Understanding Aviva Studios

Manchester has an enormous new arts venue that cost around £210m to build and is receiving press coverage around the world. I’m an arts journalist who grew up here, lives here and has spent more than a decade writing about culture. But the thought of this new venue, Aviva Studios — to be honest, even just the thought of thinking about it — fills me with a powerful boredom. 

It's probably because of this that despite being in charge of The Mill's cultural coverage, I've tried to get this article reassigned to anyone else at least three times. But my editor thinks that my allergy to this topic is interesting in itself. Why do I care so little? Why am I so unengaged?

I’m forced to mull these questions over as I prepare to interview John McGrath, the venue’s Creative Director. Is it because Aviva Studios has been built as a permanent home for Manchester International Festival, or MIF, an event that has been running since 2007 — but that I’ve never really thought much about? Is it because I’ve found most of the media coverage so far has been about budget overspends (the costs have more than doubled in the past few years), estimated economic impacts and things that have nothing to do with art itself? Is it because so many details beyond the architecture and the money seem amorphous and hard to pin down?…Keep reading on The Mill.