I think it’s because I would love to be creative and crafty, but I just don’t have the skills or the patience. So I really appreciate the craftsmanship and handwork when someone else IS crafty and arty. And I get to buy pretty things, which I also love. Jewellery, ceramics, glass, textiles and homeware from designer-makers across the UK are all piled into one venue from October 20-23.

GNNCF has just won the Best Small Event at the Manchester Tourism Awards, which is very well deserved seeing as the whole event is put on by the just organisers, Ann-Marie Franey and Angela Mann, with a team of volunteers.

Now in its fourth year,  this event is taking place at Quay House at Spinningfields, instead of the marquee of the last two years.

Some of you know that I did the PR for this event for the first three years, but had to step down this year as I had my little boy in March. So this year, I’m attending purely as a fan and seeing as it’s right near my birthday I’m looking forward to spending some birthday pennies.

One of the hardest things to get across the the press and consumers is that craft doesn’t necessarily mean knitted tea cosies made by someone in their spare time (although there’s nothing wrong with making tea cosies in your spare time!). This contemporary craft is the work of professional artists and designer-makers, who dedicate their lives to perfecting their craft.

This event is perfectly placed for Christmas, and it’s lovely to buy people individual gifts made by craftspeople from all over the UK, instead of some tat from Primark.

Many of the makers return year after year as Manchester is such as good market, and there’s a lovely atmosphere. Last year the organisers also added a Graduates section to showcase the best work from all the degree shows. This is a great way of supporting new makers and is returning this year.

There’s a massive variety of work on show at this event, but I’ve just pulled out some of my favourites:

Hannah Nunn

Hannah run Radiance Lighting in Hebden Bridge and also creates these stunning papercut lights with botanical designs. She also does gorgeous fairy lights and children’s lamps with names on them, which I have my eye on!
www.hannahnunn.co.uk
http://hannahnunn.blogspot.com/

Lucy Elsie Harvey

Lucy Elsie Harvey is another regular at GNCCF and her unusual and striking jewellery and pieces always make an impression on me.
http://www.lucyelsieharvey.com/

Jane Dzisiewski

Janes creates these beautiful resin bangles and stones for necklace pendants, with intricate and subtle designs. All of these are the result of lots of labour with the sanding machine!
http://www.janedzisiewski.blogspot.com/

Jane Blease

Another lighting maker here. Jane is based in Manchester Craft and Design Centre and makes these impressive wooden lights, with cut-outs and embroidery.
www.janebleasedesign.co.uk

Sarah Thirlwell

Last year, one of my favourite purchases was one of these small wooden vessels by established maker Sarah Thirwell. All of her work has a beautiful simplicity, and much of it is made using recycled materials.
www.sarahthirlwell.com

Check www.greatnorthernevents.co.uk for all the details. See you there.
Directions to Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair.

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Yes, festival season is upon us. Autumn in Manchester sees Manchester Food and Drink Festival, Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, Buy Art Fair, Manchester Literature Festival and Manchester Science Festival. I think that’s it. Did I miss any off?

The Food and Drink Festival is looking mighty fine so far this year, so here’s my highlights.

Mr Manchester Is Ace always goes to the whisky festival with his friends, and I usually leave the area until he’s been decontaminated. The Lowry Hotel is hosting for the first time this year – they won’t know what’s hit it.

This year I’m going to the Third Big Indie Wine Festival at the People’s History Museum for a sensible evening discussing the merits of old world vs new world, and assessing the acidity, aroma and structure of some fine vinos. OR I’m going to go and swig as much wine as I can with my mates and get dizzy.

Some of the independent wine stores involving in showcasing their grapes are: Reserve Wines, Harvey Nichols, Hanging Ditch, The Vineyard and Origin Wine.

Other attention grabbers from the 2011 line-up involves the man himself, Mr Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall who will be giving a talk and cookery demonstration on Friday, October 14 at 1pm.

I love his whimsical olde English programmes where he jauntily whips up a feast for some village folk using berries he’s plucked from the hedgerows, a hand-reared salmon and some home-churned butter. I wonder what he’ll make of Manchester?

MFDF is also having a Best of British street food at the festival hub, which reflects the latest trend in gastronomy. Although I think perhaps that street food is at its best in parts of Asia, when you fear for your health (or guts) while simultaneously wondering what the hell you’re eating. Although you can, if you want, replicate that fear by purchasing a hot dog a 3am from a stall in the city centre.

I also love the idea of the Nominee Trail, which will be taking a group of food-lovers round a selection of the award nominees for best bar, best restaurant and best newcomer to decide for yourself who is the fairest of them all. Except will you remember them all when you’ve had a drink at each?

Other festival highlights include band Elbow’s new bitter, in partnership with Robinsons, to celebrate the launch of their new album, Manchester Chocolate Festival on October 8 and the tempting sounding Spirit and Cocktail Trail.

Manchester Food and Drink Festival takes place from October 7-17, with the main festival hub being at Albert Square again.

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The fringe festival to Manchester’s International Festival is putting on a one day festival at the Dancehouse Theatre with comics, hip hops acts, a choir, poets dance and theatre.

There will also be an art gallery and a bazaar, and £1 of every ticket sold goes to Forever Manchester. Doors open at 4pm, with performances starting at 4.30pm, and finishing at midnight.

Not Part Of is run by Gareth and Beth McCann and they are both dedicated to making it easy for artists to get their work out there, when the International Festival shines its spotlight over Manchester. The festival brings a lot to the city’s economy, but doesn’t necessarily support smaller artists in the city, so Not Part Of was launched to give them a platform.

To order a ticket:
www.quaytickets.com
T: 0870 428 0785
www.notpartof.org

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Manchester Literature Festival has some really great events this year, and I’m gutted that I’ve been too busy to get to any of them yet. The city has an incredibly rich history of writing and literature, including A Clockwork Orange writer Anthony Burgess, Elizabeth Gaskell, Janette Winterson and one of my favourites, Withington-based writer Melvin Burgess.

We’re smack-bang right in the middle of this year’s event, which runs from Thursday, October 15 to Sunday, October 25. The MLF team have done good this year, with an impressive line-up of celebrated authors and writers including Martin Amis, Simon Armitage, Kate Atkinson, Joan Bakewell, Eoin Colfer, Marilyn Hacker, Val McDermid, Jimmy McGovern and Fay Weldon.

Some of the high-profile events are sold out, but there’s still something to see or listen to every day until the end of the lit-fest.

Manchester Blog Awards is also part of the festivities – of which Manchester Is Ace is a nominee – and will take place at Band On The Wall on Wednesday, October 21. Tickets are only £4 and it’s sure to be a good knees up.

Manchester Is Ace’s top picks for this week are:

Nick Laird and MJ Hyland, Oct 22, 6pm
Set at the Martin Harris Centre, this is a great opportunity to hear two new literary talents. MJ Hyland’s third novel, This Is How, is one of the Guardian’s Treats of 2009, while Nick Laird’s second novel, Glover’s Mistake, is set in the London art world.

Six by Six Book Launch, Oct 23, 5.30pm
The Six by Six project brought together six short stories from graduates from MMU Cheshire’s Creative Writing programme to be illustrated by the finest designers from Stockport College Illustration graduates. A great partnership idea which has resulted in a stylish anthology.

Michelle Magorian, Oct 25, 5.30pm
The writer of Goodnight Mister Tom and Just Henry, brings her new World War Two fiction to life in the imposing setting of the Imperial War Museum North.

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We’re now in the middle of Manchester Food and Drink Festival ,
after it launched last week with a glitzy bash at Manchester Art Gallery.
Anyone who follows me on Twitter knows I’m doing some freelance PR work for the
festival so I’ve been watching all the behind the scenes action and can really
appreciate how much work goes into putting an event like this on.

And I’m starting to realise the occupational hazard of
working with (and consuming lots of) food and drink is a strong possibility of gout.
But, hey, I’m not complaining!

This weekend (October 8-11) coming is going to be a good
one, with loads of events happening in Albert Square. If you like beers, the
Oktoberfest (Oct 8-11) is for you, while is you prefer a proper British ale,
check out the Greater Manchester Ale Festival (just Oct 9 and 10). And even
better, Saturday, October 10 has been declared Ale and Pie Day with Holland’s
Pies giving away free pastry snacks to thirsty punters.

As a non-ale drinker I’ll be heading down today (Thursday, October for the Chocolate Day, in association with the Chocolate
Café. Last time I went into their shop, I tried loads of very odd flavours of
choccy including bacon (bit salty, but not too meaty!) and they even let me
have a go at making a hot chocolate.

The first Manchester Whisky Festival has also been really popular this
year, and all the masterclasses are completely sold out. There are still
tickets available for the event on Saturday (Oct 10) at MOSI (Museum of Science and
Industry) so if you like your malts, get ‘em quick.

There’s still loads of events happening every day, right up
until Monday, October 12 so check out the website. Click on the events section
to search by date.

www.foodanddrinkfestival.com.
Follow me on Twitter @MFDFO9
Also check out my Posterous, with photos from various
events.

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Buy art! Yes, that’s a command as well as an event. The Buy Art Fair premiered last year in the uber-cool surroundings of Urbis, memorably with my favourite tipple, Tuaca, providing welcome cocktails.

And now it’s back for a second year and I’ve just signed up and registered. The three day event runs from Thursday, September 24 (preview evening) to Sunday, September 27 and showcases the work of more than 300 artists, presented by 75 selected galleries.

Partners this year include the Castelfield Gallery, the Northern Quarter’s amazing Craft and Design Centre and the Chinese Arts Centre and Cornerhouse, among others.

In addition to this year’s event is the first presentation of The Manchester Contemporary, a new platform within the fair, featuring 15 leading cutting edge galleries from across the UK.

And even better, if you register now online you will get free tickets, which otherwise would be £5 on the door. Get in there quick – it’s good.

www.buyartfair.co.uk

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This is such a unique concept, and it’s been fantastic to see the message being passed around the web on Twitter, Facebook and blogs. I’ve been tweeting about this event under @cuttingroomexp and it’s really cool to see people talking about an event you’re involved in.

So anyway, onto the events. I’ve posted the full list below with times and all this information is also on www.cuttingroomexperiment.com. On the day of Cutting Room Experiment on Saturday, June 20 there will also be an unveiling of art work by artist Dan Dubowitz at 3pm at Cutting Room Square.

There is also a photocall tomorrow morning at 10am at Cutting Room Square, which isn’t far off Great Ancoats Street, so if anyone wants to pop along and be photographed bouncing around on an orange Space Hopper, do come along!

All the activities at the Cutting Room Event are going on all day, so people can come and go as they please throughout the day. There’s quite a few ideas that are great for kids, so hopefully there will be lots of families there as well as all you young urban dwellers.

Here is the schedule for the Cutting Room Experiment on Saturday, June 20.

12-1pm
Art & craft – Swap til you drop (65 votes)
An hour of clothes swapping, dancing around to music

1-1.30pm
Classical music – Cutting Room Orchestra (12 votes)
Uniting members from orchestras in Manchester to fill the Cutting Room Square and play

1pm-3.30pm (13 votes)
Literature – Book of a 1000 authors
How many people can we get to write one book?

2-6pm
Architecture – Faceless Identity (118 votes)
Masked participants generating a cardboard skyline

4-4.45pm
Fun – do you want me to? (44 votes)
A simple act of kindness leads to a mass photo

3.30pm-4.30pm
Science – Alka Seltzer rockets (34 votes)
Museum of Science and Industry makes the afternoon go with a whizz and a pop

5-5.30pm
Dance – musical statues (46 votes)
Have some fun with a mass version of this children’s party game, but with better music

6-6.05pm
Film – Looking for Eric (16 votes)
To celebrate the release of the Ken Loach film, we are calling all Erics

7-8pm
Sport – Space Hopper Racing (18 votes)
An extreme Space Hopper race across the Cutting Room Square

8-8.30pm
World Record Attempt – longest conga line (14 votes)
The current world record stands at 1,048 – can we beat this?

9pm-11pm
party – silent disco  (50 votes)
Let’s go quietly at the end of the day with everyone’s favorite tunes

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Have you ever wanted to see 200 people all singing along to Manfred
Mann or watch a massive Space Hopper race on the same day as a group of
people all dress up as characters from the postmodern novel
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies? Well this could be your chance.

The Cutting Room Experiment is an attempt
to create the world’s biggest user-generated event in the world, right
here in Manchester. The website is a hive of activity with people coming up with all kinds of weird and wonderful ideas and voting for their favourites to make them actually happen on Saturday, June 20.

The whole concept of this day is not only to get the audience deciding what will happen, but to get them involved in every event. This is not a day of watching mediocre bands play set after set, this is about coming down with your friends or family and being a part of the experiment and being a part of this new square’s history.

For this whole bold concept was conceived to launch a new public space for Ancoats. Altogether (including future work) the NWDA has pumped a massive £72m into Ancoats and completely transformed it from a forgotten inner city district to a thriving area with new developments, infrastructure and indeed transformed the community.

As an adopted Mancunian, I’ve always loved reading about the history of Manchester, but the history of Ancoats is particularly interesting. It is recognised as the first industrial suburb, which rose from the Industrial Revolution and workers flocking to the city. Ancoats also used to be known as Little Italy from the amount of Italian immigrants who moved there and brought with them their delicious tradition of ice-cream making, some of which are still there today.

I’ve been down to check out this new square, which is overlooked by the renovated and deconsecrated St Peter’s Church. It’s a great space, overlooked by new apartments, and will have some really exciting art work unveiled by artist-in-resident Dan Dubowitz.

Anyone has been following me on Twitter knows I’ve been lucky enough to
be involved in promoting in this event, which I’m loving -
whether I’m getting really excited trying to explain the whole idea
on the phone to someone or laughing at the latest madcap suggestions on
the website. So get involved and make sure you are ‘counted in’ to vote
for an event.

All ideas need to be submitted and voted for by Friday, May 29. The line up of activities will be announced on Thursday, June 4.

INFO
Name: Cutting Room Experiment
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 12-8pm
Location: Cutting Room (new public square), between Blossom Street and Hood Street, off Great Ancoats Street, Manchester.

Website: www.cuttingroomexperiment.com
Twitter : @cuttingroomexp
Facebook group
My Space: www.myspace.com/cuttingroomexperiment

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