Culture Watch: Made's Upcoming Highlights for 2024

Here at Made, 2024 is off to a flying start with some very exciting new projects underway. But being busy at work also means that we have to be mindful to take time to unwind and recharge, in order to be and bring our best at work. As an organisation, we put high value on cultural experiences as a way to gather new perspectives and inspiration: Arts and culture are part of our DNA, both as a business, and as individuals. For example, we have a cultural fund that is available to all Made employees to put towards a show or event of their choosing. With that in mind, and knowing the discerning and eclectic tastes of the Made team cross the UK and the US, we asked: What cultural experiences are you looking forward to this year?

MUSIC

“While I won’t be able to take advantage of a 3-day pass, I’m really looking forward to Long Play Festival in Brooklyn, especially the performance of Music For 18 Musicians."

- Chris, Strategy

“As a former Bristolian, I’m very excited about Massive Attack’s gig on the Clifton Downs in August. It’s their first UK show in five years, and promises to be the lowest carbon show of its size ever staged”, with unprecedented measures toward decarbonization. How could you miss that?” 

- AK, Marketing

“I don't do cool stuff, I do gay sh*t, lol - I’m looking forward to Birmingham Pride, Mighty Hoopla, Manchester Pride, and Here and Now - The Steps Musical.

- Adam, Design

“Supersonic Festival is one of the UK's best experimental music festivals and it takes place right here in Birmingham! I also want to go to Supernormal Festival, if I’m lucky enough to get tickets in time, as it usually sells out.”

- Stef, Design

And for those that feel that the gigs above are all a bit too poppy, we’ve also got a gang of our developers that are looking forward to seeing Slipknot at the O2 in London and Smashing Pumpkins at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham – the perfect double act for a full noughties rock throwback. And Michaela from the Strategy team has tickets to see both The Killers at the O2 in London and the record release party for up-and-comers English Teacher at Rough Trade London. (She's also hoping Adam will invite her to see the Steps musical, too!)

ART 

“Honestly, one of my favourite things about Made is learning about arts and culture orgs/experiences that I actually want to check out one day. Supersonic Festival is new to me, and it's on my bucket list now. In the contemporary art realm, I'm hoping to check out Zonamaco México Arte Contemporáneo one day (it just finished) and the Venice Biennale this year.”

- Willie, Production

“I'm thrilled that I'm also going to have the opportunity to visit the Venice Biennale later this year as well, especially as four classmates from my masters program at the Royal Academy/University of Maastricht are active in the curation of the offerings from their native countries (Saudi Arabia and Latvia). I'm also itching to get to two wildly different shows at the Tate this spring, too – the epic Yoko Ono retrospective and the lush Singer and Fashion exhibit. And of course, the Royal Academy's iconic Summer Exhibition is always the highlight of the year. I'm currently rooting for a friend whose painting has been shortlisted to be included in the exhibition, and I hope she'll make the final cut!”

- Michaela, Strategy

“I'm hoping to get tickets to the Tim Burton exhibition at the Design Museum when they land (which will be around the same time Beetlejuice 2 gets released). His artwork is pretty great. Plus the models they use for the stop motion movies are completely amazing.”

- Rachel, Production

“I’m going to a William Blake exhibition soon. He was a really god-awful poet, but these are his prints. My favourite museum that I go to all the time is Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge.”

- Linda, Production

THEATRE

If you’re a fan of Michael Sheen, or interested in his fellow Welshman Nye Bevan’s fight to create the NHS in post-war UK, you’re in luck:

“I’m going to see Nye at the National Theatre in April. After that, the play will be going to our partner Wales Millennium Centre for a limited run.” 

- James, CEO

If you can’t get enough of the story, or are unable to make it to the theatre, there is also an audio play called Getting Better available on Audible UK on the same theme.

“I'm ridiculously excited to have tickets to the Stranger Things stage show in a couple of months. Clever staging is one of my favourite things about theatre and this is supposed to be amazing.

- Rachel, Production

VIRTUAL REALITY

From our devops team, a tip that transcends genres and formats: David Attenborough - An Immersive Anthology, a virtual reality event voiced by none other than our favourite iconic biologist and narrator extraordinaire, David Attenborough.