John McGrath on this year’s Manchester International Festival

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INTERVIEW: JOHN MCGRATH.  Ahead of the opening of the 2017 Manchester International Festival (MIF), artistic director John McGrath talks to Catherine Love about this year’s programme. The conversation touches on the festival’s relationship with its host city; the challenges and opportunities of programming a multi-art form festival; and the ways in which MIF artists are responding to the world we live in. McGrath also briefly discusses his previous experience as founding artistic director of National Theatre Wales (2009-2015) and his time running Contact Theatre in Manchester (1999-2008). As he returns to Manchester, he considers the vital role that culture has to play in the life of the city. Recorded at the MIF offices on 6 June 2017.

“There are myriad different ways in which the artists engage with the city and its communities”