Next Thursday, May 14th sees Manchester After Hours – a series of nocturnal events taking place in spaces we don’t usually get to see after dark.

From video jamming with steam engines, to one-off supperclubs, there are over 30 events happening across the city over the one night. We caught up with the festival’s event organiser and Director of Creative Tourist, Alex Saint, to hear about the logistics of pulling off a project with so many moving parts, and her recommendations for things to do on the night.

What is Manchester After Hours?

Manchester After Hours is an evening when museums, galleries and libraries stay open later than usual and play host to a range of special events, often with a music theme.

It’s a chance to get into places and spaces not normally open after dark and experience social and creative events from ‘odd couplings’ of artists and venues you wouldn’t necessarily expect to see together.

It’s part of the national Museums at Night Festival, but in Manchester we do things a little bit differently by having a series of connected happening across the city at the same time.  We call it a  one night, city wide social and this year it features poetry and soundscapes, video jamming with steam engines, secret gigs amongst medieval book stacks, traditional Warli art, local record labels cutting it up in the surrounds of a music library, a live lit walking tour, more music in the Northern Quarter’s creative clubs – all this and more.

How did it get started?

This will be third time when we have come together as a city on the one night. It began in 2013 when visitors to Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester Museum and Whitworth worked with artist Richard Wentworth  to create an exhibition in a night, and has been building from there.

How many attendees are you expecting?

Overall we think around 4,500 people will head out into the city to join in the various activities. There are over 30 events clustered in different parts of the centre, so participants will be able to create their own unique itineraries depending on what they want to do and where they want to be.

What are the main challenges with putting on this kind of event?

The hardest thing is helping make sense of all the events and promoting them so that attendees get a real sense that there are many other people doing things simultaneously, all over the city, and at the same time.

One event, a live literature tour with Bad Language, purposely tours the city taking in a range of different venues and spaces. No-one will be able to get to everything, but we hope people will do 2 or 3 things in an evening.

What are the unmissable events in your opinion?

Well, it’s unfair to choose really as everything is really good, BUT we have six signature events at the centre of things including the Museum of Science and Industry where Video Jam present a site specific audio visual experience amidst the museum’s working textile machinery; Sir Andrew Motion at Imperial War Museum (North) performs a new commission especially for VJDay; there’s Jason Singh’s sonic-journey with Warli artists at Manchester Museum and we are cutting a disc with Debt Records in Central Library. There’s lots more though and all information can be found on creativetourist.com/manchester-after-hours-2015

How has Eventbrite helped with this event?

We love Eventbrite! It’s so easy to use and our audiences trust it too, which makes it a great choice for us when we are putting on quick one night events.

Get tickets to the launch event here; Fred Aldous’ art extravaganza here; and other events here and here.

Calling all event organisers! For a limited time only, we’re giving away £100 FREE CREDIT towards your event. Claim yours at eventbrite.co.uk/britenw