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.

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.

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.

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.

If I wasn’t there I’d be at the Northern pub on Tib Street where the Social Media Cafe, a new monthly event, will be launching. It’s designed ‘for anyone involved or interested in social media as a means of reaching new audiences, collaboration and sharing skills and experience’.

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re just such a person. And, based on Sarah Hartley’s post on her MEN blog, there are plenty of interested individuals – with Mindy from IndieCredential, Dave Carter and Adrian Slatcher from the MDDA, and Black Country Grammar’s Jonthebeef just a few of the recognisable names listed.

Here’s the programme for tomorrow:

18:00 Doors open
18:20 Introductions what we are and who we are
18:30 Panel discussion ‘Is blogging dead?’ (Craig McGinty, Martin Bryant, Chi-Chi Ekweozor (tbc), chair Sarah Hartley)
19:00 Questions
19:30 Networking
20:30 Round up and close

For more information and to register your interest, join the Google Group.

Manclopedia is a free, non-profit, open content encyclopedia project that aims to collect and summarise every single aspect of Greater Manchester (including it’s history, culture, politics, people and places) in hope of becoming the most comprehensive online collection of information regarding Manchester and the surrounding areas.

As well as serving as a source of learning, Manclopedia also hopes to work as medium for promotional interaction between Manchester-based projects and businesses and the general public as whole. By allowing Manchester-based artists and entrepreneurs to publish autobiographical articles Manclopedia hopes to serve as a platform to kick-start the careers of its most talented inhabitants whilst at the same time broadcasting the universal qualities of Manchester to the wider world.

Kenan admits that the site isn’t as populated as he wants it to be – a result of being ‘rumbled’ by the blogging community a month before its planned launch. Still, if people get involved it may soon be a useful resource – Chester’s wiki, also powered by MediaWiki, is something to aspire to. And, of course, there’s already a substantial Greater Manchester community on Wikipedia itself.

Manclopedia is ‘owned and operated’ by Hive, a web-based collective that runs Hive Central – a Ning-powered social networking site that promises a digital art gallery, music and videos, event information, venue locations and classified ads.

They’ve also launched a ‘Mad about Manchester’ toolbar. It’s an interesting tool that offers the latest posts from various Manchester blog (including Mancubist) – plus headlines from the MEN – within one click.

We Are Young And We Are Trying: ‘We are an art and literature zine with a cause. Each volume includes a piece of writing and a piece of art from ten different people. Five of which are primarily writers, five of which are primarily artists. Many creative people who primarily make images will write or have an idea towards writing but think “oh well, I’m not much of a writer” and will not build on their work. Similarly, many writers will make images or have an idea towards doing so but think “oh well, I’m not much of an artist” and will not build on their work.’

‘This is not the case. We believe that all creative output should be valued and we try to encourage young people who are doing something. It is important.’ Visit their blog for more information on what to submit and where to submit it.

Martyrdom Is The Lowest Form Of Wit: ‘A new magazine showcasing the best writing, graphics and photography that Manchester and the North West of England has to offer. Get in touch (via Facebook) if you want to contribute – aiming to have the first issue on the streets by December 14.’

Seems to be the peak time to launch a literature project with a long-winded name! Even their respective acronyms (WAYAWAT and MITLFOW) are a mouthful.

Today Manchester University’s Centre for New Writing launches an online journal, The Manchester Review. As well as a cracking name, it’s got a great exclusive: the first chapter of Booker Prize-winner John Banville’s forthcoming novel The Sinking City. No wonder the Guardian’s Books section made it Site of the Week.

Issue one of the biannual journal features 16 pieces in total, from a short extract of one of Chris Killen’s poems to a video of RNCM composition teacher Larry Groves’ setting of a poem for contemporary music and theatre ensemble Psappha. And that’s not a one-off, with ‘a mix of new music, public debate, visual art and video as well as fiction and poetry’ promised for future issues.

Also at/near the university today, a poetry night called The Other Room is taking place in The Old Abbey Inn (the lesser-known Kro) on Pencroft Way from 7pm. It’s organised by the same people who run the Openned experimental poetry website, which I wrote about in January.

Tonight’s free event features David Annwn, Caroline Bergvall and Joy as Tiresome Vandalism.

Smirnoff Original Nights is proud to present Night Vision – a groundbreaking new initiative to discover, support and celebrate aspiring nightlife promoters of all kinds, from live music to clubs via cabaret and arts-based nights.

Night Vision operates on two levels:

• A hub on Facebook for advice and information from our expert partners
• A bursary scheme; the chance to apply for funding towards your night

So if you’re a talented promoter or simply have an idea for a great night, go ahead; think big. Be original. Make it happen.

The bursary scheme is particularly appealing – four awards of up to £10,000 are available to anyone in Manchester who wants to set up ‘themed nights, concept clubs or pop-up parties in out-there places’. Judging the entries are two of the city’s biggest clubbing names – Unabombers and the Warehouse Project – plus Urbis and Northern Quarter-based arts mag Flux.

There are also 10 monthly awards of £2,000 available to anyone in the UK.

The deadline for Manchester Night Vision submissions is Friday 3 October, so if you’ve had an event idea at the back of your mind for a while, now’s the time to get it out. Visit the Facebook page for more information.

This year, Just.b returns with its Mapping Creativity project and another invitation to pitch, this time with four awards of £1,000 and one of £25,000 up for grabs:

Manchester Beacon aims to commission an interactive project that drives Manchester’s collective creativity. The commissioned project will use disruptive, open source or social technologies to aggregate and maximise Manchester’s resources. It will catalyse, facilitate and forge links between disconnected communities through a series of physical and virtual activities. It will facilitate better communication between two or more social groups and provide tools to visualise this interaction.

The project will be co-designed with its users and have the potential to live on after the commissioned project is over. The winning project will be supported, not driven, by technology.

The deadline for submissions was last Friday and the b.TWEEN website has now been updated with around 40 ’seed ideas’. It’s worth taking some time to browse the entries and see what some of Manchester’s creative minds are coming up with. These four are of particular interest to me:

• People’s Voice Media – a collaboration between local artists and community reporters
• Arc Space – a cluster of reconditioned computers based in Hulme
• Beyond the Wall – a democratic music scene system, presented by Band on the Wall
• Manchester Underground – a ‘participatory mobile phone film game’

Visitors are invited to vote for their favourite ideas in order to see them developed further.