FutureEverything closes after 31 years in Manchester

FutureEverything has closed after 31 years, bringing to an end one of Manchester’s early digital culture organisations.

Founded by Drew Hemment in 1995 as Futuresonic, the non-profit became known for connecting artists, technologists and public bodies around emerging digital technologies. Its work spanned early mobile and locative media, open data, smart cities and, later, artificial intelligence.

FutureEverything was closely tied to Manchester’s growth as a centre for digital business and research, and was at one stage described as one of the world’s top 10 idea festivals.

Long reach

Over three decades, the group developed projects that extended beyond the UK, from Manchester to cities including Singapore, Moscow and San Jose. It worked with organisations including the Singapore Government, the European Commission and Intel.

Among its best-known projects was Mobile Connections 2004, which it described as the world’s first major cultural event focused on mobile media. It also created Open Data Cities, one of Europe’s early open data initiatives, and GROW Observatory, which it described as the first citizens’ observatory operating at continental scale.

Its model centred on a festival-as-lab approach, using cultural events to test ideas and build longer-term programmes. That helped it move across the arts, research and public policy at a time when digital culture was still a specialist field.

In later years, the organisation increased its focus on AI. Under creative directors Irini Papadimitriou and Lucy Rose Sollitt, and executive director Chris Wright, it staged a series of international exhibitions on art and AI that reached 400,000 visitors, according to the organisation.

It also launched Nature Directed, a project intended to give nature legal decision-making power within the organisation. That initiative will continue after the closure.

Legacy work

A new archive and legacy site has been launched to document the organisation’s history and collect contributions from people in the technology and creative sectors. Hemment is also continuing related work through Doing AI Differently at The Alan Turing Institute, a global initiative that applies methods developed during FutureEverything’s run to AI development.

Hemment said the closure reflected both a shift in the place of digital culture and wider pressures on smaller organisations.

“FutureEverything was born when digital culture was a niche interest with a small international community of pioneering artists, technologists and institutions. Now, digital culture no longer exists as a discrete field – it’s everywhere, embedded in everything. The debates we championed, around AI, data, surveillance and climate, are now central to global discourse daily. In a way, it feels like the end of FutureEverything marks the moment a pioneering generation passes the baton to the mainstream it helped to create.

“The closure also reflects the structural precarity faced by small pioneering cultural organisations in a post-pandemic funding environment – influential far beyond their means,” said Drew Hemment, founder of FutureEverything.

The board said the organisation’s influence far exceeded its size. Its record includes support for artists and researchers whose work later fed into wider debates on technology, culture and society.

Annette Mees, chair of the board, pointed to that broader impact. “FutureEverything has had an outsized influence on digital culture, on Manchester, and on countless artists, technologists and communities around the world. We are proud of everything the team has achieved, and certain its legacy will continue to shape technological futures,” she said.

Arts Council England said the organisation had played an important role over three decades in connecting creative and research communities. That work helped establish new approaches to the relationship between art, technology and society.

Hemment said the organisation’s work would continue in other forms.

“I’m proud of the way FutureEverything’s team carried the organisation through its final chapter with dedication and care. Over three decades, it sparked major initiatives that continue to thrive, with people it nurtured going on to significant careers across the digital culture sector.

“FutureEverything has been the defining work of my life, and it belonged to everyone who shaped it. What we built together – the ideas, the community, the fields we helped open up – doesn’t close with the company. It carries forward into the future it helped to imagine,” he said.