Manchester’s Beyond the Music is about more than asking questions

Andy Burnham isn’t here. And that’s a good thing. For this year’s edition of Beyond the Music, the recently approinted Prime Minister “convened” the AI summit , an insurgent new-music showcase and conference launched in Greater Manchester in 2023. As one of the event’s co-founders, Andy – as he is known around here – essentially got the right people in the room for the keynotes and workshops. But many thought “convened” meant he would be giving the state of union, milling about, subject to back slaps and reprimands to keep on the straight and narrow. Maybe we’d catch him taking a stroll through the Blue Peter Garden in Salford's MediaCity. But Burnham’s absence is a good thing. It evidences the success of the Manchester pipeline; the localised work and ideas and hope that he embodies are off being implemented at an even more influential level. In other words: we can take it from here, Andy. Beyond the Music founders Sarah Pearson, Oli Wilson and Rose Marley by Patrick Gunning Greater Manchester has always gone with the we’ll-take-it-from-here approach. Trade unions, the suffragettes, co-operatives, the very concept of the weekend – Manchester has led positive societal developments ...