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Rounding up some happening highlights from Manchester and Salford
Manchester Jazz Festival
Tickets go on sale this Friday 13 February for Manchester’s longest-running music festival, back this Summer for 10 days of jam-packed festival fun and musical vibes across the city this May!
Manchester jazz festival (mjf2026) will take place between 15-24 May 2026 at venues and sites across Manchester, celebrating the latest up and coming talent from across the North, and the best names in contemporary jazz.
Headliners include: China Moses, Andy Sheppard Trio, Yellowjackets, Toni Kofi/Denys Baptiste Quintet, Cassie Kinoshi’s seed., Bel Cobain, Lau Noah, NOUT, Cotonete, Sarsen Drift + Tom Cawley, Olivia Cuttill & Friends, Orchestra Mambo International and many more…
Tickets go on sale at 10am this Friday – visit https://manchesterjazz.com/ for full details.
Queer Contact Festival
This February, Queer Contact Festival returns to Contact in Manchester with a full and fabulous line-up celebrating queer artists, audiences and stories. Running across two vibrant weeks, the festival brings together theatre, cabaret, live art, film, line-dancing, market stalls and more — allunder one roof at Contact’s iconic Oxford Road venue.
With tickets for many events starting from just £3 and some events completely free to attend,
Queer Contact continues its mission to make boundary-pushing queer performance accessible to everyone.
From intimate autobiographical theatre to riotous cabaret, stand-up comedy, immersive installations and a bustling queer art market, Queer Contact 2026 showcases the breadth, brilliance and diversity of contemporary queer creativity.
Explore the full programme and book tickets at: https://contactmcr.com/queer-contact-2026
Manchester Film Festival
Hot off the press, the opening and closing films for this year’s festival have been announced, with tickets on sale at 10am, on Friday, 13 February, and you can join the waitlist now . Tickets for all other films are on sale now, and don’t forget that you can still buy passes to see even more at MFF26!
The festival will begin on 19 March with an unmissable double bill: the darkly comic psychological thriller The Good Boy, starring Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough, and the world premiere of short film Psychopomp. Plus, we’ll be joined for Q&As by Psychopomp director Kit Harington (Game of Thrones, Industry), and by the director and stars of The Good Boy.
The festival will draw to a close on 29 March on a high with California Schemin’, the electric true story of two Scots who pose as Californian hip-hop artists to score a record deal, directed by James McAvoy. The screening will also be followed by a Q&A with the cast and crew.
Other additions include The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford, a sharp, darkly comic British feature, the world premiere of the short comedy film Box of Frogs, and the surreal, psychedelic horror-thriller Anything That Moves.
For full details of this year’s programme, visit Manchester Film Festival
Sounds from the Other City
Tickets now on sale, Sounds From The Other City (SFTOC), Salford’s long-running independent festival of new music, returns on Early May Bank Holiday Sunday 3 May with a genre-spanning showcase of new artists from across the UK and beyond. The 21st edition is curated by some of the most exciting promoters, record labels, radio stations, magazines, and tastemakers in the North, including: community music venue The DBA, record label FIXED ABODE, DIY station Steam Radio, music magazine SEEN, queer Sheffield venue Gut Level, and Manchester’s musical powerhouse Now Wave.
Hosted in Salford in its centenary year by creative producers From The Other, the festival will take place in independent venues and unconventional spaces across the city, with 17 stages around Chapel Street and TheCrescent, from pubs and churches to concert halls and galleries.
Artists announced today include the uncategorisable masked provocateur Lynks, one of 2025’s most electrifying, genre-smashing performers. Dubbed the “merchant of pure gay chaos”, Lynks will take over Salford University’s brutalist Maxwell Hall for their first announced show of 2026, alongside South African ‘future ghetto funk’ trailblazer Moonchild Sanelly and Manchester-based artist jasmine.4.t – BBC 6 Music Artist of the Year 2025 and one of The Guardian’s 2025 ‘ones to watch’ following her “gorgeously written debut” album, You Are The Morning, produced by US supergroup Boygenius. The Maxwell Hall lineup is curated by independent Manchester promoter Grey Lantern and Sounds From The Other City’s grungier younger sibling, FaT OuT.
For tickets and details, visit Sounds from the Other City
Salford Voices at Salford Museum and Art Gallery
The award-winning Salford based Arts company – Art with Heart – has announced Salford Voices –the Word Premier of its Community Banner Exhibition at Salford Museum and Art Gallery from Saturday 21st February to Sunday 10 May 2026. This exhibition will kick start its creative celebrations of Salford’s centenary.
Nine banners make up this exhibition – one large designed in the style of a modern-day coat of arms for the City of Salford and eight smaller text based ones capturing the heart of the city and each marking Salford’s 100 years. They have been created by textile artists Chris Alton and Emily Simpson in collaboration with residents and attendees of Broughton Community Centre. The banners include visual references to its local history landmarks, its natural habitats and green spaces and waterways. They also encapsulate Salford’s industrial heritage as well as the city’s thriving technology and media businesses. All nine banners represent a visual celebration of Salford’s renowned community spirit.
Through artist led workshops and conversations on textile and sewing techniques, plus visits to The People’s History Museum to explore the powerful history of protest and community banners, the creative teams and the residents of Salford behind each banner will each illustrate how their city is very much a community for the people and by the people. A shared local pride will be evident through their artwork.
Free to attend, visit Salford Voices – Salford Museum & Art Gallery for more information.
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