THIS year's Manchester Art Show has been cancelled.

Organisers say lack of support, a reduced number of exhibitors and too little time have all contributed to the plug being ungracefully pulled on the event - which had been a regular fixture for the past four years.

The rights to the show were bought by EMO Ltd in June after previous organisers Engaging Arts pulled out.

David Andrews, from EMO, says: "We paid a considerable amount of money to acquire the intellectual property rights to the show.

"But the business plan we adopted turned out to be unrealistic for 2006, resulting in little or no support available from the Arts Council, a considerably reduced number of exhibitors from those indicated to us and not enough time for us to successfully secure a headline sponsor.

Difficult

"It is with deep regret that we have had to make the difficult decision to cancel Manchester Art Show 2006 in order to protect the longer term future of the show.

"EMO Ltd are committed to delivering Manchester Art Show and will do everything it can to ensure the highest possible quality of Art Show is delivered as part of its plans for 2007 and beyond."

The 2006 event would have been the 5th year for the Manchester Art Show, which lost main sponsor Manchester Airport when its deal ran out after last year's event at G-Mex. Tweet