Searching for inspiration?
If you’ve got a bit of time free next week, there’s still a chance to get yourself down to Manchester for the Future Everything conference. Billed by The Guardian last year as one of the top ten ideas festivals in the world, Future Everything features conference sessions and workshops touching on the creative industries as well as innovation, arts, technology, academia and the public sector.
The entire event runs from March 21 to 24 (that’s next Thursday, folks), and the conference itself is bolstered by a programme of music and art in locations across Manchester.
This year’s themes are Creative Code, Future Cities and The Data Society. So what can you expect, if you pick up a ticket?
SPEAKERS
Keynotes this year come from Fabrica CEO Dan Hill and Dr Anthony Townsend of the Institute for the Future.
Dan believes the notion of the “Smart City” won’t work if it doesn’t involve its citizens. He’ll be explaining how and why at Future Everything. He leads up communications research centre Fabrica in Italy and has been involved with many innovative and acclaimed projects. He was formerly head of interactive technology and design at the BBC in London.
Anthony is an urban planner and forecaster who works at the Institute of the Future in California. He will look back at the birth of the town planning movement in the United Kingdom, and discuss how technology, business and policy will shape the smart cities of the next decade, and how citizens could be involved in this development.
Sessions will also come from people such as Steve Crossan, the head of the Google Cultural Institute, BBC Archive Development controller Tony Ageh, Europeana Foundation executive director Jill Cousins, Code/Space author Martin Dodge, Cosm.com founder Usman Haque, and Kickstarter director of art programmes Stephanie Pereira.
For more details on speakers, go here.
ARTS
The conference will also feature a series of arts performances and installations, alongside talks by innovative artists from around the world. Presentations will come from Natalie Jeremijenko, James George, Michelle Teran and more. For extra details, go here.
Future Everything will see the premiere of a new commission called Weave Waves, which combines sound, geography and mapping, while Quays Culture will present NVA’s Speed of Light, a public art performance at MediaCityUK. You can see a timelapse of last year’s performance in Edinburgh below…
MUSIC
Future Everything’s music programme features 24 artists, who will perform from Thursday 21 to Sunday 21 at locations such as Islington Mill and MediaCityUK. Listen out for Brandt Brauer Frick, who use classical instruments to produce techno. Other performances include Carter Tutti (formed from the asheds of Throbbing Gristle), minimalist R&B electronica act Holy Other, Loscil and Andy Stott.
For more, go here.
INNOVATION CHALLENGE
Coders and creative software developers will be hosting a 48-hour competition to build interesting applications with TfGM’s data. The event – called Routes To The Future – will take place at the weekend after the conference (Friday 22 to Sunday 24) and is designed to find ways to improve the transport experience in Manchester. There’s a cash prize and development fund available.
It follows on from the Manchester Hackathon in November, which was won by Data Crossfader, a visualisation tool developed by North East-based James Rutherford and Ashley Herriott.
Betarocket will be heading down to Manchester next week to check it out, so stay tuned for more from the festival. Oh, and go here to find out more.