Why the arts and culture scene should be big business for Manchester

Gateley partner Michael Ball looks at how MIAF 2017 will be of global significance

Every two years Manchester hosts one of the most radical and important arts festivals, not just in the UK but in the world.

This year the Manchester International Arts Festival 2017 will again put the focus on the cultural sector in the city. 

MIF17 looks to the business community to respond to its agenda of diverse and always original work by providing much needed funding in terms of sponsorship and boosting attendances and at Gateley Plc we are proud to be associated with MIF17.
 
Why do those normally involved in more traditional forms of corporate sponsorship respond so readily to being associated with what at its best is a challenging and radical arts event?

The answer perhaps in the under-acknowledged importance of all things associated with the arts in the region.

Culture gives the area its essential character and identity which in turn drives its business community almost without being noticed alongside its more visible activities connected to sport and particularly Premier League football.
 
It is a good time to reflect on why a vibrant arts scene contributes to a successful business community. Where would Manchester and the region be without the attraction of its culture and arts scene and how would its business community survive without that vital attraction that makes it such a good place to live and work?

All forms of the arts whether regarded as the high end or the more popular side contribute to regional identity making it a key element to a sustainable economy that often stays too far under the radar except when significant events such as MIF17 bring them under a welcome spotlight.

How would the city develop without a cultural axis? Where would Manchester be without its artistic reference points especially in popular music which define generations and provide an unbreakable bond of pride in the region creating accidental cultural ambassadors of its people as they move throughout the UK and beyond? 

How many students have arrived here and stayed here having initially sought a connection to the widespread cultural life of the region?  

We see it as a fundamentally important event for raising the profile of the thriving arts and culture scene in our city and driving footfall to Manchester.

Economic, social, technological and educational strategies cannot avoid being linked to the essential output of the region’s arts community.

This goes far beyond the establishment of it just being a go to tourist destination to being the glue that retains its population and provides the workforce to build its commercial success.

The cultural sector is under-funded and under threat. The challenge now is to recognise culture in all its aspects at all times, when the international spotlight is elsewhere, as being a huge part of the success of the city and the wider region.

If we take some time to reflect on how things would be without the art galleries, the theatres, the music venues it is perhaps not at all surprising that the business community comes out in force to back MIF17 and what it brings to the city from around the world. 

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