With less than a week to go until he steps down as Leader of Manchester City Council after 25 years, cultural organisations across the city and beyond have paid tribute to the remarkable legacy Sir Richard Leese leaves behind.
During his tenure at the top he has overseen the transformation of Manchester into a leading world-class cultural city.
Sir Richard Leese was first elected to Manchester City Council in 1984, becoming deputy leader in 1990 and leader in 1996. He steps down as leader after more than a quarter of a century on Wednesday 1 December.
Under his leadership Manchester has been transformed from a struggling post-industrial city with a declining population to the UK’s fastest-growing city playing a confident role on the international stage. He is a strong advocate of the powerful role which culture can play in regeneration, creating jobs and other opportunities and adding to the mix of what makes Manchester a place where people and businesses want to be as well as for its own intrinsic importance
When Time Out magazine named Manchester earlier this year as the third best city in the world to visit – well ahead of the next placed UK city London, which was 13th - culture was cited as a major factor.
The city's reputation might be founded on its industrial past, but at the same time Manchester has long been a place of learning and the arts. This parallel reputation as a centre of culture and creativity really began to gather pace following the 2002 Commonwealth Games - six years into Sir Richard's term of office - when the eyes of the world were on the city.
Since then, the city's creative sector has continued to grow and thrive, and just months before the pandemic struck Manchester was recognised by the CBI* as the second largest creative city in Europe after London, with a GVA to the city's economy of £1.4bn - proving the soundness of the city's ongoing investment in culture and the arts, and its continuing belief in the power of culture and creativity to transform lives.
Major projects during Sir Richard’s period in office include:
Bridgewater Hall was opened in 1996 to great acclaim - a world leading concert hall for the city with use of innovative acoustic technology making it one of the best places in the world to enjoy music. The venue was made possible with a £42million package of investment split equally between Manchester City Council Central Manchester Development Corporation and the European Regional Development Fund. The Hall is the home of the Hallé Orchestra, the city’s orchestra since 1858.
The Hallé opened their own venue, Hallé St Peter’s, incorporating the refurbished St. Peter’s Church and the newly constructed Oglesby Centre, in 2019 in Ancoats. While the Bridgewater Hall still hosts their symphonic-scale concerts, Hallé St Peter’s is home to the Hallé extensive learning and engagement activities, their youth ensembles and chamber music series, as well as a café.
In 2002, Manchester Art Gallery reopened to the public following the creation of a new contemporary extension to the rear of the classical building. The £35m investment created a stunning side new entrance and atrium space with lift access to all galleries, The project tripled the gallery in size and the exhibition gallery spaces were doubled.
People’s History Museum, the national museum of democracy and one of two national museums in Manchester (the other one being the Science and Industry Museum) reopened in 2010 after a £12.5 million capital scheme; its extension is clad in Cor-Ten steel, the first public building in Manchester to use this material which is best known for being used for the Angel of the North.
Thanks to a £50m investment, Manchester Central Library was magnificently refurbished and redeveloped as part of the wider Civic Quarter investment. Completed in 2014, the development dramatically changed the amount of the building accessible to the public and the contemporary stairwell with lift access beautifully complement the restoration of the historic reading room. Manchester Central Library was officially named the busiest public library in the UK in 2019/20, smashing all estimates by recording more than two million visits. An unrivalled hub of information and education, it's also one of the city's best places to meet and socialise.
The Whitworth reopened in 2015 following a £15m transformation of the gallery. The redevelopment doubled public space and created state-of-the-art new facilities including expanded gallery spaces, a study centre, learning studio, and a collections centre. The highly acclaimed redevelopment gave new life to the Whitworth’s eclectic and extensive collection of historical and contemporary fine art, textiles and wallpapers and its ambitious exhibition programme.
HOME is Manchester's state of the art centre for contemporary theatre, film, art, music. Opening in 2015 in its new iconic First Street location at a cost of £25m, HOME brought together the former Library Theatre Company and the popular Cornerhouse art and cinema complex into a new stunning and purpose-built venue with some of the best environmental credentials in the city. It has two theatres and flexible studio space, five cinemas, gallery space to display contemporary art, café bar and restaurant and it has become one of city's best loved venues to meet and eat.
Contact, based on Oxford Road, is one of the city's most innovative cultural organisations. It re-opened its doors in 2021 following a transformative £6m refurbishment project, creating new and improved venues spaces to work with city cities newest and emerging creatives. Contact is a multi-disciplinary creative space specialising in producing work with young people aged 13 to 30 and is recognised nationally and internationally as a pioneer in the field of youth leadership and creativity.
Manchester International Festival launched in 2007 with a unique Mancunian inspired mission to be the world first festival of original new commissions. Working cross-collaboratively with artists, musicians, theatre makers and writers, with the world rebound and with local people; Manchester International Festival has inspired, delighted and engaged audiences in its special events taking over public spaces, historic buildings and sometimes in previously unseen and hidden locations across the city.
National Football Museum opening its doors in 2012 in the architecturally iconic Urbis building which was adapted to house the museum and its globally significant artifacts and exhibits including the prestigious FIFA collection. The stunning glass structure became a symbol of the city’s recovery following the IRA Bomb in 1996. Adaptations to the building prior to the museum opening in 2012 totalled £7.6million, funded equally between ERDF and Manchester City Council.
Manchester Jewish Museum reopened in July 2021 after a capital scheme which saw the old museum, the Sephardi synagogue on Cheetham Hill Road refurbished and a new extension built. The £6m refurbishment, supported by the National Heritage Lottery Fund has won several architectural awards (British Construction Industry Awards 2021: Cultural and Leisure Project of the Year and Best Small Project) and Façade Awards 2021: Best Use of Rainscreen Using Specialist Metal, to include Zinc, Copper, Brass). Manchester Culture Awards is now in its third year, providing a celebratory platform to commend and highlight the best creativity the city has to offer. Recognising the breadth and impact of the cultural life of the city; nominees include individual young artists, leading cultural institutions and grassroots led innovative community arts as well as this year- people who went above and beyond during the pandemic to support people in need.
The Factory - is a new £186m cultural venue like no other in the country. With a unique combination of hyper flexible spaces and a stunning auditorium it is one of the largest and most significant developments of its kind in Europe. When completed in late 2022, it will be the home to the Manchester International Festival and will present bold new work by the world’s most exciting artists. A place to create, invent and play; The Factory is where the art of the future will be made.
Band on the Wall, a cornerstone in Manchester's live music scene had its first major development work in 2009, extending the venue and installing a sound system to guarantee the best live music experience in a venue of its size. It is currently closed for a new phase of works which will see the venue extend into the adjacent historic property which will further extend Band on the Wall's capacity to welcome larger audiences to its characteristically diverse music programme.
The city has also forged many international cultural links over the last 25 years, including:
MANCCC (Manchester Network with Cultural Collaboration with China) - A network of cultural and higher education organisations established in 2019 who work with China, harnessing the power of culture and creativity to support Manchester and Greater Manchester’s relationships with Chinese cities, e.g., through artist exchanges. This work is supported by the British Council.
Danish Cities collaboration - In 2019, the cities of Aarhus, Aalborg and Manchester signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cultural collaboration, establishing a framework between the cities for collaboration on arts and culture, and focusing on arts and health, children and young people, and urban development and design as priority areas. This work is supported by the Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces and Arts Council England.
Manchester City of Literature - A charity set up following Manchester's successful bid for the UNESCO City of Literature designation in 2017 when we joined an international network of UNESCO Creative Cities, 38 of them Cities of Literature. Its vision is to create an innovative, distinctive, equitable, globally connected city of reading and writing and to develop Manchester to be a city where diverse voices are celebrated, creative talent and industries are nurtured and where literary activity changes lives. The charity is supported by Manchester City Council, University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University.
Music Cities Network - In July 2019, the city of Manchester joined the international Music Cities Network, a collaboration of global music cities which collaborate on the development of their music sectors, share experience, and arrange joint initiatives. The other cities in the network are Aarhus in Denmark, Bergen in Norway, Berlin in Germany, Groningen in the Netherlands, Nantes in France, Hamburg in Germany, Sydney in Australia, and Reykjavik in Iceland.
In addition, Manchester maintains and fosters cultural links with its partner cities Wuhan in China, Chemnitz in Germany and St Petersburg in the Russia as well as other cities across the world.
Dr Maria Balshaw CBE, Director, Tate: “For the 2015 Manchester International Festival, Alex Poots, Hans Ulrich Obrist and I commissioned the esteemed composer Arvo Pärt and the artist Gerhard Richter to make an exhibition together. They had long admired one another so they enthusiastically agreed. The Whitworth exhibition brought together Richter’s Birkenau prints and Doppelgrau works which reflect on the legacy of the Holocaust, and Arvo Pärt composed a new Hallelujah choral piece. He invited a Gregorian Choir to perform the piece on the hour within the exhibition space. Richard was part of the first audience and was moved to tears by the performance. This was one of my highpoints in Manchester - to see the Leader of Manchester City Council who clearly felt so deeply about the power of the arts. I hope he remembers it as much of a profound experience as I remember witnessing it.”
Dave Moutrey, Director and CEO, HOME & Director of Culture for Manchester City Council: “Sir Richard stood on those steps for the opening HOME with Danny Boyle at a time when no other place in the UK was being anywhere near as bold in investing in culture where he said: Manchester invests in arts and culture for 3 reasons, economic, social and perhaps most importantly because who the hell wants to live in a city with no culture. That belief and commitment has resulted in Manchester leading the way in the UK in making culture central to our growth and better lives and is much admired across the world for our diverse and talented musicians, artists, poets, writers, designers, filmmaker, creatives, top quality institutions and organisations with more of our residents engaged that ever before. Sir Richard’s leadership and commitment to the role of culture in the transformation of our city and our residents lives has been unstinting and visionary.”
John McGrath, Artistic Director & Chief Executive, Manchester International Festival: “MIF takes place in a city where culture is valued as a human right, where everyone working for the City Council is committed to making great things happen and where the city leadership is steadfast in its support for culture even in the most difficult of circumstances. Sir Richard is without doubt one of the most ardent advocates in the country for the power of culture as a public good. He leaves a very big legacy, not least in our spectacular new cultural space The Factory.”
Alistair Hudson, Director for Manchester Art Gallery and The University of Manchester’s Whitworth: “Over the last 25 years Sir Richard Leese has taken Manchester out from the post-industrial world, to become a new future-facing global city. In this he has been unwavering in his commitment to the role of culture in shaping a city that is worth living in,and led a council that is committed to the idea of art being intrinsic to social transformation, in health, education, place-making. He has also fostered such a collaborative culture across the city, with a genuine community spirit. This is no more evident than following the trauma of the Manchester Arena bombing, when he a convened a creative and heartfelt response that brought everyone together and now manifest in the Manchester Together Archive in Manchester Art Gallery.”
Stephen Freeman, Executive Director and CEO, Royal Exchange Theatre: “Under Sir Richard’s leadership culture has been at the heart of the city, he has embraced the narrative that creativity makes a vibrant, dynamic and progressive city, somewhere that people will choose to live, put down roots and thrive. This has been evident in his continued support for the Royal Exchange Theatre, from attending press nights to joining us for dinner on our unique stage – at every turn championing just how important it is to have a producing theatre in the centre of the city, and recognising how sharing and telling stories, made and created here in Manchester, can only bring us closer and help us understand who we are together and as individuals. Culture can so often be perceived as an added bonus – under Sir Richard’s leadership we were never an ‘add-on’, we were a necessity. Thank you, from all at the Royal Exchange Theatre.”
Professor Linda Merrick, Principal RNCM: “On behalf of the Royal Northern College of Music, it gives me great pleasure to record our sincere thanks to Sir Richard Leese for his exceptional leadership of our city over the last 25 years. During his tenure, Richard has presided over an extraordinary period of change and transformation, which has placed Manchester on the global map as one of the most dynamic and forward-looking Cities in the world. Someone of great personal integrity who is genuinely committed to public service in the interests of creating a fairer society for all, Richard's legacy is truly extraordinary. He will be much missed by all of us who have had the great privilege of knowing and working with him. Thank you.”
David Butcher, Chief Executive, Hallé Orchestra: “All of us at the Hallé send our heartfelt thanks and best wishes to Richard Leese as he stands down as Leader of Manchester City Council. Richard has been a great supporter and friend to the Hallé Concerts Society and has seen the organisation flourish over these years as well as the development of Hallé St. Peter’s. We salute Richard as a great friend to Culture in the city and above all as a great Mancunian who has transformed the fortunes of this great city and leaves a wonderful legacy and spirit. Bravo from us all at the Hallé Concerts Society.”