Stimulating… extraordinary… performance…
Updated 23 Mar 2023
hÅb is a Manchester-based producer, developer, and strategic advocate of Live Art, contemporary performance, and sited work in the North of England.
greenroom’s key partner for over a decade, hÅb aims to maintain its legacy — working in collaboration with a range of partners to produce showing opportunities, platforms, and artist development projects including: Divergency, Domestic, Emergency, Haphazard, Turn, and Works Ahead.
Essentially industry-facing, we work with artists, colleagues, venues, and others to create the best possible opportunities for new work to flourish.
Supported using public funding by Arts Council England, hÅb is also:
a core Divergency partner alongside STUN — encouraging diversity in Live Art;
a GM Artist Hub partner — a joint artist development project from 15 arts orgs;
a Greater Manchester LGBTQ+ Arts & Culture Network member;
a Live Art UK member — supporting & developing Live Art infrastructure;
a Manchester Independents lead partner — supporting & spotlighting GM artists.
Since January 2012, hÅb has been ‘public’ in the guise of Word of Warning — a peripatetic programme of, and online signpost to, contemporary live work in Manchester + beyond… NB this part of our site aims to offer information to artists wishing to know more about hÅb’s work and how to get involved; for information about our public-facing programme please see Word of Warning.
From Emergency, our annual micro-festival for new live work presenting up to 30 short works in a day each Autumn, and it’s recent iteration StopGap; through to Works Ahead, a series of small commissions with Contact for new work — we aim to provide a joined-up series of opportunities for emerging new work and artists in contemporary performance and Live Art.
In 2020 we began an online Domestic series, offering artists an opportunity to informally try out new ideas live from their homes — our rolling open call seeks proposals for performance works that can be presented online, within an artist’s available resources. Alongside live works, artists proposed pre-recorded pieces — so in December 2020 we introduced Domesticated, a home for video performance, featuring eight works.
hÅb curates sited performance and interventions — presenting Hazard, a biennial micro-festival of intervention that takes performance out of the black box environment and into Manchester city centre; as well as Haphazard, our frequent foray into all ages Live Art with Z-arts. We also present Turn with Contact, an annual micro-festival for new North West dance + dance-makers.
In any given year, hÅb might work with 100 artists — and present a couple of platforms, a sited festival, and over 50 pieces of work as Word of Warning.