Manchester Named Guest City For Barcelona’s LA MERCÈ 2025

Manchester will take centre stage at Barcelona’s La Mercè 2025 as the festival’s official Guest City, in a landmark partnership curated by Manchester-based international outdoor arts organisation XTRAX in collaboration with Without Walls. Running Tuesday 23 to Sunday 28 September 2025, the programme will feature parades, installations, music, dance, and performance in public spaces across the city, celebrating Manchester’s creative depth, diversity, and innovation.

La Mercè annually attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors and is considered a highlight of the European cultural calendar. Manchester’s participation will include thirteen projects and more than eighteen UK artists and companies, with performances ranging from Carnival and circus to hip hop, fire installations, and large-scale puppetry.

Highlights include Bee for Barcelona, a new collaboration between Manchester’s Global Grooves and Catalan artists Pau Reig and Dolors Sans; The Ultimate Player’s Handbook, a dance piece from Company Chameleon and Barcelona’s Clémentine & Lisard; and Barcelona Beehive by Artizani, merging Catalan traditions with Manchester’s iconic bees. Other featured companies include DamaeDance, Stopgap Dance Company, Mark Anderson with Liam Walsh, Ghetto Fabulous, Joseph Toonga’s Just Us Dance Theatre, Mr Wilson’s Second Liners, Motionhouse, and Walk the Plank with Fire Garden.

The programme also includes poetry films from OUR CITY SPEAKS, produced with Manchester City of Literature and Barcelona City of Literature, and a series of free international panels and networking events in the lead-up to UNESCO’s Mondiacult cultural policy conference.

XTRAX Director Maggie Clarke said, “La Mercè is recognised as one of the greatest festivals of outdoor arts in the world, and it is an honour to present some of the fantastic work from Manchester at this prestigious event, and to have created opportunities for collaboration between Manchester and Barcelona artists.”

Ralph Kennedy, Chief Executive at Without Walls, added, “Manchester is a vibrant hub for some of the best outdoor art being created in the UK today. The programme stands as a testament to the city’s incredible creative energy.”