WHAT'S ON AT Z-ARTS, MANCHESTER
What's On at Z-arts, Manchester
Z-arts in Hulme, Manchester is the only arts centre in the UK dedicated to offering best-practice in creative provision for children and families, with a leadership role in networks including Big Imaginations, MADE, and Family Arts Campaign. Opening their doors in 2000 in the former Zion building, their 230 seat theatre hosts shows, productions, events and premiers for different ages each season, including international touring theatre shows.
Z-arts also homes a studio theatre, a recording studio, music space, dance studio, and offers numerous dance, drama, and arts & crafts classes, workshops, and activities. They offer numerous outreach programmes with local communities and educational establishments.
Be entertained and inspired at Z-arts with plays, comedy, dance, and musicals to look forward to and the immersive experiences such as The Family Escape room - The Library Of Enchantment, Adventures In Wonderland, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jnr, Lip Sync Battle, Finding Nemo Jnr, and The Snowy Day. See what’s on at Z-arts below and book tickets online.
Z-arts in Hulme, Manchester is the only arts centre in the UK dedicated to offering best-practice in creative provision for children and families, with a leadership role in networks including Big Imaginations, MADE, and Family Arts Campaign. Opening their doors in 2000 in the former Zion building, their 230 seat theatre hosts shows, productions, events and premiers for different ages each season, including international touring theatre shows.
Z-arts also homes a studio theatre, a recording studio, music space, dance studio, and offers numerous dance, drama, and arts & crafts classes, workshops, and activities. They offer numerous outreach programmes with local communities and educational establishments.
Be entertained and inspired at Z-arts with plays, comedy, dance, and musicals to look forward to and the immersive experiences such as The Family Escape room - The Library Of Enchantment, Adventures In Wonderland, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jnr, Lip Sync Battle, Finding Nemo Jnr, and The Snowy Day. See what’s on at Z-arts below and book tickets online.
Most Popular Shows and Events at Z-arts, Manchester
What's On at Z-arts, Manchester
Adventures in Wonderland
Z-arts, Manchester
Thursday 23 October 2025 - Wednesday 22 July 2026
Fall down the rabbit hole and have your very own magical adventure with Adventures in Wonderland at Z-arts! Created by Z-arts in partnership with Macmillan Children's Books, step into Alice's shoes and have your very own magical Adventure i...Rhyme Time
Z-arts, Manchester
Thursday 23 October - Thursday 4 December 2025
Rhyme time is a fun group singing session for babies and toddlers (0-4 years) and their grown-ups.  Singing together and repeating rhymes helps your child develop listening, visual and memory skills, which will help them develop. Rhyme t...3D Making
Z-arts, Manchester
Thursday 23 October - Thursday 4 December 2025
Join in the fun, with Andy the tutor, creating crafts, models, and sculptures in this exciting hands-on class. Build, create, and be inspired using a variety of materials, including clay, Modroc, Papier Mache, and card. Some of the projects...Dance Stars
Z-arts, Manchester
Thursday 23 October - Saturday 6 December 2025
In Dance Stars, we focus on improving our posture, flexing our muscles, and boosting our stamina like dance champs! We are on a mission to discover our unique dance style through play and exploration. We will be exploring various new dance ...Drama Stars
Z-arts, Manchester
Thursday 23 October - Saturday 6 December 2025
Use your brilliant minds to have drama fun, plays lots of games and use lots of imagination! We are going to use this time to embrace our creativity to create new work. We will also use pictures and sound as inspiration to create our own sc...Play Time
Z-arts, Manchester
Thursday 23 October - Thursday 4 December 2025
Play Time is a chance for children aged 4 ? 7 to PLAY. Children can use their imagination and props to create their own worlds and adventures. The session will give children the opportunity to make friends, use their imagination and to play...The Library of Enchantment
Z-arts, Manchester
Friday 24 October - Monday 29 December 2025
Ever wanted to step inside a story? The Library of Enchantment is a fun-filled thrilling family-friendly escape room, full of seafaring adventures, time travelling tricks and a pesky old bookworm who's always up to meddlesome mischief! Can ...LEGO Club
Z-arts, Manchester
Friday 24 October - Friday 5 December 2025
Z-Arts are getting all their LEGO out for kids of all ages to play with and build whatever they like! Parents need to stay and supervise their children throughout the session. ...Art Stars
Z-arts, Manchester
Friday 24 October - Friday 5 December 2025
Art Stars is a great activity for young people who enjoy making stuff!A great introduction to art, you?ll learn the basics of art in a fun and relaxed environment. You can try lots of different art techniques including drawing, painting, ce...Singing Stars
Z-arts, Manchester
Friday 24 October - Friday 5 December 2025
Join Signing Stars at Z-arts!Our brand-new activity as chosen by the Bright Sparks members!?Do you love singing? Want to be part of a group that performs at Z-arts?Come along to Signing Stars?? our brand-new singing class led by amazing Man...Toddler Make and Believe
Z-arts, Manchester
Friday 24 October - Saturday 6 December 2025
Come along and get creative with your little ones in our weekly Toddler Make and Believe session. Join us each session for arts and crafts, stories and songs in a fun and relaxed environment!Open to all, not just Bright Sparks Members, book...Z-artists
Z-arts, Manchester
Friday 24 October - Friday 5 December 2025
Focus on learning about different artists and art forms, develop your own skills and create work in different styles. Be inspired, learn new things and most of all, create your own amazing work!This session will be led by Bea:...Family Art Stars
Z-arts, Manchester
Saturday 25 October - Saturday 6 December 2025
Families that learn together, grow together. We are very excited to continue our Family Art Stars sessions every Saturday! Come down, muck in and make some art as a family, spending quality time and learning new techniques. No skill is requ...Creative Care: Art for Kids with Additional Needs
Z-arts, Manchester
Saturday 25 October - Saturday 20 December 2025
Join Kirsty for ?Creative Care: Art for Kids with Additional Needs.? ? an Inclusive Art Session that Celebrates Diverse Ways of Thinking & Learning!Children aged 8 to 16 will explore various art techniques, from painting and drawing to coll...Musical Theatre
Z-arts, Manchester
Saturday 25 October - Saturday 6 December 2025
In Musical Theatre we will build skills in stage entertainment used in small and large-scale productions designed to explore creativity in song and character role-playing!This term we will be working on a new musical, learning the themes fr...Birthday October Half Term Holiday Club
Z-arts, Manchester
Tuesday 28 - Friday 31 October 2025
Join us during half term to celebrate Z-arts turning 25!We will be making birthday decorations and coming up with a dance to perform at our birthday party. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be birthday party decoration making. Friday wil...Create Comics with Bobby JosephÂ
Z-arts, Manchester
Tuesday 28 October 2025
Discover Manchester Literature Festival?s Create Comics workshop with UK Comics Laureate Bobby Joseph at Z-arts on Tuesday 28 Oct.A fun half-term activity for children aged 7?11 to design characters, invent stories, and learn comic-making s...Cinderella Ice Cream Seller
Z-arts, Manchester
Wednesday 29 October 2025
Get your dessert spoons ready for a tale of perseverance, princes, palace balls, glass slippers and, um, ice cream?Over the last four decades, Cinderella?s has become the kingdom?s most beloved ice cream company, with a parlour on every str...Family Dance Stars
Z-arts, Manchester
Friday 31 October - Friday 5 December 2025
Move and groove with your loved ones!We are excited to welcome Family Dance Stars to our timetable from October. Get groovy every month as a family. Let?s play games, dance and explore our creativity together. No experience is required, jus...Rockin Rhinos - The Big Birthday Bash
Z-arts, Manchester
Saturday 1 November 2025
A very special gig to celebrate Z-arts? 25th Birthday!Join Z-arts favourites, Rockin? Rhinos, for a gig that grown-ups will love as much as the kiddlies. Rock, ska, rap & punk ? dancing shoes a must!John Cooper Cat and the other Rockin? Rhi...Z-arts Big Birthday Fun Day
Z-arts, Manchester
Saturday 1 November 2025
You?re invited to our party!Join us for a family day full of fun, creativity, and celebration. Get stuck into arts and crafts, make your own party hats, decorations, and more ? everything you need for the ultimate birthday bash!Then hit the...Baby Book Club
Z-arts, Manchester
Tuesday 4 November - Tuesday 2 December 2025
Baby Book Club is a wonderful way to spend time together with your baby (0-2 years) and develop their love of books, stories and reading.  Baby Book Club helps parents develop skills in how to make reading fun for their babies and help d...Podcast Club
Z-arts, Manchester
Tuesday 4 November - Tuesday 2 December 2025
Join in the fun at Z-arts' studio, where you can play games to improve your performance skills, learn how to record and edit audio, how to research, how to put together and give an interview, basically everything you need to become a supers...Move & Make
Z-arts, Manchester
Tuesday 4 November - Tuesday 2 December 2025
Join Gilly for an imaginative yoga and art session!The idea for this class is to fuse movement and creativity into one wellbeing session. Each week there will be a different theme that allows children the chance to explore, create, play, co...Z-arts Kids Council
Z-arts, Manchester
Tuesday 4 November - Tuesday 2 December 2025
Join the Z-arts Kids Council!?Do you love coming to Z-arts? Want to help make it even better?We?re looking for 16 amazing kids (ages 8?11) to join our brand-new Kids Council.(It?s like a school council, but just for Z-arts!)As a council mem...Family Yoga
Z-arts, Manchester
Wednesday 5 November - Wednesday 3 December 2025
We heard that our grown-ups were interested in yoga too so we have created this class for children 8+ and adults together!It is a playful take on an adult yoga class with breathwork, stretching, yoga positions, maybe some dance and definite...Storytime
Z-arts, Manchester
Wednesday 5 November - Wednesday 3 December 2025
Join us for a storytime session in our Children?s Library every Wednesday morning!...Street Dance
Z-arts, Manchester
Friday 7 November - Friday 5 December 2025
In Street Dance, we will work on building confidence, stamina and cool moves. We will be looking at the variety of styles that make up street dance such as break-dance, waacking, house and hip hop to name a few!...Manchester Glee's Big Fat Quiz Across the Years
Z-arts, Manchester
Saturday 8 November 2025
Put your quiz skills to the test ? join Manchester Glee for a night of dancing, pop classics, power grabs, beautiful ballads and brain teasers!...Hare and Tortoise
Z-arts, Manchester
Saturday 15 November 2025
Tutti Frutti Productions brings you this much-loved story brimming with fun, live music, unforgettable songs, and delightful characters, who learn that slow and steady wins the race. Two unlikely friends, the Hare and the Tortoise, meet for...Mother Goose
Z-arts, Manchester
Wednesday 19 - Saturday 22 November 2025
We?re hatching a plan to make this the perfect adventure guaranteed to have the whole family honking with laughter. Following last year?s sell out panto ROBIN HOOD, South Manchester AOS are back for their seventh spectacular pantomime with ...Family Jam - 25th Birthday Special
Z-arts, Manchester
Friday 28 November 2025
Come and join our Friday night Family Jam! Our monthly music events are back, with different artists performing a special early evening set especially for children and families. You can unwind after a hectic week with music for the whole fa...The Three Bears
Z-arts, Manchester
Saturday 29 November 2025
A hilarious fairy tale remix!Get ready for giggles galore in this wild, high-energy adventure. Perfect for all ages, this show celebrates love, laughter and the beauty of families of all shape and sizes. The Three Bears flips the classic fa...T'was the Gig Before Christmas
Z-arts, Manchester
Saturday 6 - Sunday 7 December 2025
You?re invited to our secret party, for elves, yourselves, and ALL magical Lapland creatures. We?ll be telling stories through song. There?ll be dancing and prancing, laughter and joy as we spread plenty of festive spirit. But ssshh, don?t ...T'was The Gig Before Christmas - Scouts Takeover
Z-arts, Manchester
Saturday 6 December 2025
You?re invited to our secret party, for elves, yourselves, and ALL magical Lapland creatures. We?ll be telling stories through song. There?ll be dancing and prancing, laughter and joy as we spread plenty of festive spirit. But ssshh, don?t ...Wonderland Festive Family Fun Day
Z-arts, Manchester
Sunday 7 December 2025
Come and get festive and join us for our Wonderland Festive Family Fun Day!Date ? Sunday 7 DecemberRunning time ? 3 hours, drop in 11am ? 2pmAge recommendation ? For all the familyWith twinkling decorations, joyful activities, and a sprinkl...The Snowy Day
Z-arts, Manchester
Friday 12 - Tuesday 30 December 2025
A Polka Theatre and Can?t Sit Still co-productionDiscover a world blanketed in wonder in this brand new dance adaptation of ?The Snowy Day?, inspired by the award winning picture book by Ezra Jack Keats. One winter morning, Peter woke up an...LibraryLab
Z-arts, Manchester
Saturday 17 January - Saturday 25 April 2026
Our special guest programme in our Children?s Library. Each LibraryLab will welcome a local author or illustrator to the library to share their work. Join storyteller Neysa Killeen for a relaxed sharing of Irish folklore for children. These...Meet the Hatter
Z-arts, Manchester
Saturday 14 - Sunday 15 February 2026
Curiouser and curiouser??In celebration of their 15th anniversary, Joss Arnott Dance return with the company?s most ambition production to date, their brand-new, cinematic dance and multimedia show Meet the Hatter. Integrating dance, storyt...February Half Term Holiday Club - All Creatures Great & Small
Z-arts, Manchester
Tuesday 17 - Friday 20 February 2026
Come and join some of the Z-arts Creative Team for the week to explore all creatures great and small!Tuesday ? Thursday we will run two sessions for 4 ? 7 year-olds. These will be a repeated session 10:30am ? 12:30pm and 1:30pm ? 3:30pm. Pl...Z-access Day
Z-arts, Manchester
Saturday 21 February - Saturday 6 June 2026
Enjoy an afternoon of inclusive workshops in drama, music, circus, and art, designed to showcase the diverse talents of our community. In partnership with local organisations supporting children and families with additional needs, we?re cre...The Gruffalo's Child
Z-arts, Manchester
Friday 27 February - Sunday 1 March 2026
Tall Stories presents The Gruffalo's Child Adapted from Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's award-winning picture book Optional book line subheading: The Gruffalo said that no gruffalo should Ever set foot in the deep dark wood... Â Follo...Brave Bettie
Z-arts, Manchester
Saturday 14 March 2026
A magical woodland adventure about courage, friendship and finding your voice. Date ? Saturday 14 MarchRunning time ? 50 minutesAge recommendation ? Ages 3 ? 8Bettie loves the forest ? it?s her sanctuary, where she feels calm and in control...Counting Sheeps
Z-arts, Manchester
Saturday 28 - Sunday 29 March 2026
A sleepy, sheepy show from Herd Theatre for babies and toddlers (and very tired grown ups). Two sheep think they know everything about sleep. They're experts in the field. But tonight they're wide awake. Snuggle up and join two sheep on a j...There's A Monster In Your Show
Z-arts, Manchester
Thursday 2 - Saturday 4 April 2026
Tom Fletcher's interactive adventures for big imaginations are leaping from page to stage, as the beloved 'Who's in Your Book?' series makes its debut as a brand-new musical show. A group of performers are preparing to start their show, but...Mika and the Polar Bear
Z-arts, Manchester
Saturday 18 April 2026
Mika and the Polar Bear is an imaginative and unforgettable journey into the wonders of our natural world, with friendship, compassion, and the power of hope at it?s centre. When Mika is swept away by a climate disaster, they find themselve...Dance Month of May
Z-arts, Manchester
Saturday 2 - Saturday 23 May 2026
Get ready to move, groove, and have fun together this May!Join us for a series of four exciting family dance workshops, each with its own special theme. Every week brings a brand-new style, rhythm, and way to connect through movement. No ex...How to get to Z-arts, Manchester
Z-arts Frequently Asked Questions
Zion Arts Centre, 335 Stretford Road, Hulme, Manchester, M15 5ZA
There is some on-street parking available near Z-arts (Dearden Street opposite, Ancroft Street round the corner).
There are on street restrictions in place from Mon-Fri 8am-6pm. After 6pm and at the weekend these restrictions are lifted.
Some streets offer 3 hours free parking. Always check the parking signs as they are individual to each street.
Disabled parking bays are available at the front of the venue.
Watch this video for further information.
Oxford Road Station is a 15 minute walk away from Z-arts.
Piccadilly Station is a five minute walk from Piccadilly Gardens bus rank where you can catch one of the regular bus services that will take you to Z-arts.
The nearest tram stations are Deansgate (23 mins walk) or Trafford Bar (22 mins walk).
The capicity of the main theatre in Z-arts is 230.
Please contact Z-arts directly and their team will be able to help you.
If you would like to buy a ticket in person from Z-arts Box Office, they open:
Tuesday - Thursday 9am - 6pm
Fridays 9am - 9pm
Saturdays 9am - 6pm
Closed Sun & Mon (unless there is a show on).
Alternatively, you can see what's on and book online here.
When we know of a duration of a show, we add it to the description of the show on our event pages. For example, on our Wicked event page, after the description of the show we have added the duration of the show in large capital letters. If the time isn't listed, we do not have the information yet. We update our pages daily so it maybe a case of knowing closer to the performance itself, so keep checking.
You can also contact Z-arts and they will be able to advise you.
Please click here for accessibility information at Z-arts.
Whether you have positive or negative feedback you would like to feedback to Z-arts, please click here for more contact information.
Z-arts lost property will be held at Z-arts for one month. After this it is donated to charity or disposed of. Refillable water bottles are disposed of at the end of every day for hygiene reasons.
Click here to contact Z-arts.
Z-arts have their own Z-Cafe for you to grab a sandwich, coffee and cake.
Alternatively, with loads of great places to eat in Manchester and decent pre-theatre menus, you should check out our Manchester Restaurant site here!
Z-Cafe turns into a licensed bar for grown up events.
Alternatively, Manchester is full of great bars and pubs and some decent ones close to the venue. check out our Manchester Bar site here!
Absolutely! If you are attending a theatre show, you can leave it in the buggy park area if there is limited space in the theatre.
For immersive experiences, there is space within the exhibition to park your buggy, but due to space you cannot take them around the full experience.
Either use the map at the side of the FAQ section as it has all types of accomodation or click here for hotels in Manchester.
If you need further information about your visit Z-Arts, click here to visit their website or contact their team directly.
Please note that ManchesterTheatres.com isn't the venue itself. We promote what's on at the Z-arts and all other venues in Manchester and the local region. Feel free to contact us if you need more help though and we'll do our best to support you.
Most Popular Shows and Events at Z-arts, Manchester
