International Festival on course for funding goal

MANCHESTER International Festival is on course to meet its £3.6m funding goal, director Alex Poots said today.

Sponsorship for the prestigious international event, which takes place every two years, now stands at £3.1m, and Mr Poots said he was “relatively confident” the remaining £500,000 would be raised in the next six months, and vowed to”fight tooth and nail” for it.

The inaugural Manchester International Festival in 2007 attracted more than 200,000 visitors to the city with an estimated economic impact of £28.8m.

Mr Poots said: “In an increasingly difficult climate for business we are delighted to have reached this landmark in our fund-raising. This represents an endorsement from some very smart business people and we greatly appreciate it.”

He said he had been greatly impressed by the way the public and private sector had rallied to support the event. He added that he had increased the budget for 2009 on the 2007 total to allow low income people to access the events for free.

Official sponsors are: City Inn, property giant Bruntwood, Manchester Airport, PZ Cussons, NCP and the Northwest Regional Development Agency.

The Manchester International Festival runs from July 2 to 19. The full programme will be announced in March.