Emergency

Updated 30 June 2026

Emergency is our annual open call platform for Live Art and contemporary performance — offering a sneak preview of new live work over a single day in Manchester every autumn and now resident at Contact, its seventh home.

Manchester’s 26th micro-marathon of the bizarre, the bold, and the beautiful takes over Contact on Saturday 26 September 2026, tbc from Noon to 10pm — presenting about twenty works throughout the building.

Get a feel for it with 2025’s programme and gallery of images; 2024’s programme and gallery; 2023’s programme and gallery.

Manchester’s annual Live Art & performance platform, Emergency aims to be:
— a free to access public micro-festival and open submission platform;
— an opportunity for artists to meet, show, and peer review work;
— a selection event for a number of small Works Ahead commissions.

We usually expect to present about twenty works at each year’s platform — so if you would like to take part in what is probably England’s longest-running Live Art event, please read on for our open call…

Emergency 26 Open Call for Proposals

Artists working in Live Art, contemporary performance, time-based media, and interdisciplinary arts are now invited to submit proposals. Work can be in any relevant artform/medium, though some live presence is desirable.

For details & to apply please visit emergencymcr.posthaven.com
Proposal Deadline: Friday 7 August 2026, 5pm

Emergency 26 combines an Afternoon of durational, installation, intervention, and limited capacity work; followed by an Evening of short (max 20 min) show-type pieces of work, works-in-progress, or extracts of longer work.

Emergency 26 presented by Word of Warning + Contact; produced by hÅb; supported by Contact and using public funding by Arts Council England.

Enquiries: emergency@habmcr.org · emergencymcr.org

Past Editions

First held at greenroom in 2000, Emergency also took place at International Anthony Burgess Foundation, BLANKSPACE, Castlefield Gallery, Z-arts & STUN Studio, NIAMOS, before finding a new home at Contact from 2020…

Emergency 25 presented 23 new works at Contact on 27 September 2025 — with a daytime of performance installations, one-to-ones, and interventions — followed by an evening full of short shows from 4pm — including the return of special guests, Action Hero — see images.

Emergency 24 presented 28 new works at Contact on 28 September 2024 — with a daytime of performance installations, one-to-ones, and interventions — followed by an evening full of short shows from 4pm — see images.

Emergency 21 presented 10 new works in a socially-distanced live walkthrough at a newly re-opened Contact on 25 September 2021 — with audiences guided on a one-way journey through the refurbished building, pausing en route in gallery fashion — see images.

Emergency StopGap presented 13 new works in a new iteration at Manchester’s NIAMOS on 27 February 2020 — a small informal platform to bridge the gap between gallery and theatre, and to fill the empty months of winter… An informal ‘Thursday Late’ style evening with durational live works and interventions throughout the building — see images.