MANCHESTER.- School of Integration is a new commission by leading Cuban artist and activist Tania Bruguera for Manchester International Festival 2019. Local people and those who have migrated from countries around the world will give free classes on a curriculum that includes languages, culture, ethics, politics, economics and many other forms of knowledge. Open and free to all the school will run classes daily until Saturday 20 July. Every teacher will pass on their experiences to anyone interested in developing new skills, resulting in a new kind of shared learning experience. Shifting the responsibility of integration from the immigrant to the wider community, this new work draws Manchester closer to those who have made the city their home.

Most recently shown in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, Tania Bruguera's work pivots around issues of power and control, and several of her works interrogate and re-present events in Cuban history. As part of her work, Bruguera has launched an Immigrant Respect Awareness Campaign and launched an international day of actions on 18 December 2011 (which the UN has designated International Migrants Day) in which other artists will also make work about immigration.

Tania Bruguera said: By inverting integration policies intended for migrants, I want to create a space for people in Manchester to experience the idea of transculturation as an alternative to traditional assimilation migration policies.

MIF Artistic Director and CEO, John McGrath, said: “Tania Bruguera is one of the most resonant artists of the time we’re in – she takes enormous risks both in her art and her life. Her School of Integration project is both challenging and exciting and responds very precisely to the times that we’re in in a way that is accessible and welcoming of everyone.”

Tania Bruguera (born 1968) is a Cuban installation and performance artist. She lives and works between New York and Havana and has participated in numerous international exhibitions. Her work is also in the permanent collections of many institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim, and Tate Modern, among others.