Aaaand relax! That was kind of the feeling when I finally finished fiddling with CreativeTourist.com, a new website for Manchester that launched earlier today. Here’s what it’s all about:

This website has been lovingly crafted by Manchester Museums Consortium, a group of nine museums and galleries in Manchester, separate venues that have a single vision: the desire to stage intelligent, thought-provoking exhibitions and events. Oh, and to celebrate the city in which we live, work and play.

We are rightly proud and passionate about this city of ours; we hope that, by reading about some of the things happening here, and finding out more about our outstanding historic collections, you’ll start to feel the same.

This celebration of our fair city is what has particularly drawn me to the project – the promise of original, substantial editorial coverage of Manchester, the likes of which is a rare treat right now. The launch content ties in with Manchester International Festival of course – Marina Abramovic and Jeremy Deller both make appearances – but there’s also a feature connected to the Videogame Nation currently on at Urbis, for example, and another about ‘Manchester hermit’ Ansuman Biswas.

The blog section is shaping up nicely too, with the Manchizzle’s Kate Feld doing a MIF ‘cultureometer’ roundup, among other posts. Kate’s another member of the CreativeTourist team, which is being overseen by editor Susie Stubbs – winner of last year’s Manchester Blog of the Year no less. Check out the site now, and if you find it interesting sign up for regular email updates, follow it on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook.

One new thing and one old to tell you about today…

The former is An Apathetical Reader, which is ‘a creative community site that hopes to give a voice to the vast numbers of unsupported, disillusioned young people in the city and question why individuals feel apathy towards their own work’. It’ll achieve this through local news, national political comment, features of Manchester, music journalism and artist’s profiles.

The latter is The Chapel on the edge of Platt Fields in Rusholme/Fallowfield. This building, which dates back to 1790, was used as a meeting place for Manchester Amateur Photographic Society (itself founded in 1885) and the Russell Leite Theatre School until it was purchased a couple of years back.

Now, however, it’s being run by the same ambitious group of ex-students who launched Platt Fields’ Mad Ferret festival last year and who took over the (now closed) Ram & Shackle pub. Their aims, according to a post on Indymedia.org.uk, are  to provide an autonomous space for performing arts, learning, access to the arts and local campaigners. I’m hearing lots of grand ideas coming out of this unusual building, so best of luck to them.

And the link between these two? AAR will be holding an open meeting at The Chapel this coming Wednesday from 7pm. If you fancy getting involved, email Alice or join the AAR Facebook group.

Two events happening in the city later this month make me feel like (a bit) less of a geek…

The first Manchester Twestival takes place on Thursday 12 February at the Living Room on Deansgate. Yup, you guessed it – it’s an event dedicated to all things Twitter. It seems the site’s really starting to take off… between my accounts I’ve gained over 30 followers in the past two days, for example, and Mancubist’s Twitter now has 125.

The event, which is one of over 100 being held simultaneously worldwide, is a fund-raising concern – it’s sponsored by those clever people over at Code Computer Love and will feature a charity auction. All monies raised globally will go to charity:water, which brings safe drinking water to developing countries.

Manchester Twestival begins at 6.30pm. You should register your interest here and buy a ticket for £4 here. And, of course, follow the festival’s MancTwester here.

The second event is on Friday 27 February. It’s called Speak to the Geek and, again, it’s a charity event. This time, a few self-proclaimed ‘internet techie experts’ are donating their knowledge and time to help non-profit organisations in the North West. Here’s how organiser Guy Dickinson explained it to me:

Basically, as a bunch of geeks, we’re trying to get our skills used into the community, and thought running a panel of internet strategy ‘micro consultancies’ for decision-makers in the non-profit sector would be a good start.

It takes place from 2pm until 4pm at the Manchester Digital Development Agency on Portland Street. Check out the Speak to the Geek blog for more information and to sign up.

I was looking forward to telling you about City Bites, a new food and drink festival I spotted on the CityLife website (the two aren’t connected) earlier this week. I was reading about the 26 Manchester restaurants involved and trying to work out just how many I could cram into the festival’s 11 days (Jem&I, City Cafe and the Northern Quarter Restaurant appealed).

But now, when I try to look back at the City Bites Manchester site, it’s just a holding page. I guess with the festival launching tomorrow they’ll be hurriedly sorting it out. In the meantime, I’ve been looking at the background of organiser Gary Greenwood. According to How-Do, he’s the publisher of Manchester-based Twice Magazine, although that publication’s website is also currently down (PDF samples here). Nevertheless, I’ve tracked down some more information about City Bites here:

It’s time to fall in love with your city all over again… well, at least the food and drink!. The 2009 City Bites festival will take place January 11th-15th and January 18th-22nd and will showcase the Manchester dining scene as a hotbed of culinary activity and diverse dining options. A number of this year’s participating restaurants are in some of City Centres finest hotels, creating the ideal opportunity to explore all that the area has to offer by day, enjoy a fabulous three-course dinner with family and/or friends in the evening, and then stay the night.

While I can’t imagine too many locals would be willing do just that, the prospect of three-course meals for £7, £12 or £18 sounds much better. Each restaurant – Abode, Brasserie Blanc, Brasserie Gerrard, Livebait, Piccadilly Lounge, Dough, Chaophraya, Obsidian, label, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Space, Robbies, The New Samsi, The Metropolitan, Luso, Apotheca, Jem&I, Bacchanalia, The Market Restaurant, Second Floor Brasserie, City Cafe, Pau Brasil, The Northern Quarter Restaurant, Dilli and Zumar – will also offer a signature cocktail and suggested wine pairing.

Full details from the City Bites site – if/when now it’s back up.