About me
I’m Christine Cort, and I’m delighted you’ve stopped by my site.
CC&Friends is my new enterprise, a boutique consultancy that I launched in
2022 so I can help you make things happen. What things? Everything, more or less. I started out in marketing and worked to become the Group Marketing Director at Time Out – but while building Manchester International Festival from scratch into a major global event, I’ve become expert in placemaking and brand-building, fundraising and party planning, events management and creative development, as well as food, drink and hospitality. I’m a true people person, a collaborator to my core. And my friends? They’re chefs and creatives, DJs and designers, producers and philanthropists, writers and photographers, artists and accountants – anyone and everyone, in other words, from here, there and everywhere. They’re on hand to help me to help you make the impossible happen. And if that’s your dream, please get in touch. I’d love to have a chat.
CC&Friends is my new enterprise, a boutique consultancy that I launched in
2022 so I can help you make things happen. What things? Everything, more or less. I started out in marketing and worked to become the Group Marketing Director at Time Out – but while building Manchester International Festival from scratch into a major global event, I’ve become expert in placemaking and brand-building, fundraising and party planning, events management and creative development, as well as food, drink and hospitality. I’m a true people person, a collaborator to my core. And my friends? They’re chefs and creatives, DJs and designers, producers and philanthropists, writers and photographers, artists and accountants – anyone and everyone, in other words, from here, there and everywhere. They’re on hand to help me to help you make the impossible happen. And if that’s your dream, please get in touch. I’d love to have a chat.
My Story
I’ve set up CC&Friends after an extraordinary 17-year adventure. Back in 2004,
I co-founded Manchester International Festival with the brilliant Alex Poots –
and together with a wonderful team we shaped from scratch, we built MIF from tiny origins into one of the most exciting and influential arts festivals in the world. Just at my last festival alone, we attracted 350,000 visitors from 50 countries to more than 1,000 events, with an estimated economic impact on the city of more than £50m.
It was a thrill-a-minute privilege to help shape this great festival – not least for the joy I took from convincing the wider world to look at, think about and visit our magnificent city, and from contributing in some small way to making Manchester what it is today. I left my role as Managing Director to set up CC&Friends in 2022 – but I’m tangentially still involved in the journey towards The Factory, an amazing new Manchester landmark created as a direct result of MIF’s success.
Before MIF, I enjoyed an exhilarating London life as the Group Marketing Director of Time Out during its glory years – overseeing a major expansion of the brand beyond its hometown into new products, commercial arenas and destinations as far afield as Paris, Istanbul, Dubai and New York. And before that, I worked with the late Sir Terence Conran’s team at the Design Museum and at the treasured Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. I’ve been very lucky.
I’m proud to be both a daughter of Lancashire and an adopted Mancunian – which is why I’m both delighted and honoured to be on the Boards of Marketing Lancashire, helping to promote England’s best county to those who don’t know what they’re missing, EatWell MCR, a wonderful chefs’ collective bringing 1,000 meals a week to people sidelined by poverty in Greater Manchester and Manchester Street Poem - an art collective whose work reflects the personal experiences of some of our City’s marginalised communities.
I co-founded Manchester International Festival with the brilliant Alex Poots –
and together with a wonderful team we shaped from scratch, we built MIF from tiny origins into one of the most exciting and influential arts festivals in the world. Just at my last festival alone, we attracted 350,000 visitors from 50 countries to more than 1,000 events, with an estimated economic impact on the city of more than £50m.
It was a thrill-a-minute privilege to help shape this great festival – not least for the joy I took from convincing the wider world to look at, think about and visit our magnificent city, and from contributing in some small way to making Manchester what it is today. I left my role as Managing Director to set up CC&Friends in 2022 – but I’m tangentially still involved in the journey towards The Factory, an amazing new Manchester landmark created as a direct result of MIF’s success.
Before MIF, I enjoyed an exhilarating London life as the Group Marketing Director of Time Out during its glory years – overseeing a major expansion of the brand beyond its hometown into new products, commercial arenas and destinations as far afield as Paris, Istanbul, Dubai and New York. And before that, I worked with the late Sir Terence Conran’s team at the Design Museum and at the treasured Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. I’ve been very lucky.
I’m proud to be both a daughter of Lancashire and an adopted Mancunian – which is why I’m both delighted and honoured to be on the Boards of Marketing Lancashire, helping to promote England’s best county to those who don’t know what they’re missing, EatWell MCR, a wonderful chefs’ collective bringing 1,000 meals a week to people sidelined by poverty in Greater Manchester and Manchester Street Poem - an art collective whose work reflects the personal experiences of some of our City’s marginalised communities.
Working with Manchester to create large scale free events – Jeremy Deller’s Procession.
Photo: Sharon Latham
Photo: Sharon Latham
Working with Manchester to create large scale free events – Jeremy Deller’s Procession.
Photo: Sharon Latham
Photo: Sharon Latham
Awards
– Special Recognition Award, Manchester Culture Awards 2021
– Contribution to Arts & Culture Award, English Women’s Awards 2019
– The Sunday Times Alternative Rich List 2018
– 100 Inspirational Women 2016/2017/2018, Greater Manchester Business Week
– Inspirational Leadership in Arts & Culture Award, Inspiring Women Awards 2015
– Contribution to Arts & Culture Award, English Women’s Awards 2019
– The Sunday Times Alternative Rich List 2018
– 100 Inspirational Women 2016/2017/2018, Greater Manchester Business Week
– Inspirational Leadership in Arts & Culture Award, Inspiring Women Awards 2015
Bring found spaces back to life - Boris Charmatz at Mayfield Depot
Bring found spaces back to life - Boris Charmatz at Mayfield Depot
Mentions
‘A money-smart former Communications Director for Time Out worldwide who is as sparkly as the glass of champagne she is gripping!’
– The Economist
‘A boss who created a cultural shift in Manchester’
– Business week