From Thursday 12-Saturday 14 June free public arts and media festival Create Salford takes centre stage at MediaCityUK, a three-day event featuring today and tomorrow’s best music, comedy, theatre, dance, fashion, poetry and journalism.
Hosted by University of Salford graduate Jo Good (XFM, BBC 6 Music), Create Salford is a collaborative event, devised by high profile creatives and the University’s final year School of Arts & Media students. The festival is a vital new addition to the North West creative calendar and is jam-packed with performances, interactive workshops and activities for all the family.
A giant Perspex box, the Create Cube, built in the centre of the MediaCityUK Piazza, will be a stage featuring ever-changing creative performances and exhibitions throughout the festival, showcasing the talent of Create Salford and becoming a destination installation for the event.
Internationally-renowned designer and maker Liam Hopkins, founder of Manchester creative studio Lazerian, will devise an interactive artwork based on inspirational career advice from famous University of Salford alumni, which will become a permanent fixture within the campus.
Bristol based collaborative devised theatre company, Massive Owl, will perform their highly acclaimed show, We Used to Wait, as part of a double bill with Dirt to Dodge, a piece produced with final year creative students that explores the translation of a spaghetti western from screen to stage.
Billy the Monster and Me, an award-winning theatre production written by and starring University of Salford alumni, will also be performed as part of the festival. The interactive show suitable for ages three years and over was voted Best Production at Manchester’s 24:7 Theatre Festival in 2013.
Stand Up Salford will see the University’s very first final year comedy students perform for the last time before graduation, testing their sets at the Dock Yard bar alongside some of Salford’s funniest alumni. Spectacular outdoor art experts Walk the Plank will work with students to create a show-stopping finale, an intricately choreographed performance with eye-catching costumes, stunning visuals and out of this world props.
The School of Arts & Media’s journalism and broadcast students will report on the festival throughout, offering insights into this unique collaborative event, with behind the scenes films, Q&As, interviews and broadcasts via their dedicated channels Quays TV and Shock FM. In addition, visitors will be able to follow to a crowd-sourced social commentary, curated by students and professional journalists alike.
Now entering its second year, Create Salford was born out of the School of Arts & Media’s desire to connect its creativity with both professional creative industries and the people of Salford; the event is the first of its kind in the North of England. The festival is a professional showcase of the huge spectrum of subjects taught at the School. In its unique position in the heart of MediaCityUK, the University’s natural links with the media industry will shape the future of the creative sector in the North West and beyond.
Festival launch: Thursday 12 June: 5.30pm – 10.00pm
Community Day: Saturday 14 June: 10.00am – 9.00pm
University of Salford MediaCityUK campus and the MediaCityUK Piazza
www.salford.ac.uk/create
@createatsalford
facebook.com/createatsalford
instagram.com/createatsalford
#CreateSalford
