This years East Manchester Festival took place at the Grange in Beswick, Manchester, the event part of Refugee Week which is now in its 5th year is now a regular annual festivity for the community. Despite the weather's attempts to spoil the event, it was still a good day for the people who braved the rain early on, after a few showers things started to hot up and everyone was getting into party mode.

Did you go, this is what you missed out on.

Enter Open Mic UK now and become the UK’s best on the Open Mic! The national talent competition to search for the UK’s best singers, singer/songwriters, rappers and vocalists of all genres. Audition dates now released click here now to find the audition nearest to you.

Open Mic UK; the exciting new national talent competition to search for the UK’s best singers, singer/songwriters, rappers and vocalists of all genres who perform either covers or original material. The competition offers the competitors the opportunity to perform live in front of large audiences, generating media attention and exposure.
The competition will be going up and down the UK and coming to a city or town near you to discover acts with the potential to become the next Leona Lewis, Lemar or James Blunt! Competing for the chance to win from the £25,000 in prizes; the winning act will have the opportunity to win a recording contact to release their single.

This years East Manchester Festival will take place at the Grange on Saturday the 20th June between 12.0pm - 4.0pm. The Grange is located at Pilgrim Drive, Beswick, Manchester M11 3TQ (on Albert Street, off Grey Mare Lane), click for directions.

This will be the fifth year of the event, and hopefully will follow on from the success of previous years.

The East Manchester Festival is held as part of Refugee Week, where many events up and down the country will place. Refugee Week is a UK wide programme of events which celebrate the contribution of refugees to the UK, they will take place from 15 - 21 June. For a list of events visit the Refugee Week website for more information.

Unheard, Unseen, Unauthorised

Event 15th May 2009

For Futuresonic 2009, Single Cell Collective present an eclectic series of impromptu musical performances in secret locations around Manchester City Centre.

Over 20 Manchester musicians hit the city centre streets, playing an eclectic series of impromptu gigs in a variety of secret, unauthorised locations, from the very public to the very hidden. Organised by local music collective Single Cell, and taking place as part of the Futuresonic 2009 festival, the gigs, running from midday until 8pm, it featured a diverse range of artists who volunteered their services such as Aidan Jolly, Billtone, Craig Winterburn, Dave Birchall, Dave Leach, Dominic Berry (poet), HoneyFeet, Hot Bone, John Fairhurst, John Robb, Julie E Gordon, Leonie Higgins, Lunar Coup, Mike Garry (poet), Mind on Fire Collective, Phil Davies, Tom Kerswill, TG Elias, Ben Mellor, The Spokes, Tanante and more, representing everything from african drumming to heavy metal and acoustic folk and Poetry.

“Asylum seekers appealing decisions made by refugee courts are left without benefits or the ability to earn a living. These busking performances are taking place without permission in marginalised locations or hidden in very public places, mirroring the status of these destitute refugees.”

This intro was used as a test to introduce the work of the Community Reporters at the Learning and Technology Forum 2009 at the QEII centre in London.

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Peoples Voice Media at the Learning and Technology World Forum held between 12-14 January 2009 at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London. We took three community reporters and a couple of members of staff to cover what was happening at the World Forum. There were a lot of people with interesting things to say there.

Visit Learning and Technology World Forum for more information.