Manchester International Festival: who owns it, who runs it and what the accounts show
Manchester International Festival has no person with significant control recorded on the Companies House register. In the year to March 2025 it reported turnover of £24m.
- Registered name
- MANCHESTER INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
- Company number
- 05292793
- Status
- Active
- Incorporated
- 22 November 2004
- Registered office area
- Manchester
- Industry code on the register
- 90010: Creative, arts and entertainment activities
- Accounts
- Group accounts, covering the companies it owns
- Accounts type
- Full group accounts
- Latest accounts
- Year to March 2025, filed 14 January 2026
What does Manchester International Festival do?
Manchester International Festival is an arts festival that commissions and presents new work across music, theatre, visual art, dance and performance, staged around Manchester. It is a charity, funded by a mix of public money from bodies such as Arts Council England and Manchester City Council, ticket sales, sponsorship and donations. First held in 2007, it focuses on original work rather than touring shows. It is run by Factory International, which also operates the Aviva Studios venue.
In brief: arts festival · new commissions · Manchester · charity run by Factory International
Source: Spark Intel editorial, checked 24 September 2026. Official website: factoryinternational.org.
Who owns Manchester International Festival?
Manchester International Festival, company number 05292793, has no person with significant control recorded on the register. The full record is linked below.
The full ownership record is on the Companies House register. Control is given in the bands the register uses, not as exact shareholdings.
Who runs Manchester International Festival?
The Companies House register lists 20 current officers for Manchester International Festival.
All 20 current officers
| Officer | Appointed |
|---|---|
| Charles Richard Bell | 27 September 2017 |
| Joanne Louise Whitfield | 22 April 2020 |
| Ngozi Ugochukwu | 22 April 2020 |
| Laura Jordan-Bambach | 2 March 2022 |
| Fazeel Barber | 2 March 2022 |
| Shaminder Nahal | 2 March 2022 |
| Sharon Monica Watson | 21 September 2022 |
| Moira Sarah Sinclair | 1 March 2024 |
| Garry Bridges | 28 May 2024 |
| Joshua Jack Wilkinson | 3 March 2025 |
| Nihal Senaka Arthanayake | 3 March 2025 |
| John B. Dunleavy | 3 March 2025 |
| Leila Louisa Anne Alexander | 3 March 2025 |
| Lemn Sissay | 3 March 2025 |
| Candice Marie Hull | 3 March 2025 |
| Thom Hetherington | 3 March 2025 |
| Molly Margaret Jackson | 10 December 2025 |
| Zoe Victoria Watters | 10 December 2025 |
| Jamie Ben Laing | 10 June 2026 |
| Rebecca Heron | 21 July 2026 |
Every current officer, with appointment dates, is on the Companies House register.
What did Manchester International Festival file?
Manchester International Festival reported turnover of £24m in the year to March 2025. That was down 17.2% on £29m the year before.
It reported 240 employees. The year before it reported 257.
It filed a pre-tax loss of £1.5m for the year, against a pre-tax loss of £1.7m the year before.
Staff costs came to £10m. That is an average of £40,000 a head. It ended the year with £5m at the bank and net assets of £13m.
| Measure | Mar 2025 | Mar 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Turnover | £24m | £29m |
| Pre-tax profit | -£1.5m (filed) | -£1.7m (filed) |
| Employees | 240 | 257 |
| Staff costs | £10m | £9m |
| Average staff cost per head | £40,000 | £36,000 |
| Bank and cash | £5m | £4m |
| Net assets | £13m | £14m |
| Directors' pay | £1k |
Read the accounts to March 2025 on Companies House, where every set of accounts the company has filed can be downloaded as a PDF.
Manchester International Festival files as Manchester International Festival, with turnover of £24m in its latest filed year.
Questions about Manchester International Festival
What does Manchester International Festival do?
Manchester International Festival is an arts festival that commissions and presents new work across music, theatre, visual art, dance and performance, staged around Manchester. It is a charity, funded by a mix of public money from bodies such as Arts Council England and Manchester City Council, ticket sales, sponsorship and donations. First held in 2007, it focuses on original work rather than touring shows. It is run by Factory International, which also operates the Aviva Studios venue.
Who owns Manchester International Festival?
Manchester International Festival has no person with significant control recorded at Companies House.
How much does Manchester International Festival make?
Manchester International Festival reported turnover of £24m in the year to March 2025. It filed a pre-tax loss of £1.5m.
How many people work at Manchester International Festival?
Manchester International Festival reported 240 employees in the year to March 2025.
Who runs Manchester International Festival?
The Companies House register lists 20 current officers for Manchester International Festival. The full list, with appointment dates, is on the Companies House register.
- Figures come from Manchester International Festival's filings at Companies House, company number 05292793, for the period shown at the top of the page.
- These are group accounts: they include the companies it owns.
- Pre-tax profit is the figure the company filed, for both years.
- A figure the filing does not disclose is shown as n/d. A zero in the filing is treated as not disclosed, never as nil.
- Rounding: below £0.1m in thousands, from £0.1m to £2m to one decimal place, from £2m to the nearest million.
- Ownership is shown in the control bands the register of people with significant control uses, not as exact shareholdings.
- Officers' names and appointment dates come from the Companies House register. Job titles come from the company's own website. The description of what the company does comes from its website, or is marked Spark Intel editorial where it is written from stable, checked facts, with the date either way.
Spark Intel, “Manchester International Festival: who owns it, who runs it and what the accounts show”, updated 28 September 2026. https://www.spark-intel.co.uk/companies/manchester-international-festival/. Figures from Companies House filings for MANCHESTER INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL (05292793).
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