Andy Spinoza
Culture Communicator
Andy Spinoza has been documenting Manchester’s cultural scene for 40 years. He was in the rooms where the big moments happened, often tasked with telling those stories to the public. Now he tells them on stage.
Biography
Andy Spinoza is the author of Manchester Unspun, the interconnected story of Manchester’s culture and economic success since the 1980s. As a journalist, he documented the city’s thriving cultural scene. Then, as a consultant, he was tasked with telling the city’s stories by the government and by its commercial movers and shakers. Today, he is telling the stories of one of the world’s most beloved cities on stage. How music fuelled an economic revolution and helped to centre Manchester on the world’s cultural stage.
Andy founded alternative magazine City Life in 1983, before serving ten years as a gossip columnist and in senior editorial roles for the Manchester Evening News. An original member of The Hacienda, he freelanced for music media including New Musical Express and The Face, before stepping into communications consultancy.
He promoted the dynamic new post-industrial Manchester, bringing together Tony Wilson and future city mayor Andy Burnham, and working with public figures including Sir Alex Ferguson, Gary Neville and Pep Guardiola. His consultancy secured over 40 industry awards for PR, creative communications, and behaviour change campaigns for public and private sector organisations,
In 2022, University of Manchester’s John Rylands Library acquired his collection of print and memorabilia as part of its British Pop Archive.
Speaking
Stories of Manchester’s past and the lessons to be learned for its future.
Interviews
Andy is the ideal candidate for a fireside chat format.
Broadcast
Andy is an experienced on-air performer, analyst and commentator.
Example Videos
Publications
Manchester Unspun: Pop, Property and Power in the Original Modern City has been reviewed enthusiastically in The Observer, Financial Times and the LA Review of Books, with journalist Michael Crick describing it as ‘a compelling book with a cast of larger-than-life characters’.
What do you get when you book Andy to speak?
Andy is most commonly asked to keynote but he is happy to chair panels or interview other speakers on stage, while he is at the event.
Andy is an experienced speaker with an audience of his own who is happy to work with you to help you promote your event.
This can include:
Pre-event video
Co-operation in pre-event PR and media interviews
Contributed articles for event blogs or programmes
Promotion on social media
Feedback
“Andy and I worked together on TEDxManchester 2023, one of the world’s largest TEDx events. We worked together intensely to create a compelling and entertaining talk which garnered a terrific reaction on the day both for our 1800+ audience and across social media. We appreciated Andy’s willingness to collaborate under pressure, fast response times and his overall professionalism.”
Herb Kim, Curator of TEDxManchester
