“Come and discover your new favourite artist!” Festival Square unveils epic line-up for Summer 2025

Festival Square returns for 2025, and it’s bigger and bolder than ever.

From the 4th of July to the 20th, Manchester’s favourite summer gathering will once again transform the plaza outside Aviva Studios into a free celebration of art and togetherness.

Local talent will mingle with global sounds, and everyone’s invited.

This year, Festival Square brings together nearly 200 artists, bands, DJs and musicians, with over 160 from Greater Manchester, for a line-up that captures the spirit of a city brimming with creativity and community.

With family-friendly clubbing, grassroots takeovers, bold collaborations and mouthwatering street food, Aviva Studios is going to be rocking.

Whether you’re dancing under the sun (best to be optimistic eh?), catching a film made by local young people, joining a ceilidh (A Scottish or Irish traditional dance), or tucking into a slice of Honest Crust pizza for a good cause, this is where Summer happens.

Joy is the headliner. And everyone has a front-row seat.

Festival Square at Manchester International Festival

Festival Square will celebrate sounds from across the region with over 160 performers from the Greater Manchester area and 19 takeovers from grassroots collectives, radio stations, promoters and local venues.

A series of afternoon talks from artists across the festival will also take place, offering behind-the-scenes insight into works taking place across the city and how they encourage us to dream differently.

Rivca Burns, Head of Music at Factory International and Manchester International Festival, said: “Festival Square is a vital part of the annual music programme at Factory International. It’s where we celebrate our fantastic city and its musicians on an international stage.

“For many of us – including myself as a programmer – it’s where the journey begins. Festival Square tells the story of Greater Manchester’s sound, both on stage and behind the scenes. I’m incredibly proud that this year we’re working with more promoters and curators than ever before and celebrating some of our most cherished music venues, shining a light on independent voices.

“The variety of performances is incredible – a true reflection of Manchester, with something for everyone. Come and discover your new favourite artist!”

Celebrating local talent and community spirit

Family activity includes kids clubbing, silent disco, a Sports Day from The Carlton Club and a Mad Hatter’s Musical Tea Party from Z-Arts, The Giant Bubble Show, Our Kids Social Silent Disco and Playhouse Project.

Food and drink on the Square will be provided by Bundobust, Trading Route, Superserve, Gingers Ice Cream and more, plus Honest Crust team up with Shaun Moffat for a special pizza popup in aid of EatWell MCR.

Who’s playing at Festival Square?

Some of the highlights of the Festival Square programme include an exciting new collaboration between Rian Treanor and Kathleen Allott, Anne Goss, and Mick Gladwin from Rotherham Sight & Sound, a charity supporting blind and visually impaired people.

There will also be a DJ set from Lady Shaka whose music is a representation of both her queer identity as a femme queen and her connection to the moana (ocean) and her diaspora. Transmission Towers are a Liverpool-based duo blending machine-driven rhythms with deeply human energy, drawing from Motor City techno, cosmic jazz, and Afrofuturism,

Manchester based MC, producer and singer-songwriter Renee Stormz, who draws on classical and traditional Nigerian music will play, along with Brown Wimpenny an 11-piece traditional folk ensemble, breathing new life into old jigs and raising the roof across the city.

How about some disco punk from Ninja Tune- affiliated PVA; and a DJ set from local rapper, producer and Fixed Abode label-head, Rainy Miller.

Takeovers at Festival Square

Throughout MIF25, Festival Square will present takeovers from some of the city’s best artists, promoters, collectives, venues and radio stations, highlighting the nature of collaboration and support of grassroots initiatives across Greater Manchester including: Carlton Club, Renee Stormz x Raise The Bar, Crop Radio, YES, South Asian Music Summit, Green Island, Night & Day, Sounds From The Other City, Adele Tondu & Friends, Reform Radio Sweet Vibrations and SWAGGA, and Under One Roof.

Across the weekend, the party doesn’t stop, with the festival hosting some of the best DJ’s and club nights from across the city, including Haçienda legend Dave Haslam with Colin Curtis; and takeovers from Eves Drop Collective B2B The Social Service, HOMOBLOC x Homoelectric, Suffragette City, High Hoops, Swagga and Kiss Me Again.

Greater Manchester Artists

Following an open call-out earlier this year, in which over 350 artists and community groups from the region applied, 25 were selected including: Our Kids Social, Brown Wimpenny, Secret Night Gang, See Thru Hands, Hamsaz Ensemble, Bethlehem Casuals, IRIS, Desi Fusion, Algernon Cornelius, Muzi Swaks, Tay Temple, La Familia, Rhod Parry, May & Hunte, Krin, NONUNONU, Holly Redford Jones, Third Kulture, NEKONEKO, E&I Collective, True Aubz, Rumbi, DJ EKUA, RUBIX & Beau Mec.

Rising stars from Factory International’s annual artist development programme, Factory Sounds, will also be taking to the stage to showcase the wealth of grass-roots talent in the city’s music scene. Factory Sounds solo artists, DJs, collectives and bands performing include: Shell Company, Tallulah Guard, Victoria Jane, Beck Pockett, Bennettiscoming, Grumpy, Lemon Vinyl, PAVÉ, Poolera, Olivesque, Superlative, Shanika Sunrise, Ewan Sim and RIYA.

Low Kee Hong, Creative Director of Factory International and Manchester International Festival said: “Programmed in collaboration with artists, organisations and community groups across the city, Festival Square is a 15-day party celebrating the very best of Manchester in upcoming music, a real variety of fun activities for all ages and late night parties – all completely free. No two days will be the same.”

Factory International’s Neighbourhood Organisers

Factory International’s Neighbourhood Organisers are local champions who help connect people from their communities around Greater Manchester to the work and events taking place throughout the year at Aviva Studios. For one special day on Festival Square the Neighbourhood Organisers are taking over the stage with a curated programme of their chosen local artists.

Expect an exciting mix of music, dance, and spoken word from the talent that thrives in their neighbourhoods and beyond including a ceilidh led by Brian Boru Irish Club and music from Zola Steel Pan, The Divines, and Naomi Kalu.

Joy on the Square, a family friendly, joy-themed afternoon, celebrates three years of Factory International’s Community Partnerships Programme, working with charity and community organisations embedded in the heart of Salford and Manchester. The takeover includes the world premiere of Joy as Resistance – a film by REELMCR and a young people’s film crew at Salford Lads and Girls Club, as well as up-cycling workshops with CDM UK, a Brazilian carnival and more.

Free and affordable tickets available

Community Engagement initiatives, such as the Neighbourhood Organisers and Community Partnerships programme, are also helping to facilitate the distribution of free and affordable tickets for a range of communities throughout Greater Manchester to events in the wider Manchester International Festival programme. Through its ongoing partnership with Rainbow Haven, Factory International is also supporting refugees and asylum seekers to connect with the city’s arts and culture scene through volunteering opportunities across the festival.

Football City, Art United

Visitors to Festival Square will also be able to visit the summer exhibition Football City, Art United. in the Warehouse space at Aviva Studios with free entry for those aged 16 and under. Curated by Juan Mata, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Josh Willdigg, the exhibition features 11 new works created by pairings of internationally renowned artists and footballers, including interactive play arenas, sound installations, manga and sculpture.

The full Festival Square line up

More details on the MIF25 programme, including Festival Square, can be found by clicking here