The two-day free We Invented the Weekend Festival in MediaCity and Salford Quays takes place on the first weekend of June. The festival includes 200 free activities available to access and an array of performances and participatory moments. In 2023, 60,000 attendees enjoyed water sports on the canal, live music and dance performances, planting workshops and vintage markets. The festival generated £3.2 million for the local economy in its inaugural year.

Who is on the project team? (designer, consultants, etc)

The founding partners of the Festival are MediaCity, Salford City Council, The Lowry and HemingwayDesign. WITW is a true partnership project and in addition to this there were more than 160 event and content partners from including the BBC, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), Manchester United, Sounds from the Other City to a raft of local community run organisations. Representatives from each founding partner organisation sat on the festival board while Festival Director, Kate Doyle of Quays Culture oversaw all Festival activity in partnership with HemingwayDesign and the festival’s Creative Director, Wayne Hemingway MBE. Supporting consultants Quays Culture and Carousel PR.

Describe the context of this project, its neighbourhood and people.

WITW evolved from an idea by MediaCity’s former Place Director Josie Cahill to enliven and activate MediaCity’s open spaces. the ’Piazza’, gardens, waterfront and wider Quays area. After engaging purposeful placemakers - HemingwayDesign, the notion of developing a Festival at MediaCity for its residents, local Salford communities and the wider region was born. Commitment followed from Salford City Council, Quays Culture and The Lowry to create an inclusive, FREE festival. Its name and Festival programme honours the workers’ rights activists who launched a campaign in 1843 for workers to finish early on a Saturday. The campaign succeeded, creating a world’s first - the weekend, a gift from Salford to workers the world over. WITW celebrates this historical milestone by celebrating the broad church of what the weekend means and what people do at the weekend through a participatory programme from sport to gardening to self-education to cooking and hundreds more weekend activities in between. Funders include Salford City Council, MediaCity, GMCA Culture Fund, Bupa and supported by Salford’s Culture & Place Partnership, a cross-city collective delivering Salford’s strategy for culture, creativity and place which is led by The Lowry, Arts Council England, Salford City Council, Peel Media Ltd and the University of Salford. WITW is an inspiring example of a true partnership project reflecting how generous contributions and a shared vision from key partners including the BBC, The Lowry, University of Salford as well as many other arts and community organisations across the city made it happen.

Please share any data or figures that support your entry, for example increased footfall, happiness surveys, event attendance and/or observed changes in behaviour.

WITW delivered a total impact of more than £3.2 million for the local economy in its inaugural year. With 60,000 visitors in attendance across the two days - MediaCity achieved its highest footfall in its 12-year history. The positive impact on MediaCity’s existing tenants was also substantial, with 40% of festival attendees visiting a restaurant or café, 27% visiting a pub or bar, and 40% partaking in shopping. A separate study commissioned revealed a third of attendees to WITW were from Salford, with a significant 25% of visitors classed as visiting from outside of Greater Manchester, further highlighting the draw of the festival and its unique programme in exposing new audiences to MediaCity and the wider Quays. The location has received criticism in the past for appealing only to its business residents such as the BBC. A major aim of WITW was to change this and demonstrate that this underused public space (the largest in the city) is a public place for everyone. The Festival attracted a diverse crowd (many from Salford boroughs who hadn’t been to The Quays before) not previously seen on that scale which is demonstrably changing perceptions that there is something for everyone at MediaCity.

Did the project make a positive social and environmental contribution? If if it was a temporary intervention, is there a legacy plan? What happened to its tenants, users, materials and programming?

The founding partners always intended WITW to be a legacy project. With committed support from major local employers (including Salford University and BUPA becoming new funding and content partners) it ensures WITW is embedded in the locale for the long term. Elements of the festival including the award-winning Box on the Docks, independent retail and artist installations are being expanded and made permanent. New furniture, inspired and part funded by festival activity is becoming permanent waterside seating and tables. WITW returns to MediaCity and the Quays in June 2024 with the collective bringing on board more content and event partners as well as benefactors to increase the variety of the festival, grow numbers and ensure the festival remains free. Hailed for generating ‘incredible social value’ by Mayor of Salford Paul Dennett the scale and variety of free activities was unprecedented when the cost-of-living crisis was at its height, gaining recognition in The Guardian’s top ten UK festivals. Feedback was incredibly positive with one testimonial citing how four generations of one family attended ranging from 11 months to 91 years of age, explaining it was great to have a day out they could afford. There was a strong sustainable vein running through the Festival with activations such as Charity Super.Mkt creating a buzz while supporting ten different charities. Community Clothing, an ethical clothing brand based in the North, led a pop-up and swap shop over the two days allowing festivalgoers to trade in and exchange their Community Clothing pieces.