Celebrating all thing music and arts, Green Island Festival is small but mighty, presenting a three-part series of day festivals and afterparties in Manchester, with line-ups that place underground, underrepresented, emerging artists from across the UK and global sounds at the forefront.
The festival will span across summer and early autumn, with the first chapter kicking off on Saturday 17th June, part two on Saturday 29th July, and the final chapter on Saturday 9th September.
The 500-capacity festival will see Hulme Community Garden Centre’s flora paradise transformed into an arts mecca, housing three stages – the main stage, forest stage and the third will present a rotation of takeovers by BBC Introducing, Ruffy’s Lab and Northern Lights Home x The Garden.
The line-up encompasses genre-spanning live music, vocalists, DJs and spoken word performers. Headlining June will be BCUC – a seven-piece band hailing from Soweto, South Africa. Joining them will be Galivantes – an eight-piece rowdy ska band, in addition to alt-rapper Charlie Boy Manson.
On the decks will be Pete on the Corner, exploring global rhythms and rare grooves, along with High Hoops, the duo celebrated for throwing heroic LGBTQ+ parties, and SHEWillProvide – a collective championing Black women and non-binary artists. Charms will bring a selection that spans across amapiano, UK funky and percussive afro rhythms, and Dr Jive will be mixing the best of disco, soul and funk.
July and September will see Mim Suleiman, Afrodisia, Sham Steele, Abnormal Sleepz, PRIDO, Meduulla, Adjua, Electric Jalaba, The Beautiful Sinners, Mix-Stress, and Atiké of Me Gusta amongst others taking to Green Island’s stages.
Co-founder Stephan Agbogbe said: “For us, Green Island is about giving a space to young creatives, helping them develop as artists by providing opportunities in physical spaces, booking them for their first gig, and encouraging them to establish their own network within the creative community here.
“Our main ambition for this festival is to work tightly with our partners and create long lasting opportunities for young people in the music industry and be a stepping stone for young emerging artists. For instance, the workshops will provide young people with skills which they can use in later life.”
The early hours of the festival, 10:30am – 1pm, will be devoted to family-friendly activities, ensuring the festival is truly open to all ages. Afterparties will take place at iconic institution NIAMOS, located a stone’s throw away from the festival, kicking off at 9:30pm and running until 3am.
Making sure guests are well-fed will be Didsbury’s dumpling and kimchi masters Midori, Boneless Brigade, serving up their plant powered street food delicacies, in addition to local legends Seven Bro7hers Brewery being official sponsors of the festival, who will be on hand to make sure guests are well quenched with some of their favourite pours on tap.
Accessibility is fundamental to Green Island founders’ vision for the Manchester festival, so a combined day festival and afterparty ticket starts at £22.50 per person, while festival and afterparty only tickets start at £12.50 each. You can find tickets here.