Factory Rights Buzzing With Mr Benn Bee
Skwigly
Factory Rights has today announced that its much-loved nostalgic children’s brand, Mr Benn, will be showcased as part of this year’s hugely anticipated Bee in the City public art trail in Manchester.
The show-stopping Mr Benn Bee (also known as Mr Bee-nn), designed in-house by the team at Factory Create, will be joining the giant colony of more than 100 super-sized Bee sculptures winging their way to Manchester this summer for one of the biggest public art exhibitions the city has ever seen.
Altrincham-based animation studio and rights owner Factory came on board as a sponsor for Bee in the City earlier this year, and the team has been working collaboratively with leading global art trail producer, Wild in Art, to bring the fantastic Mr Benn design to life.
The world-class sculpture trail is inspired by Manchester’s celebrated worker bee emblem which has been part of the city’s heraldry for over 150 years and is synonymous with Manchester’s pioneering and creatively industrious spirit – pollinating progress and renewal.
Fans of Mr Benn old and new will be able to follow the free, accessible trail across the city from 23rd July to 23rd September, looking out for the Mr Benn Factory bee, with help from the Bee in the City app.
Anya Hollis, Head of Brand Licensing at Factory Rights comments:
“We are delighted to be sponsoring the spectacular Bee in the City art trail in Manchester and especially proud to be showcasing our amazing Mr Benn Bee for visitors to enjoy.”
She adds:
“This will be the first big showcase of the brand since launching Factory Rights last year following the acquisition of the Rollo Rights and Clive Juster & Associates classic animation portfolios. For Mr Benn, this is just the beginning of many more exciting things to come in the future!”
Sally-Ann Wilkinson, Director at Wild in Art, adds:
“Huge thanks to Factory for their sponsorship support. We can’t wait to see how the Factory Create team will transform the fantastic Mr Benn design into a finished Bee. I’m sure it will be un-bee-lievable!”
In addition to Mr Benn, Factory Rights now manages the rights to a number of other properties and art created by David McKee including King Rollo, Victor & Maria and Watt The Devil; Towser and Dr Xargle with Tony Ross and also Rupert Fawcett’s cartoons including Off The Leash, On The Prowl, Fred and Daddy.
Factory acquired the catalogue in a move that further underpins its ambition to develop a rights ownership arm that supports its studio production business and with an experienced Factory Rights team is managing and building this new initiative.
Bee in the City kicks off on 23 July when people can see over 100 finished bees in all their glory for over 2 months at key locations across the city.