The University of Manchester Community Festival 2022

The University of Manchester Community Festival, 25 June 2022, free entry - Visit now

A festival for all ages, The University of Manchester Community Festival invites people to discover the work taking place at one of the city’s greatest institutions. Whether you’re interested in science, art, engineering or history, there’s plenty of hands-on fun, family-friendly activities, and opportunities for discovery.

Scheduled for Saturday 25 June from 11:00 am – 4:00 pm, the 2022 Community Festival programme is full to bursting with opportunities to peek behind the scenes, get inspired with staff, students and community partners, and learn a little about how The University of Manchester maintains its position as a leader in pioneering teaching and research. Expect drop in performances, workshops, tours and a pop-up Manchester Museum.

Budding scientists can drive a Lego Rover, design an app, explore the structures of a molecule, or find out how frogs, maths and microscopes relate to one another. Additionally, ‘The Flash-Bang Show’ promises a spectacular demonstration of the amazing world of chemistry, with colour changes, flashes and the occasional bang.

Interested in medicine? Make a DNA bracelet, take a look under your skin with a thermal imaging camera, explore internal body cells and build your own models of aspirin and paracetamol as you look back in time over the history of pharmacies. Or why not learn more about X-rays or find out more about our amazing brains?

The festival also takes the opportunity to celebrate the launch of ‘Hidden Histories: Black in Psychology’, a new book aimed at aspiring psychologists aged 16-18. Meanwhile, the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre team delves into the University’s collections to showcase Manchester activism, and to help you identify and create your own messages.

Bright and inclusive, we love that this year’s festival brings a number of drop in performances too. Drawing on the sounds and wisdom of West African drums, ‘Banging our drums for Unity and Social Change’ brings together musicians and researchers to show the benefits of music and creativity. There will also be a short comedy performance about a mouse kingdom living underneath a cinema, before the School of Arts, Culture and Language Choir give a short, relaxed performance that everyone can sing along to.

There’s plenty more on offer too, from an outdoor art club for under-5s, sensory play for under-2s and their grown-ups from Whitworth Babies, as well as face painting, a climbing wall, and sporting challenges with prizes from SPORT Manchester. For those wanting to see where the real action happens, there are multiple behind the scenes tours, including a look at the University’s new home of Engineering and Materials.

There’s quite simply too much activity to cover, but this vast, interactive festival of discovery really does have something for everybody. With last year’s edition having taken place online, 2022 marks the perfect opportunity to get back into The University of Manchester and explore everything it has to offer to the people of the city and the world beyond.