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Following a year of cancellations and postponements, live events appear to be very nearly back on the table – happy news indeed for culture-lovers in Manchester.
To tide us over until that sweet, sweet day, arts and cultural organisations in Manchester continue to adapt their programmes for online audiences, offering a glittering array of events that play to the innovations of digital streaming.
Spanning all of our sections, the guide below features our top picks of online events and activities taking place this March. From future-leaning theatre to creative arts workshops, livestreamed gigs to family fun, there is something for everyone. For film fans, we also recommend new releases that you can stream on the small screen, including 2021’s online edition of Manchester Film Festival.
We’re updating this guide monthly, so check back in April and there’ll be a whole new raft of online things to do in Manchester and the north. In the meantime, here are March’s offerings.
Here are our picks
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1. Black Country, New Road Livestream
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2. L– A City Through Its People at Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool
Three lads on bikes, Maud Street and Elaine Street, L8 1979. Ian Clegg, as part of Tell It Like It Is L– A City Through Its People at Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool, Waterfront, Until 7 March 2021, free entry - Visit now
Open Eye Gallery pays tribute to the proud city it calls home with three exhibitions about the people who live there.
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3. The Hallé Winter Season 2020/21
Courtesy of Joel Chester Fildes The Hallé Winter Season 2020/21 at The Bridgewater Hall, City Centre, Until 29 April 2021 - Book now
Filmed in high quality at The Bridgewater Hall and Hallé St Peter’s, the Hallé presents a series of unique concerts that you can enjoy at home.
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4. Manchester Film Festival
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5. Learning to Swim on an Ironing Board with Contact
Image courtesy of Davy Dellbridge. -
6. Lancaster Litfest
Author Sarah Hall. Photo by Richard Thwaites. Lancaster Litfest, online, 12–21 March 2021, free entry - Find Out More
Despite heading online, Lancaster Litfest 2021 will feature its usual packed programme, including a host of World Poetry Day events on 20th March.
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7. The Picture of Dorian Gray – online
Image courtesy of the Lawrence Batley Theatre. -
8. Don’t Touch My Hair with HOME
Image courtesy of HOME Manchester. Don’t Touch My Hair at HOME Manchester, Manchester, Until 1 August 2021 - Book now
The latest theatre commission to be announced for the Homemakers series, Don’t Touch my Hair is a meeting place for fearless social activism and unapologetic hip hop.
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9. Turn On Fest 2021 at Hope Mill Theatre
Image courtesy of Turn On Fest/ Hope Mill Theatre. Turn On Fest at Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester and online, 17–28 March 2021 - Book now
Following the success of the inaugural Turn On Fest in 2020, the LGBTQ+ theatre festival returns online for two weeks this March.
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10. Song-Writing Group with Manchester Jewish Museum
Manchester Jewish Museum -
11. Carcanet New Poetries VIII online launches
Poet Holly Hopkins. Photo by Alex Lichtenfels -
12. Virtual Craft Beer Tasting, with Craft Beer Tour Manchester
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13. Liverpool Biennial 2021 – The Stomach and the Port
Ebony G. Patterson, ...a pale horse weeps in silence...for those who bear/bare witness, 2018. Courtesy the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago Liverpool Biennial 2021, 20 March–6 June 2021, free entry - Find Out More
The 11th edition of the UK’s oldest and largest festival of contemporary visual art is about to open, with work by over 50 artists.
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14. PUSH Festival 2021 at HOME
Image courtesy of HOME Manchester. Push Festival 2020 at HOME Manchester, Manchester, 5 March–31 December 2021 - Book now
Thrilling and challenging, HOME’s annual festival is a glimmering reminder that new performance continues to be developed, despite ‘you-know-what’.
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15. Tape Letters: hidden stories of migration, Radical Late
Modus Arts -
16. Psappha: Music for Cimbalom (In Focus) at Hallé St Peter’s
Psappha: Music for Cimbalom (In Focus) at Hallé St Peter’s, Ancoats and online, 25 March 2021, from £5 - Book now
Psappha explores the full range of the lesser-spotted cimbalom with a varied programme that features several world premieres.
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17. Sound Stage
Image courtesy of Naked Productions. -
18. John Moores Painting Prize 2020 – Online and at Walker Art Gallery
Katheryn Maple The Common John Moores Painting Prize 2020 at Walker Art Gallery, City Centre and online, Until 27 June 2021, free entry - Visit now
Take an online tour of the John Moores Painting Prize 2020, featuring the best in contemporary British painting today.
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19. The North Will Rise Again at Gorilla and The Invisible Wind Factory
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20. Winter Scavenger Hunt
Tatton Park -
21. Wolfwalkers – Streaming on Apple TV+
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22. The Earth Asleep at HOME, Manchester
HOME The Earth Asleep at HOME Manchester, Manchester, 31 March–1 April 2021 - Book now
The Earth Asleep, a new film and original live score from creative duo Clara Casian and Robin Richards, premieres this spring at HOME.
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23. African Apocalypse – Streaming on BFI Player
HOME African Apocalypse at HOME Manchester, Manchester and online, Until 31 March 2021, from £10 - Book now
Taking Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as its impetus, African Apocalypse traces the path of terror and genocide tread by French Captain Paul Voulet in 1898.
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24. Obstructions at Castlefield Gallery & Online
Jane Fairhurst, '...a global seam of plastic...' (2020). Mixed media. Image courtesy Jules Lister Obstructions at Castlefield Gallery, Castlefield, Until 18 April 2021, free entry - Visit now
Castlefield Gallery presents ‘Obstructions’ – a rather unconventional group show about the freedoms within restriction, and rules that are sometimes there to be broken.
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25. Ad Minoliti at BALTIC in Gateshead
Ad Minoliti, Abstraccion geometrico- galactica, 2019, unique eco-solvent inkjet print on canvas. Photo: Aurélien Mole/ Courtesy the artist and Crèvecoeur, Paris Ad Minoliti at Baltic, Newcastle, 1 April 2021–13 March 2022, free entry - Find Out More
Ad Minoliti’s immersive exhibition draws upon queer and feminist theory to offer new understandings of the world around us.
More in Activity
Grayson’s Art Club at Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester
Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry presents a major exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery featuring work made by the nation during the initial weeks of lockdown.
Online Meditation with the Manchester Buddhist Centre
As we learn to live with uncertainty now is a better time than ever to explore meditation, let the friendly community at Manchester Buddhist Centre help you on this journey.
Trading Station: how hot drinks shape our lives at Manchester Art Gallery
Trading Station at Manchester Art Gallery charts the history and changing social role of hot drinks in our lives.
These Lancashire Women are Witches in Politics with The Turnpike
A collaborative project that takes inspiration from the history of the Leigh Female Reformers of 1819 and the monstrous representations of them in the media of the time.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire – Streaming on Mubi
Brittany, France 1770. Portrait painter Marianne (Merlant) is commissioned to paint the wedding portrait of Héloïse (Haenel), a reluctant bride to be who has just left the convent.
Bacurau – Streaming on Mubi
The follow-up to Aquarius from director Kleber Mendonça Filho, this time co-directing and co-writing with long term producer Juliano Dornelles merges sci-fi, the western, Brazilian bandit movies (cangaço) and horror for a highly original and ultra-violent look at a town under siege from a mysterious threat.
Dogs Don’t Wear Pants – Streaming on Curzon Home Cinema
Heart surgeon Juha has lived life at an unengaged distance since his wife’s passing. And although it is often debilitating, his grief also throws up some rather surprising sexual urges.
System Crasher – Streaming on Curzon Home Cinema
Controversial from the moment it premiered in Competition at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival, documentarian Nora Fingscheidt’s fiction feature debut portrays the life of a chaotic and troubled young girl.
Posters from the Irish civil rights era – Online with the Working Class Movement Library
Working Class Movement Library presents an online exhibition of powerful posters made by young activists fighting for civil rights in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.
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