HEY! Festival Manchester

  • DATE

    23 April 2026

  • TIME

    2:00 pm to 8:00 pm

  • AGES

    All ages welcome

  • PRICE

    Free

  • TICKET INFO

    Book tickets

  • THEME

    Activism

    Poetry

    Political

    Publishing

    Read

    Wellbeing

    Write

  • ORGANISER

    Hey! Festival

Join us for a unique, writer led, fully immersive arts festival in the centre of Manchester on St George’s Day.

At Hey! you can talk to our Ear of Britain, Argue with a Woman, join in our interfaith blessing, sing your heart out to Mancunian mill songs and listen to talks, also participate in writing workshops before you pluck up the courage to perform live. Curious?

When? 23rd April, 2-8pm

Where? The Unitarian Chapel, Cross Street, Manchester

Workshops and panel require booking – everything else just drop in. 

Hey! is a FREE festival funded by Manchester Metropolitan University coming to Manchester, 23rd April, St George’s Day and Shakespeare’s Birthday.

Hey! is the writer led wing of a rolling series of events across the UK called The Fete of Britain. FoB was devised by a collective of activists from across the arts; together they form a collective called Hard Art. FoB asks how we would like to see the fate of our country play out in future years, given current challenges of climate change and societal divisions, and uses art forms to forge collaborative answers.

Who? Hey! is a collaboration, a happening. Hey! is a pop-up micro lit-fest and more, a cross-arts collaborative effort, this time bringing together writers from Manchester Metropolitan University, actrs from Empathy Museum, organisers and activists from the Hard Art Collective and faith leaders from across Manchester as well as from the Unitarian Chapel, Cross Street, where William Gaskell was once minister and also home to famed author Mrs Elizabeth Gaskell. We will also be showcasing 19th Century Manchester Street songs with legendary ballad singer Jennifer Reid. You can also argue with a woman, Anouchka Grose.

This event is supported by Manchester Metropolitan University’s AHEAD programme.

Presented by the Centre For Fiction, Manchester Metropolitan University.

Find Hey! On:

Instagram: @thefeteofBritain, @hey.festival, @empathymuseum @aheadmmu

Metal Label: https://hardart.metalabel.com/

Funded By: AHEAD, Centre for Fiction, Hard Art, Unitarian Chapel, Cross Street, Manchester.

RUNNING ORDER

2:00pm – A blessing from 5 Faith Leaders, a call and response for unity and peace

2.45pm – Singing Back Radical – with ballad singer Jennifer Reid

3.30pm – Panel talk – Elizabeth Gaskell – More relevant than ever (Free – Please Book)

with Manchester Met Centre For Fiction REsearch leads – Dr Emma Liggins, Adam O Riordan and Costa Award winner, Professor Monique Roffey

4:00-5.30pm – Writing Workshops (Free – Please Book)

1. FATE WRITING – with author Gregory Norminton, Centre for Fiction, MMU

2. MAGICAL SOLILOQUYS – with Shakespeare experts Vance Adair and Nicholas Royle, on magical thinking and self-transformation

3. ST GEORGE, A MAN FOR OUR TIME – a chance to explore who this man was through letters and monologues, with author Catherine Wilcox, Centre for Fiction, MMU

6pm – Live Lit Finale with song and new work, live on YouTube with Good Neighbours/ Fete of Britain TV channel.

ALSO FEATURING…

Argue with a Woman – with Anouchka Grose

‘The Ear of Britain’ – from The Empathy Museum.