Rochdale's year as Greater Manchester’s cultural hot spot

Thursday, 17 April 2025 16:45

By David Murphy

An artist painting at the Merhaba Halal Food Festival, the popular event celebrating food and art will be staged during Rochdale’s year as Greater Manchester Town of Culture.

Rochdale is set for a spectacular year of festivals, performances, exhibitions and art, entertaining residents and attracting thousands of visitors from across the region.

Its year as Greater Manchester Town of Culture began earlier this month with a Flight of Fancy parade drawing a crowd of over 2,500 to Rochdale Town Hall Square and an outdoor gallery featuring 23 new pieces of public art is about to open on Drake Street.

The title, awarded by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) celebrates the town’s rich history, creativity, talent and diverse arts scene. Rochdale is building on the town’s cultural capital and international reputation as the home of the co-operative movement with more than 35 arts organisations delivering an ambitious programme that runs until the end of March 2026. ‘People power’ will be centre stage throughout the year, with residents helping to plan, develop and deliver much of the line-up of creative activity alongside a number of big events.

On Friday 4 July ‘The Herds’ a major new work of public art and climate action by the team behind Little Amal and led by artistic director Amir Nizar Zuabi comes to Heywood, with more than 70 life-sized animal puppets taking over the streets to bring the worlds of culture and climate together as part of Manchester International Festival. Also as part of the festival in July, Rochdale hosts an exciting new work by world renowned Shilpa Gupta. The Mumbai-based artist is working with local residents to create a thought-provoking sound installation taking in different perspectives in a thought-provoking piece about waiting, persistence and hope. Nationally acclaimed Rochdale organisation, Breaking Barriers have been commissioned to develop a new interactive sound and projection installation, that brings to life the stories of Rochdale residents.

Whilst work is well under way restoring Touchstones Rochdale, the team is working with residents on a new event and in August will be staging ‘Side by Side’ a seven day festival on Rochdale Town Hall Square. In September, a new urban arts festival, curated by the Butterfly Effect will take place across Rochdale town centre, providing the chance to see new murals being created up close over a weekend by some of the UKs most exciting urban artists.

The popular free days out for families - the Feel Good Family Picnic returns in July and August, along with exhibitions, the Street Eat food and drink festival, live music, the Merhaba Halal food festival, Pride parade, a regular Teenage Market, Ignite Fire Festival and much more over the coming months.

A Poet Laureate and Young Poet Laureate is being commissioned to capture the spirit of Rochdale and celebrate the year. There will be plenty of opportunities for children and teenagers, with a young producer's scheme, staging a Youth Arts Festival in spring 2026.

Councillor Sue Smith, cabinet member for communities and co-operation at Rochdale Borough Council said: “There’s so much to be excited about and a real buzz around Rochdale since we announced this town of culture award. We’ve already got a diverse programme with lots more to come and I’m looking forward to working with residents, artists and community organisations to deliver a really fun and creative year. Although Town of Culture focuses on Rochdale we’re shining a light on culture across our other towns, where there is a real appetite for more creative activity, making sure the valuable work and experience over the year is used to further develop the cultural offer in the rest of the borough.”