9 things you can’t miss at Manchester After Hours

Locals are being invited to journey into the unknown next month at the Manchester After Hours event.

Manchester After Hours, which is taking place from 5pm on Thursday May 18, will offer locals the opportunity to explore the city’s vibrant arts and music scene like never before, with familiar venues and spaces being transformed.

The event, which is part of the UK wide Museums at Night arts extravaganza will see everything from gigs on wheels, video installations projected onto landmarks and live musical experiences staged within the city’s most treasured literary collections. There will also be live contemporary music performed from the heart of one of the city’s oldest buildings plus walking art tours, hands-on digital innovation and even a spot of football.

Here is what you can’t miss at the event…

Oxford Road:

Bad Language – Elizabeth Gaskell’s House
Multi award-winning literature organisers Bad Language present an evening of storytelling in the beautifully-restored surrounds of Elizabeth Gaskell’s House. The city’s finest writers and live performers will read specially-commissioned pieces responding to the living history of the house of Elizabeth Gaskell, author of Mary Barton and North and South, in a promenade style performance.

Exclusive Look at Object Lessons – Manchester Museum
Manchester Museum is keeping its doors open late for an exclusive look at its major new exhibition, Object Lessons. Showcasing a selection of outstanding and rare pieces from the private collection of George Loudon, an art collector fascinated by 19th century life science teaching objects.

St Peter’s Square:

First to see – Manchester Art Gallery
Manchester Art Gallery will stay open late for the launch night of two new exhibitions. You can be among the first to see Shirley Baker: Women, Children and Loitering Men, a showcase of the trailblazing British street photographer’s work around the urban clearance programmes in Manchester and Salford from the 1960s onwards, as well as an exhibition that spans South Asian craft over the last three centuries.

Castlefield and Deansgate:

Now You See Me Now You Don’t – Museum of Science and Industry
The Museum of Science and Industry has teamed up with Islington Mill’s Engine House Collective to create an audio-visual installation that uses enveloping sound, lighting and projections directly onto the Air and Space Hall’s Avro Shackleton aircraft, which was once used as an eye in the sky in the pre-digital age in order to explore ideas around surveillance.

Medieval Quarter:

Pelé: Art, Life, Football After Hours – National Football Museum
Caipirinha cocktails and live Samba music will feature in the launch of the National Football Museum’s next major exhibition. Pelé: Art, Life, Football traces the stages of the Brazilian icon’s life and career in the spotlight, from Santos to New York via four World Cups, through art, photographs and iconic items from the National Football Museum’s own collection, and those owned by private collectors.

Northern Quarter:

Be Our Guest – Manchester Craft & Design Centre
Bad Uncle and Manchester Craft & Design Centre will join forces to present a showcase of art, music and performance by practitioners based around the North West, inspired by the work of Alan Menken, the Oscar winning musical theatre and film composer best known for his scores for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and Pocahontas.

Freds at Night IV: Make Stuff – Fred Aldous
Fred Aldous and MadLab’s evening of free workshops and activities across three floors of the art supplies shop in Stevenson Square includes an opportunity to create a piece of wearable tech, use conductive paint, have a 3D portrait made, or go on a Virtual Reality journey to Everest, the Milky Way, and beyond.

City-wide:

Hey! Manchester On The Buses
For one night only, TfGM’s Metroshuttle 2 bus will follow an extended route to join up all of the events happening as part of Manchester After Hours, stopping within a 1-4 minute walk of every venue. Travel is free throughout the evening, and includes intimate live performances programmed by music promoter Hey! Manchester.

Art Walk
This walking tour for Manchester After Hours and TfGM’s Walking Festival is a chance to experience three of the city’s top exhibitions in a new way: exclusive introductions will be given to Jai Redman: Paradise Lost at Manchester Art Gallery, La Movida at HOME and Andrew McDonald at Castlefield Gallery.