. The inclusion of a viewing balcony also means that these recordings, along with special events and concerts, will be made open to a few […]

Manchester
Restaurant
20 Stories

High-end restaurant and cocktail bar, with stunning views of the Manchester skyline.

Manchester
Gallery
Smolensky Gallery

This appointment-only gallery is a hidden gem in Manchester. Art lovers and collectors can browse many high quality pieces.

See all places

What's on: Festivals

Three men sit next to each other. One's head is bandaged, one holds a torch and one wears a sleepmask.
Until
CinemaManchester
Wes World at HOME

Take a trip back into the world of Wes Anderson this May as HOME present a series of the acclaimed auteur’s most beloved films alongside The Phoenician Scheme.

From £7.95
Four young female dancers in folk costumes, one looking at the camera
–
ActivityCathedral Quarter
Góbéfest

Góbéfest, Manchester’s original international urban folk music and dance festival, is back with a killer line up and the best of Central Europe.

Free entry
The Herds, The Walk Productions
–
FestivalsManchester
MIF25: THE HERDS

Manchester International Festival 2025 kicks off with an awe-inspiring outdoor spectacle as THE HERDS take to the streets of Manchester, Rochdale, and Wigan.

Free entry
–
FestivalsCity Centre
MIF25: Festival Square

Festival Square is the beating heart of Manchester International Festival 2025, returning to its riverside location once again.

Free entry

Culture Guides

Music in the North

Gigs are coming in hot this spring – from long-awaited returns to one-off happenings you’ll blink and miss if you're not careful.

Hannah Platt 'Playing Out', courtesy of Threshold, photograph by Jules Lister.
Exhibitions in the North

From city-wide art festivals to open-air sculptural installations, we have exhibitions from all around the North, both indoors and out.

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

Eclectic as ever. You'll find inventive reworkings, world-class contemporary dance and Greater Manchester's inaugural Improv Festival in our guide.

portrait of Lorsung in a dark shirt with dark hair and dark round glasses
Literature Events in the North

We've got laughs and we've got leftfield on the live literature radar this month. Something for everyone, from poets playing with form to short story writers looking long.

Classical Music in the North

Read our latest highlights from the live classical music offer in Manchester and the North, taking in a number of the region's most cherished orchestral forces and venues.

See all guides