La Mercè 2025 Manchester Programme Announced
25 July 2025
The programme has been announced for Manchester’s role as Guest City at this year’s iconic La Mercè festival in Barcelona – which each year attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors into the city for a 6-day cultural festival that sets the very highest of bars for festivals everywhere, showcasing the very best of traditional Catalan culture, outdoor arts, and music.
“Guest City status for Manchester at this year’s La Mercè festival is a huge honour for us and we’re enormously grateful to our partners, colleagues and friends in Barcelona for the opportunity to collaborate and play a part in their iconic festival.
Culture and diversity are big deals for us in Manchester and play a vital part in helping strengthen and shape our communities, pride and prosperity. Thanks to our wonderfully diverse artists, venues, festivals, and creative workforce, culture has had a transformative effect on our city.
The Manchester programme for La Mercè showcases the very best of our fantastically diverse cultural scene and our hugely talented artists and creators.
We hope it gives a flavour of the vibrant and thriving cultural scene we have here in Manchester and look forward to further strengthening our ties with the great city of Barcelona and welcoming new visitors and audiences to our city off the back of this.”
Councillor Garry Bridges, Deputy Leader, Manchester City Council
The programme for Manchester as Guest City has been led by XTRAX and Without Walls. It showcases the diverse cultural communities of Manchester and the rich diversity of the UK outdoor arts scene – including parades, dance, music, poetry, fire and installations.
Mercè Street Arts will fill the Parc de la Trinitat and Parc de l’Estació del Nord with artists from Manchester. Featuring Stopgap Dance Company and Cambodian artist Nadenh Poan with their production Ro-Tes; sound and visual installation Warning Notes by the company Oxford Contemporary Music; and Fire Garden, created by the company Walk the Plank.
The Parc de Estació del Nord will feature shows by Mr. Wilson’s Second Liners, Born to Protest by Joseph Toonga; Bees! The Colony by Artizani; Ghetto Fabulous, Family Catwalk Extravaganza; Company Chameleon, Umbra and The Ultimate Players Handbook with the Barcelona dancers Lisard Tranis and Clémentine Telesford. It will also welcome shows by Damae Dance company and Motionhouse, who will explore our relationship with nature using the languages of circus and dance.
This programme is supported by Manchester City Council, Arts Council England and Unlimited. In collaboration with ICEC/Catalan Arts, British Council and British Embassy in Spain.
#MCRxLaMerce2025 #Manchester
“We are honored to have collaborated with XTRAX as a strategic partner for MAC, the La Mercè 2025 outdoor programme. Without Walls has been proudly based in Manchester since its founding, and we are absolutely thrilled to be part of this exciting city to city partnership.
Manchester is a vibrant hub for some of the best outdoor art being created in the UK today. The programme of shows curated by XTRAX and Without Walls for La Mercè 2025, in partnership with the Artistic Director of MAC, stands as a testament to the city’s incredible creative energy.”
Ralph Kennedy, Chief Executive at Without Walls
PROFESSIONAL EVENTS
Alongside the outdoor performance programme at La Mercè there will also be a number of panel discussions and networking events exploring the importance of outdoor festivals in giving visibility to cultural communities and bringing people together.
These discussions will include international speakers and policy makers and will be attended by festival organisers, local authorities, artists and producers from across Europe. These events are a prelude to Mondiacult, the world’s biggest cultural policy conference for the member states of UNESCO taking place in Barcelona from 29 September – 1 October 2025.
This programme has been organised by XTRAX, Without Walls, La Mercè, ICEC Catalan Arts and Unlimited, with support from British Council and the British Embassy in Spain.
Full details on the professional programme.