Guess which UK city is all over today's New York Times?

Manchester, of course.

And why?

Under the headline, 'Manchester Relishes a Growing Artistic Role', the article discusses the importance of events like Manchester International Festival and venues like HOME in raising awareness nationally and across the pond that people need not look only to London for a world-class cultural experience.

With much talk about how such projects take a big bite out of available local funding, there's also reference to Eggs Collective, a performance trio, and their recent comments in the Guardian about how supportive the arts community is in Manchester, and as MIF's current CEO and Artistic Director, Alex Poots, moves on to a job in New York himself, he'll be replaced by John McGrath, formerly of Contact. Known as a champion of local artists, his influence may have quite an impact on how MIF moves forward.

Read the full article in the New York Times.