We Invented The Weekend will celebrate the joy of free time, treating guests to sports, music, comedy, theatre, dance, workshops, talks, food, charity, wellness, crafts and more. The brand-new two-day event will take place on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th June in MediaCity and Salford Quays.
The festival is funded by Arts Council England, Salford City Council and MediaCity, and supported by Salford’s Culture & Place Partnership, a cross-city collective delivering Suprema Lex, Salford’s strategy for culture.
From water sports on the canal, community feasts and dance performances, to getting your hands dirty with planting workshops and finding gems at vintage markets, festivalgoers will meet new people, try new things, and make memories together.
New research by We Invented the Weekend festival in partnership with Ipsos has revealed a Cost of Weekend Crisis, with 1 in 3 Britons expecting to reduce the amount they go out socially such as to bars or restaurants compared with last year, and 3 in 10 anticipating reducing the frequency in which they do paid local activities such as go to the cinema or concerts.
The research highlights that the public’s engagement with weekend social activity has changed in response to the cost-of-living crisis. As consumers spend more on energy, fuel, food and resources, they have less money to spend on socialising, entertainment and travel at the weekends. The festival aims to aid this, celebrating the joy of free time.
Wayne Hemingway MBE, co-founder of the We Invented the Weekend festival said: “Life is different in 2023 – we are saving as much money as possible by staying in to save for the future, but it’s unfortunately at the cost of the weekend.
“Large scale free festivals such as We Invented the Weekend offer consumers a chance to experience all the activities and socialising they have been restricted from at no cost, so we’re hopeful the weekender will let our festivalgoers take a step away from everyday life and help alleviate the Cost of Weekend crisis. It is a full circle moment being able to host a large scale free festival which celebrates everything that people love to do at the weekend in the place where the weekend was invented.”