We like to think we’re pretty artsy and inspiring in Manchester, what with having a thriving music, theatre and arts scene that has withstood centuries of change. With that in mind, Manchester has now been named the most inspiring city in the UK, according to a study looking at opportunities, venues and social media conversation.
The study carried out by Aura Print crowned Manchester as number one, earning a remarkable 8.33/10 for its ‘inspirational score’. Having the highest number of comedy clubs outside London (2.13 per 100,000 people), our city not only fuels creativity with a bustling street art scene which garnered an impressive 60,782 Instagram hashtags, but also had over 13 billion admiring the city on TikTok.
The Instagram portion of the study saw the company scour Instagram hashtags for #citystreetart and #streetartcity, to come up with an estimate for the number of Instagram posts featuring street art from each city. Each city was also searched on TikTok to reveal its popularity on the platform.
The city’s crown jewel, The Royal Exchange, adds to its allure being the UK’s biggest theatre in the round, making it a must-visit for theatre aficionados.
The study also celebrated the variety of art galleries and museums, theatres and art and design universities in Manchester, which inspire locals and visitors alike, and attract new talent to the city with specialist departments. Manchester also topped the survey for the number of art creative jobs in the city, with 31.46 jobs in the sector per 100,000 people.
Behind Manchester came Brighton and Hove, scoring 7.69/10 overall, with the number of art galleries and museums topping any other city. The cities of Bristol, London and Edinburgh followed Brighton and Hove in third, fourth and fifth positions, with scores of 7, 6.94 and 6.6 respectively, with Edinburgh earning a special mention for its annual arts festival and the fact that the city allegedly inspired the Harry Potter series.
In fact, a fair few northern cities were named in the list of 30 alongside Manchester, battling it out to be the most inspiring city, including Liverpool, Leeds and Newcastle, showing our artsy prowess here in the north, of which we love to take full advantage.