Manchester Pledges £2m for Rehearsal Space and Local Music Future
The pledge
Manchester Mayor Bev Craig has pledged £2m to support local artists across Greater Manchester. She set out the pledge at Beyond The Music 2026 at MediaCity in Salford, as reported on 11 October 2026. The Guardian The money is earmarked to improve access to rehearsal and production space.
The £2m is extra funding. It sits alongside a £4m Culture Fund investment announced earlier in October 2026. Craig spoke at the event's creative industries AI summit. The final day of the conference was convened by Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
The event and the background
Beyond The Music 2026 ran from 6 to 9 October 2026 across MediaCity in Salford. Beyond The Music Craig attended in Salford Quays on 9 October 2026. Manchester Evening News Greater Manchester hosted the wider creative industries conference at the same site.
Craig said Greater Manchester's music scene extends well beyond Oasis. Oasis are due to play 11 sold-out nights at Manchester City's Etihad Stadium on tour next year. Manchester's Co-op Live arena hosted the Brit Awards and the MOBOs earlier in 2026.
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority, the region's group of councils working together, has published a plan to secure the music industry's legacy for future generations. The authority described the plan as world-leading. Greater Manchester Combined Authority The plan provides the policy frame for the new funding.
Looking at what this means for cultural policy, the focus is on capacity rather than celebration. Rehearsal rooms are like practice pitches. They rarely make headlines, yet they decide who can keep working between tours and award shows. A pledge tied to access lowers entry costs for younger and less commercial acts. It also puts the task on combined-authority tools, Culture Fund allocations and venue networks, rather than central grants alone.
The broader context here involves scale and timing. A city that can host national award ceremonies and schedule 11 stadium nights for one band still faces questions about the pipeline. How new artists rehearse, record and tour. How AI tools change production and rights. Holding an AI summit inside a music conference, with national political presence, points to that negotiation. Infrastructure first, then rules for innovation.
In my view, the test will be geographic. Greater Manchester is not one centre. Access pledges work when space is usable, affordable and close to where musicians live. They also need continuity beyond announcements. The Culture Fund commitment and this £2m addition set a baseline. Devolution makes that local test explicit. Whether working conditions change will depend on delivery, management and long-term protection of grassroots capacity. That is the measure to watch.
