In the run up to this event, over 1000 children from across Greater Manchester were involved in hosting a range of artists making work for Music Boxes, as they took up residence in schools and nurseries across the city region. From a musical beauty salon to an opera for under 2’s via mechanical, musical sculptures and giant paper canons, the Music Boxes residencies allowed early years children from across the AGMA boroughs to experience, influence and shape the artists’ work.

To support a lasting legacy for the project, MIF Creative also commissioned Music Leader North West to deliver a bespoke training programme to 10 early years practitioners from across Greater Manchester, to develop new skills in music making and delivery within early years settings.

Music Boxes is divided into 9 colour coded Pathways. Each Pathway allows you to enjoy two timetabled Activities, as well as a number of drop in activities. Tickets admit 1 child and 1 accompanying adult to each timetabled Activity in your chosen pathway. To find out more about Pathways and Activities, see sections below.

Participating Artists

BBC Philharmonic
CBeebies
Cornershop and Rude
Inne Goris with Dominique Pauwels and Ruimtevaarders
Oily Cart
Nik Ramage
Jake Rodrigues
Scottish Opera
JoNny* and Stephen Stockbridge
TPO Company
ZingZillas

Curated by Rachel Clare for Crying out Loud.
Installation concept and design by BDP.

Please choose the Pathway that is appropriate for your child/ren. For information about the Activities and Artists in the Pathways, please see the next section.
Please note that capacity of each Pathway is limited and your first choice may be unavailable.

0-2 year olds
Choose either

YELLOW PATHWAY: JoNny* & Stephen Stockbridge + Scottish Opera
or
LILAC PATHWAY: Oily Cart + JoNny* & Stephen Stockbridge

3-7 year olds
Choose one of the following Pathways

PINK PATHWAY: TPO Company + Zingzillas

BLUE PATHWAY: CBeebies + TPO Company

GREEN PATHWAY: Cornershop/Rude + TPO Company

RED PATHWAY: Zingzillas + Cornershop/Rude

PURPLE PATHWAY: CBeebies + TPO Company

ORANGE PATHWAY: Jake Rodrigues + Zingzillas

BROWN PATHWAY: Zingzillas + Jake Rodrigues

Oily Cart – Drum
Age range: 6 months to 2 years
LILAC PATHWAY
Listen to the gentle rhythm of the big bass drum, watch the shadows dancing on the surface of the small drums. Written by Tim Webb, this multi-sensory show is specifically designed for babies and toddlers and their adult companions. Oily Cart are the UK’s leading theatre company for young children, and children with complex disabilities.
www.oilycart.org.uk

Scottish Opera – BabyO
Age range: 6 months to 2 years
YELLOW PATHWAY
Babies respond to music from a very young age and BabyO is an ideal first musical experience for you and your baby to enjoy. The 30-minute show, composed by Rachel Drury, takes you into a magical secret garden full of busy bees, ducks and splashing fish where you’ll meet our singers and begin your special adventure. The show seamlessly combines recorded music with live singing, and uses sounds and words that babies can understand, helping to stimulate the beginnings of language development. Scottish Opera is Scotland’s national opera company, and has an extensive programme of outreach work for children and young people.
BabyO was commissioned and produced by Scottish Opera.
www.scottishopera.org.uk

JoNny* & Stephen Stockbridge – Aflutter
Age range: 6 months to 2 years
LILAC PATHWAY or YELLOW PATHWAY
An installation made from paper of all sorts, used in an extraordinary way to create a unique playground. JoNny* and Stephen Stockbridge will combine paper, wind and sound to create an interactive playground for children, making ordinary items magical. Brothers Jonny and Stephen Stockbridge are visual artists who find new uses for everyday objects by recycling them and using them in different ways. They have created large interactive playgrounds for children for MIF and at Somerset House in London.
www.stephenstockbridge.com
www.art4all.carbonmade.com

CBeebies – Sounds of CBeebies
Age range: 3-7 years
BLUE PATHWAY or PURPLE PATHWAY
An interactive storytelling experience to inspire the imagination. The specially commissioned stories will be read aloud live by much loved CBeebies faces and children will be invited to use everything from spot effects to their own voices to bring the stories to life.
www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies

ZingZillas – Big Zing
Age range: 3-7 years
RED PATHWAY, BROWN PATHWAY, PINK PATHWAY or ORANGE PATHWAY
Children will step into the colourful world of ZingZillas Island to discover musical junk they can play with. The experience culminates in all the children joining together to create ZingZilla music magic in the ‘Big Zing’. Created by the team who make the ZingZillas hit show for CBeebies.
www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/zingzillas

Cornershop & Rude – Pop 'O’ Motion
Age range: 3-7 years
GREEN PATHWAY or BLUE PATHWAY
Pop 'O’ Motion is an innovative collaboration between the iconic pop rock band Cornershop and animator illustrators Rude. Always known as innovators Cornershop and Rude are creating a new song and music video ‘What Did the Hippie Have In His Bag?’ with children from Bolton’s Castle Hill Primary School. The final animated video has been made interactive, so that children coming to Pop 'O’ Motion can make their own version of the video using collages, clips, editing, dropping in sound and images – this is music video editing for little ones, allowing them to interpret the song and have fun with graphics, whilst learning about the interaction between sound and moving image.
www.cornershop.com
www.thisisrude.com

Jake Rodrigues – Ukulele World
Age range: 3-7 years
ORANGE PATHWAY or BROWN PATHWAY
Musician, performer and composer Jake Rodrigues invites children to join him in his “Ukelele World”, where they will immerse themselves in all things ukelele. Children will learn to play a new song – “Super Duper Musical Hero” specially commissioned by MIF and written by Jake Rodrigues – get into costume, and perform their song at the end of the workshop.
www.jakerodrigues.org

TPO Company – Light Orchestra
Age range: 3-7 years
PURPLE PATHWAY, GREEN PATHWAY, PINK PATHWAY or RED PATHWAY
An interactive show where groups of children are lead by dancers through a series of spaces to trigger lights and sounds with their movements. As the children dance and play they create and add to the action. 
Making use of sensors and projected images TPO’s work comes to life characterized by unmistakeable images and sounds. Italian theatre company TPO’s performances redefine the concept of children’s theatre as ‘immersive theatre’, creating a perceptive environment in which the thin border between art and play can be explored.
www.tpo.it

Plus the following additional drop-in Activities

Nik Ramage – The Art of Noise
Artist Nik Ramage makes machines which are assembled from components that were designed for another purpose, in the finest garden-shed tradition of technology, embracing the slightly damaged and completely knackered. The machines are absurd, paradoxical and sometimes on the verge of giving up. For Music Boxes, Nik Ramage is creating a series of mechanical sculptures and intriguing machines which make interesting and unexpected sounds.
www.nikramage.com

Inne Goris with Dominique Pauwels and Ruimtevaarders – Day Dream
Come in. Settle down. Listen…
Are there bees living in your ears? Has the sea stopped crying? Is the house sighing?
Let the music caress you.
In Dreamtime, the director Inne Goris returns to the essence of listening. Together with composer Dominique Pauwels and the Ruimtevaarders designer duo she sought out a place that is safe and quiet, where the outside world is only a hum in the distance. A place where children and adults can listen and dream… A container. A container full of music. Inne Goris is one of Belgium’s leading artists creating new performance with and for children and adults.
Dreamtime is co-commissioned by MIF Creative, LOD, Crying Out Loud and MiraMiro Festival Ghent.
www.lod.be

BBC Philharmonic – Maestro
Meet the orchestra and have a go at conducting them. Using new ambisonic technology, everyone will be able to have a go at conducting a digital version of the orchestra playing a well know orchestral favourite. Speed them up, slow them down or change the pitch – you are in control!
www.bbc.co.uk/orchestras/philharmonic

1. Who needs a ticket?
Each child needs a ticket. Accompanying adults do not need a ticket. Please note that tickets admit 1 child and 1 adult to each timetabled Activity.

2. I want to bring a child of each age (6 months–2 & 3-7yrs). Can they do the same Pathway Activities? No – the Activities have been created specifically for the stated age group. Children must have a ticket for a Pathway appropriate for their age. An accompanying adult (16+) is required for each Pathway.

3. I am bringing 2 children, both aged 3-7 yrs. How many adults must attend?
If the children are on the same Pathway, one adult can accompany both children. If the children are on different Pathways, two adults are needed; one to accompany each child. Please note that children must be accompanied by an adult in each Activity.

4. Can older siblings/friends come along?
The event is created specifically for children aged 7yrs and younger. Older children cannot take part in any of the Activities but they are allowed on site provided they are accompanied by an adult at all times. Please ensure there are sufficient adults to accompany the children taking part in the activities and to accompany any older children.

5. What is the maximum number of people that each ticket-holding child can bring?
Up to two adults plus one older sibling/friend may come along with each ticket-holding child. However, due to their limited capacity, only one adult can accompany each child in the Activity. Other adults and older siblings/friends can wait in the central zone. Please note, older children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

6. Can I leave the site and come back for my child later?
No – you must remain on site for the duration of the Music Boxes session.

7. Can children do an Activity on their own, while the adults wait in the central zone?
No – children must be accompanied at all times including during the Activities.

8. Are unaccompanied adults allowed on the site?
No.

9. Why can’t I book the Pathway I want?
The capacity of each Pathway is strictly limited to a maximum of either 15 or 25 children, so your preferred Pathway may be full. Please pick another Pathway.

10. Why must I arrive 15 minutes early?
The Pathway Activities must start on time and latecomers cannot be admitted.

11. What happens if I don’t arrive 15 mins early?
Entry to Music Boxes cannot be guaranteed to ticket holders arriving less than 15 mins prior to the start time stated on their ticket.

12. Where is MediaCityUK?
MediaCityUK is at Salford Quays, just off Broadway. Please see the map on this page, in the right hand column.

13. What is the nearest tram stop to the event?
MediaCityUK is less than a minute’s walk away Harbour City is approx 5mins walk.

14. What is the closest bus route?
For information about bus routes, please use the journey planner at www.tfgm.com

15. Where is the nearest car park?
There is a multi storey car park on the MediaCityUK site (enter from Broadway) which is a short walk from the performance venue.

Alternatively, there is also a car park in The Lowry Shopping Mall is a short walk away, approx 5 mins. For further information please visit www.lowryoutletmall.com

16. When will I receive my tickets?
Tickets should arrive within 5 working days.

17. Can you accommodate people with disabilities?
Yes, the site is fully accessible.

18. How long do the Activities take?
Each session lasts two hours and is made up of a series of individual activities of between 20 and 40 minutes each.

19. Is there anywhere to buy food or drink on site?
There is a café on site selling hot & cold drinks and snacks.

20. Can I bring my own food & drink?
Yes, but no food or drink will be permitted in Activities. No alcohol is allowed on site.

21. What other facilities are onsite?
The site has a buggy park, toilets and baby changing area.

22. Is the event outdoors?
Most of the events take place within the shipping containers that make up the site, so are covered. The central zone is open-air but partly covered to give some shade.

23. What happens if it rains?
Music Boxes continues come rain or shine.

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