The x.trax showcase was established in 1997 by Manchester International Arts (MIA) as part of the Streets Ahead festival, Greater Manchester's outdoor festival of arts and cultural animation.

Led by MIA Directors Anne Tucker and Jeremy Shine and inspired by some of the large and well established European showcase festivals, x.trax was set up to attract promoters of venues and festivals from the UK and overseas to Manchester to see the best UK (and some international) performance work with a view to booking it. It was a strategic attempt to create a showcase that would enable artists to sell their work to the specialists who could book it, in the context of a popular street festival.

X.trax became a separate company in 2001 and began to expand the programme and develop the scope of the showcase and the work of the company. X.trax ran two showcases of culturally diverse performance in 2003 and 2005 in association with decibel, a department of Arts Council England. The company works as a street arts development agency running a range of projects and events to support the development of street arts in the UK including and the showcase has gradually grown in size and stature and is now one of the leading performance showcase events in Europe.

Find out more about the showcase in 2001 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2007
If you would like to find out more about the work of x.trax please contact us at info@xtrax.org.uk