La Mercè, Barcelona’s biggest annual outdoor festival, features street arts from around the world in the MAC (Mercè Arts de Carrer), music of all styles and genres in BAM (Música Mercè), and a huge traditional culture programme including music, dance, fireworks, the famous human towers (the Castells), and enormous parades.

Manchester was chosen last year by its Catalan counterparts to be the first-ever English guest city at this year’s event which takes place from 23 – 28 September. A Memorandum of Understanding signed between Manchester and Barcelona last year, noted that the two cities share both a very similar industrial past with histories that are linked to workers’ movements, as well as a present and future with great cultural wealth linked to the creative industries.

The Memorandum kicked off a cultural collaboration between the two cities, providing a working framework for artists, organisations, and other partners, for this year’s La Mercè festival.

Commissioned by XTRAX, Manchester City of Literature will be screening a series of poetry films from some of the city’s most talented spoken word artists and filmmakers. This continues an ongoing artistic exchange with our sister UNESCO City of Literature after writers from Manchester have featured at Barcelona literary festivals throughout 2025. A captivating curated selection of short films featuring some of the city’s current leading poetry performers will take viewers on a journey through poetry that talks about identity, unity, resistance, and resilience.

Jo Flynn, Director of External Affairs, Manchester City of Literature said: “Barcelona and Manchester already share cultural ties as sister UNESCO Cities of Literature, and in many ways their dynamic cultural identity and literary boldness align too. We’re thrilled at Manchester City of Literature to be part of La Mercè programme celebrating this partnership with Manchester poetry films on stage for the festival in September. We can’t wait to see where the partnership between the cities will take us next, across all artforms.”

The full Manchester Guest City programme, which includes several new commissions and work created especially to celebrate Manchester at La Mercè can be found below. The full programme for La Mercè will be announced in September 2025 and will include more than 100 companies from around the world.