Our Work

Our film programme showcases the very best in contemporary and classic cinema, screening works by artists and filmmakers both established and new. It’s a programme of incredible breadth and diversity and regional, national and international significance.

We offer a wide range of work including important new releases, discovered and undiscovered classics, archive material, shorts, animation and documentary, avant garde film and television. We’re creating a continuing dialogue between filmmakers and audiences, enabling us to think about the ways in which cinema has shaped and continues to shape our perceptions of the world in which we live.

Screenings will take place in our five purpose-built screens, including flagship Sony 4K digital projectors and 7.1 audio from Datasat. Films will be presented across a range of formats, including split-reel 35mm in our 250-seater Cinema 1 for archive prints, as well as the capability for event cinema distribution across all five auditoria.

Our film programme reflects the ethos of HOME in our investigation of new methods of screening programmes and curation, working with filmmakers and other artists, curators and programmers to present new ideas about the medium and the dialogue that film has both with other films and with other art forms.

We collaborate on a national and international scale to show how film continues to evolve as new voices and technologies emerge and impact upon cinema practices and narrative. We’re scouring the globe to help bring the wider world and a multiplicity of views to Manchester and present a variety of touring film programmes. We’re also working with our friends and partners including Chinese Film Forum UK, Anthony Burgess Foundation and Alliance française. We are proud to be one of the leading organisations for Film Hub North, a unique, UK-wide collaboration of film organisations working together to ensure that the greatest choice of film is available for everyone.

Film at HOME examines links and cross art collaboration with other parts of our programme including visual art. In particular we work closely with HOME Artist Film on the production, distribution and exhibition of long form and artist feature length film including producing films, theatrical and multi-platform distribution and multiple output projects including installation or performance. We’ll be looking to the world of film and filmmaking to commission and bring to audiences new projects that explore that boundaries and intersections between film and artists cinema.

HOME produces, co-produces, commissions and presents theatre on the small and mid-scale. In a normal year there are over 250 performances on our stages with theatre, comedy, music, cabaret and dance presented across both of our spaces.

HOMEs Theatre Spaces

Theatre 1 (447 seat, three tier)
HOME’s Theatre 1 space is at the same time both epic and intimate. Given the past few years of upheaval, our larger space hosts productions that aim to restore hope and joy by offering moments of escapism, space for reflection and to boost our well-being. These may be shows that have a broad appeal and perhaps feel more familiar to audiences, allowing us to spend quality time with friends and family and have a good night out.

Theatre 2 (130 seat, flexible)
Theatre 2 at HOME is a flexible 130 seat space where artists and theatre-makers perform work that explores and questions contemporary society. The work staged in this space is innovative, experimental and varied in its approach and form, but always with issues of social justice at its heart. T2 is the stage where we see the world reflected back at us. Whether they are stories that are local, regional, national or international, past, present or future, T2’s programme aims to be a space of connection and reflection; for debate and dialogue; for ideas and experimentation; for both artists and audiences alike.

Since opening, HOME has co-produced and co-commissioned with a wide range of international partners such as Complicité, National Theatre, National Theatre Scotland, Javaad Alipoor, Boy Blue, Hofesh Shechter, Rhum and Clay, Kneehigh, MIF and many more. We have also produced work to feature in major showcases in Edinburgh and New York, that has toured internationally.

The Focus for our Upcoming Programme

We will be creating a programme of produced and presented work that will enable us to develop and grow audiences, and continue our journey to ensure our work reflects and speaks to our audiences.

HOME’s audience profile will have broadened to be more representative of our city, because our meaningful engagements with Manchester communities will be demonstrably stronger. There are a number of major programming developments here:

Families: HOME is committing to producing/co-producing and presenting a regular programme of work for families. This is a long-term commitment that will have cultural diversity at its core. It will be programmed on a regular cycle so audiences will know what to expect, and when. It will not duplicate other offers in Manchester, and will have a strong sense and recognition of Manchester and the North on our stages.

North West Artists and Collaborators: We will work with more regionally based artists and creatives in the production of our work, in close liaison with our Talent Development Team. One of our shows will be from a North.
West writer in every two-year cycle, and one taking an artist/company from small to mid-scale from an open national call will be every three years.

Co-productions: Our co-producing relationships will be centred on creative collaboration and true partnership in creative process, not simply financial expediency.

Representation: We will diversify the teams who make the work we present and the stories we tell. The work on our stages, our digital output and touring shows will look even more like the people of our city and speak to their interests and concerns.

Sustainability: The carbon footprint of our theatre programme will be on a downward path to meet our 2025 objective on a 50% reduction of 2019 levels. We will actively develop processes and approaches to making and presenting theatre that are more sustainable. We will do this in partnership with likeminded theatre makers, companies and venues to share our learning and enable rapid prototyping of methodologies.

Interested in bringing your show to HOME? Read our Theatre Programming Policy here to find out more and contact us.

Our international contemporary visual art programme is dedicated to presenting new commissions by emerging and established artists of regional, national and international significance.

We’ve a bold, proactive policy of visual, innovative storytelling with the ability to experiment and explore, probe and provoke, reply and respond, creating a distinct experience for both artists and audiences.

Our exhibitions will take place in the new, purpose built gallery space, which provides the flexibility and technical specification to present the most diverse, contemporary and challenging contemporary visual art in the region.

Experimental, exploratory and provocative, all exhibitions are commissioned by HOME. Talent development is a key priority of our strategy, commissioning visual artists to produce new work and exhibitions that expand their practice (i.e. not mid-career retrospectives). The HOME ethos of exploring new methods of curation and production enables artists to experiment and evolve into new ideas and areas, particularly within our distinct specialisms.

Our specialisms of artist film, performance and participation have been developed from both Cornerhouse’s experience and our new proximity to theatre. HOME is distinct for our ability with work with artists over several years to produce new commissions within these fields. This is often in collaboration with international partners, and exhibiting the work as part of biennials and festivals internationally, in addition to at HOME. Our specialisms are treated as fluid forms in themselves and merge with both traditional art forms and new technologies.

HOME: Artist Film investigates the production, distribution and exhibition of long form and artist feature length film including producing films, theatrical and multi-platform distribution and multiple output projects including installation or performance. Building upon the success of Cornerhouse Artist Film, HOME: Artist Film will continue to develop long form projects within and outside of on-going commissions and collaborating with artists and producers on innovative distribution methods.

Our Creative Development activity is crucial to achieving the vision for HOME because it connects with an exceptionally diverse mix of people who see and shape our programme.
Creative Development makes space for people to be creative in schools, community centres, on the street and in our building. Our programme enables people to tell their own stories through their own artistic creations, explore their interests and skills, take part in the programme, debate, make new work and meet others. We use creativity to improve health, education, and social challenges for people in and around Manchester, whether it’s through artist-led participatory projects, workshops, study sessions, courses, Q&As, fresh interpretation, residencies, commissions, or work-based learning – everything we do links to our wider programme, with nothing in isolation.We exist to have impact artistically, economically, and socially.

HOME is a creative hub for the region, committed to supporting the professional and creative development of artists from all backgrounds, levels of experience and art forms.

We provide a regular programme of events and opportunities to develop projects, skills and meet other creatives and us! From one of skills workshops to networking events to commissioning opportunities, we hope there is something for everyone. Our programme is shaped and informed by our artistic community through involvement in artist panels which make key decisions about our programme, commissions and the future of HOME.

Cornerhouse Publications Ltd. is part of HOME, providing a sales and distribution service of specialist contemporary visual arts publications for trade, retail and online customers.

Many of the most innovative publishers, galleries and museums working in contemporary visual arts choose to use their specialist sales and distribution service and rely on their extensive experience of publishing, distribution and the book trade.

They have more than 4,000 titles in stock, including books from many of the UK’s smaller galleries, publishers and organisations that you won’t find anywhere else.

Both our HOME Publications and HOME Artist Film collections are available online via Cornerhouse Publications.