A NEW partnership has put Warrington Contemporary Arts Festival in the picture.

Culture Warrington has teamed up with North, a new Arts Council supported initiative to nurture talent in the region.

Warrington's month-long festival is North's first project and it will also play host to one of the event's main exhibitions, The Dream of Modern Living?

Curated by Paul Carey-Kent, the collection will bring together regional and international artists’ responses to Ikea and how it has shaped the town one flat pack at a time.

Britain’s first Ikea opened in Warrington in 1987.

It is said to have the highest visitor numbers of any store in the country but the lowest spend per head, suggesting that people go not just to buy furniture but to see and to experience designs, ideas and even the food.

Artists contributing to the exhibition will be using Ikea products as art materials from re-interpreting the furniture to subverting the store catalogue of which more than 200 million copies are printed each year.

North will also curate other visual arts exhibits as part of the wider festival.

The event, now in its fifth year, runs from October 2 to 31 at the Pyramid, The Gallery at Bank Quay House, Warrington Museum and Art Gallery and other venues.

It includes exhibitions, installations, live performance, film screenings, workshops, placement opportunities and talks from industry leaders.

Some of the highlights include a 'cultural crawl' of host venues, Glastonbury favourite Mik Artistic, acclaimed physical theatre company Tmesis, Longshot Film Festival, an experimental music workshop with Capriccio and a 'haunted' silent disco.

William Lunn, lead curator of North, said: "With much of my family based in the north of England I've grown up watching the building strength of galleries and institutions in the regions in spite of the cultural power of London.

"The first project from North sets out to begin to bring that strength together."

Maureen Banner, chairman of the Culture Warrington board, added: "Year on year this festival never fails to highlight the breadth of talent within the region and our new partnership with North will certainly keep this festival going from strength to strength."