With MIF15 now confined to memory, we’ve a lot of people to thank for helping stage the last 18 extraordinary days of world premieres and special events. The artists, of course, for their diligence and dedication in creating the new works that form the backbone of our Festival. All our wonderful volunteers, so generous with their time and energy. Our friends at Manchester City Council, Arts Council England, AGMA and Salford City Council, who’ve been steadfast in their backing of MIF. The staff at all our venues, from major theatres to rehearsal rooms. Our national and international co-commissioning partners. There are others, of course – too many to list here.
However, if you’ll indulge us for a moment, we’d like to pay a little tribute to our 70 corporate sponsors (up from 43 in 2013) and 48 individual donors. The backing we receive from them constitutes 25% of the Festival’s overall budget. It’s no exaggeration to say that this support is absolutely invaluable to everything we create.
We’re very proud of the diversity contained within their ranks. Our supporters include global corporations such as Doubletree by Hilton; national firms such as NCP and Selfridges (where some of you may have seen our Tree of Codes installation); local businesses such as Manchester Airport Group, Urban Splash and even Manchester City FC; and a large number of individual donors from Greater Manchester and beyond. Thanks are also due to our media partners: the BBC, who recorded and broadcast live numerous shows from Festival Square; The Guardian; and the Manchester Evening News.
The backing we receive isn’t simply financial – we also benefit from our supporters’ expertise. To name just three examples, we’ve had cause to be grateful this year for the technological wizardry that Cisco and Siemens provided to aid the creation of Ed Atkins’ Performance Capture; for the help with costumes on FlexN Manchester and Neck of the Woods (for the Sacred Sounds Women’s Choir) that we received from boohoo.com; and for the scratch-and-sniff spotty bags (The Tale of Mr Tumble) and aromas (The Skriker) created for us by the perfumers at Seven Scent, part of PZ Cussons. We’ve been delighted to return such favours by hosting no fewer than 35 corporate events and receptions at the Glass House in Festival Square, along with assorted other formal and informal get-togethers.
Staff from many of our corporate supporters have even got directly involved in the Festival, either volunteering or taking specific roles in some of our shows. The Siemens choir sang at the Whitworth as part of Richter/Pärt; three speakers from the University of Manchester featured at Interdependence; students from the University of Salford worked with Studio Distract and Ed Atkins at Performance Capture; and pupils at sponsors’ schools joined the Makaton signing choirs for The Tale of Mr Tumble. Additional thanks, among many others, go to the staff at NCP, who helped paint the benches in Festival Square and distributed thousands of MIF leaflets; and Bruntwood, which brought us the ManchesterInFlux display on Oxford Street that exhibited the buzz of activity the Festival brings to the city. Our sincere thanks go to them and to all the other corporate supporters whose contributions help the Festival happen.
Individual supporters also make a huge contribution to MIF. A number of supporters have assisted generously and directly in the creation of several works on this year’s programme through the MIF Commissioning Circle, members of which featured in Performance Capture, and the new MIF Creative Circle. And, last but by no means least, we’re also proud of all our loyal MIF Patrons, Pioneers and Members, whose contributions are of real tangible benefit to the life of MIF.
According to Alex Poots, MIF’s outgoing CEO and Artistic Director, ‘Manchester International Festival’s scope and ambition is only made possible by the backing of our corporate sponsors and individual supporters. I'm so grateful for the faith they've placed in MIF, especially in such a tough economic climate. We simply couldn't do what we do without their help.’
You can see a full list of our supporters at mif.co.uk/support-us/mif15-supporters. There are many ways you can support MIF – to learn more, go to mif.co.uk/support-us.