As part of this year's Spirit of Manchester Festival hosted by Manchester Community Central, we invite you to come and join us for a day of art, creativity and fun on 26th September. 

We will be showcasing the excellent work produced by people who use the Booth Centre. You will be able to see some fabulous art work, video productions and some live performances from our opera group. 

Refreshments will be provided so please come along, have a look at our new premises and see what we have been up to. 

RSVP to: [email protected]

Date: Friday 26th September          
Time: 13:30-15:30         
Venue: The Booth Centre, Edward Holt House, Pimblett Street, Manchester M3 1FU

Swap the rush hour for an hour of musical entertainment from Streetwise Opera’s Manchester performers; let our songs inspire you for the rest of the week!

Watch uplifting performances from people who’ve been empowered by singing and acting together in weekly workshops at the Booth Centre and the Methodist Central Hall. There’s a taste of Verdi’s Macbeth, the world premiere of a very special new song by Stef Connor (Streetwise Opera's Composer in Residence) and other musical treats in store.

We hope you will join us for this short, informal evening in the lovely refurbished Library – our groups are all about having fun and trying new things and that’s what this evening is about too!

'Everyone was talking about the passion and power of the performance afterwards'
Audience member

‘It really improved my confidence, singing in front of a group’
Streetwise Performer

Tickets: Free, but space is limited to 50 people so reserve your seat now (includes a free soft drink)
6-7pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Manchester Central Library, St Peters Square, City Centre, M2 5PD

Click here to reserve your space online.
Or call Streetwise Opera on 0207 730 9551 or email [email protected]

Could you help raise money for the centre by taking part in the Bupa Great Manchester Run? Registrations are now open!

Join 40,000 people for Europe's biggest 10k running event on Sunday 18 May 2014. Entries cost £38 (£31.66 plus VAT at 20%) which includes a T-shirt, medal, Finishers Pack and accurate chip timing.

Join the Booth Centre team and help raise money for our Centre.  Once you've registered, just send us an email and we'll arrange to send you a Booth Centre running vest or t-shirt and a sponsorship form.

You can register for the event online, and there's lots more information on their website.

The Answer to Everything is an interactive film and live opera event set in a conference.

At first smarmy compere Steve Hedges keeps the delegates united and corporate confidence appears sky high, but as music gradually engulfs the business rhetoric his world begins to fall apart. Do they really have ‘the answer to everything’?

Moving between stage and screen, the audience is invited to take part as conference delegates in this cheeky, satirical look at big business.

Skilfully mixing performances from Streetwise Opera’s homeless and ex-homeless performers with a handful of professionals including renowned soprano Elizabeth Watts, this rich and characterful 70-minute experience features new commissions by Gavin Bryars, Orlando Gough, Emily Hall, Anna Meredith and Duncan Ward with existing music by Britten, Handel, Gounod, Schumann and Vivaldi.

This is a live performance with optional audience participation; come dressed in your finest business-wear, collect your lanyard and conference pack from the Welcome Desk and get ready to ‘break out’.


Monday 10th February 2014, 18:00-19:30

Cornerhouse
70 Oxford Street
Manchester M1 5NH

Tickets
£8.00/6.00
£6.50/4.50 members
£3 Live Wire Members

Buy tickets - On sale from the Cornerhouse box office.

On Thursday 26 September the first Spirit of Manchester Awards ceremony was held at NOMA, the new Co-operative building.

It was a fantastic night highlighting the work of Manchester’s voluntary and community sector.

We were thrilled to win the vote and the award for best volunteer involving organisation. The Lord Mayor of Manchester presented us with a trophy, a certificate, pen and £20 of Manchester Christmas market shillings.

For more information about the awards please see the Spirit of Manchester Awards website and you can see photos from the night on the flickr page.

You can watch the film about what our volunteers mean to us here

A team from Altrincham Grammar School have won the Youth Philanthropy Initiative Award on behalf of the Booth Centre.  The project aims to get young people engaged in social change and participate in growing compasionate communities.  The £3,000 prize money will help to fund our Cafe Advice sessions, which provides free food, socks and toiletries to 170 people a week and to fund furniture packages for people moving into new homes.  Congratulations to Robyn, Maria, Kate and Lamisa and thank you for your suppport.

On Friday 9th November over 100 people decided to brave cold and wet weather to sleep outside Manchester Cathedral to raise money for the Booth Centre.

Around £15,000 has already been raised through the event with more donations to come, which will have a significant impact on the work the centre is able to do. Amanda Croome, manager of the Booth Centre said "This is a particularly challenging time of year for people who find themselves homeless, and as the nights get colder and wetter it's vitally important that we're able to help people get off the streets and into suitable accommodation. This boost to our funds will make a huge difference to our work."  

Although the event gave participants a glimpse of some of the hardships homeless people have to face each night, organisers were committed to showing some of the positive changes the work of the Booth Centre can have on the lives of local homeless people. "One of the activities the centre runs is a weekly singing workshop in conjunction with Streetwise Opera and Opera North. We staged a mini opera during the sleepout involving some of the people who use the centre regularly, and it was great to see such a positive reaction to their performance."

Among those taking part in the event was Helen Varley, who works for CBBC in Salford Quays. "It was an amazing experience but also a harsh insight into the life some people have to lead. I felt the winter chill in my bones, my sleeping bag was soggy, and the hard ground and noise made sleep pretty impossible - I think I got 30 minutes kip all night! I don't think anyone who was part of the sleepout will ever take a warm bed for granted again and I'm proud and pleased that we have all come together for such a great cause."

Thank you to everyone who took part and made this such a successful event. We'll update you with a final total when we've finished collecting all the sponsorship raised! 

I LIVE TEMPORARY is a digital installation created by homeless people from the Booth Centre, in collaboration with experimental arts organisation, arthur+martha. 

Customised postcards, sound recordings and an epic tweet poem carry tiny stories, little snatches of homeless people’s lives. These voices are often unheard, but they have insight to offer everyone. Combining text, sound and image, I LIVE TEMPORARY is a report from life outside the borders of comfort and acceptance. Funny, sad, angry, resigned - here are all the human colours.  

arthur+martha works with people who are pushed to the margins of society – older people in hospital, excluded school pupils, holocaust survivors and many others.
 
Launch event
Date and time: Friday 11th May, 2 – 4pm
Venue: The Egg, University of Salford, MediaCityUK, Salford Quays, Salford, M50 2HE

Exhibition general opening times:
Open: Friday 11th May - Friday 1st June. Times will vary. 
Admisson: Free
Venue: The Egg, University of Salford, MediaCityUK, Salford Quays, Salford, M50 2HE

Full details about the event are available on the University of Salford Arts Events website.