• Graft « More Canals than Venice
  “Graft are a curatorial collective based in the Midlands who are looking to find a space for up and coming and newly established artists. On 9th December they launch ARC, a new night at The Vaults… For the launch they are seeking proposals from newly estabished artists working in experimental performance, sound and video in response to The Vaults”
• D’log :: blogging since 2000 » Rea Garden
  An opportunity to take up a residency lasting up to 10 weeks at the Rea Garden from Jan 2010. Applications need to be in by 17 Dec
• Art Deco Buildings in Birmingham | Birmingham Conservation Trust
  The BCT goes in search of the city’s Art Deco buildings
• Digbeth is Good – YouTube – The Event Talks: Digbeth
  “Caroline Beavon of Hashbrum talks to Gavin Wade of Eastside Projects about The Event and Digbeth creative stuff in general”
• Art at Studio Five
  Bryn Tranter has a studio and gallery at the Custard Factory – “At StudioFive, we make art accessible to everyone. Whether you want to buy original pieces, you’re looking to learn or you need art to enliven your office or workplace, StudioFive is the place to start”
• Facebook | Birmingham Irish Film Festival
  Plans for “A film festival devoted to film from or about Ireland or with an identifiable Irish interest/connection” to possibly be expanded into a week-long celebration of Irish culture
• An Early Christmas Present for 14 to 26 Year Olds
  The Rep have just extended their A Night Less Ordinary ticket availability for A Christmas Carol to all evening performances from 19 December to 2 January, which is nice of em
• Brummie of the Year 2009 – Nominations Open
  Early nominees are Chris the handyman at the Barber Institute, Paul Hadley, Justice Williams, the Capsule grannies, the Jibbering crew, Alison Smith, Mr Ralph,Gurcharan Mall and Glyn Purnell

Digbeth High Street – Festival Street

The idea was put forward by Cllr Martin Mullaney on The Stirrer the other day – Millennium Square is going to be unavailable soon as it’s being turned into a park. Of course, this suggestion came in the aftermath (and I don’t think that’s a completely unreasonable phrase to use. Or would ‘debacle’ be better? ‘Embarrassment’, maybe?) of the Christmas Lights switch-on.

A fine question from Nicky Getgood though:

how will the council deal with noise complaints from local residents who find the festivals disruptive?

Money for art

BMAG is to be given £4.8m towards a new wing forming part of the £9.7million project called Birmingham – A City in the Making. It may one day hold the Staffordshire Hoard (to whit – donations are being collected).

You can wear jeans and trainers to the ballet

You knew that, right?

Having mentioned it yesterday, it’s the last Filmrats of the year on Wednesday 25 November. From the blurb what has been emailed to me:

the event is a multimedia evening of short films and live music, a hybrid of different creative artistry coming together to showcase their talents, enjoy music, film and to socialise. The night is being held once a month on a Wednesday evening at the Bristol Pear, in the heart of Selly Oak. If you love music and film this really is the best place to go to in Birmingham.

Filmrats is always looking for more Singer/Songwriters, Bands, Poets, Comedians, Performance Artists and Short Films. If you want to showcase your talent then please get in contact. Entry is £1.50, so go along and remember to send in those short films on DVD format to:

Filmrats, Flat 3, 889 Bristol Road, Selly Oak, Birmingham B29 6ND

Email any questions, etc to filmrats@hotmail.co.uk.

You can also grab them via MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Tweedeleededeedee, Sir Ru Barb and the Green Wolf is being warmed up for a winter tour which will kick off at the Kitchen Garden Cafe in Kings Heath on 13 December.

I think this show last had an airing (in Birmingham at least) in December last year at the Town Hall in it’s musical version (storyteller Paul Murphy is the lead singer of The Destroyers). I’m happy to be corrected on that though. Here’s an animated trailer for that show:

This is a bit different to that though – the show can be presented in musical, storytelling and animated forms. This’ll be the storytelling version. It’s aimed at predominently at youngsters and I gather it’s the sort of storytelling suited to dark and stormy nights, so here’s hoping for bad weather.

As far as film goes there’s a fair amount to mention – from the regional agency types to those putting films on in pubs around the city. I’m bound to miss things out here so do fill in any gaps in the comments.

Screen WM are the regional screen agency (film is just part of their remit). Film Birmingham can help with permits, locations and crews. The Producers Forum is there to support the region’s producers. All three are good sources of news, events and training/job opportunities.

There’s also RTS Midlands for your televisual needs – events, awards and all sorts. Screen Media Lab are attached to Birmingham City University and they do all sorts of things too.

Film Forum WM is a monthly meet-up for anyone interested in film. Held at The Victoria.

Birmingham International Film Society show classic and new world cinema treats at the Library Theatre.

It’s increasingly hard to pinpoint what 7 Inch Cinema do – essentially they show interesting films, often in interesting places. They also run the Flatpack Festival. They’re very good.

The Jekyll & Hyde are doing midweek cinema screenings under the name Juniper Cinema. The Spotted Dog in Digbeth runs a Filum Night on Mondays. Filmrats is a monthly short film/live music evening at the Bristol Pear in Selly Oak. There’s Moving Pictures at The Victoria on Sundays too.

There’s also the script-based stuff, which needn’t necessarily be film-related as such. However, it’s worth mentioning Script Online and the recent piece that Prof Roger Shannon wrote on Tindal Street Press’s output being developed for film.

Like I said, I’m sure I’ve left out some film nights/events/organisations/sources of info. Feel free to pop links in the comments.

(Pic is Perry Barr Odeon by brianontheweb)

The Bullring has been recreated in Lego. It’s not the sort of thing that you might think was very ‘CiB’ but there’s something about it that appeals to me. More info here. This was spotted on the BiNS PR website (where there are more photos).

In possibly related news, I saw on Twitter that Chris Randall from Second Home Productions is working on a Lego-based project. Hmm.

• Best Believe – Promoting Tolerance Through Arts
  I’m a bit slow to link to this, but Amy has a guest post from Ulfah Arts’ artistic director Naz Koser
• KateGoes Sock Crazy
  KateGoes would like you to make sock puppet monkeys to star in the video to their first single. Film Ficciones seem to be involved in this too. 31 Jan 2010 is the deadline
• something I said : Look Here!
  Nice idea this – thinking about those huge banners used to cover up scaffolding – “So what happens a lot of times is that the banner is just a huge photo of the building – which is pretty cool. But what if the banner were more like experimental art? Or a photo of something else?”
• Interview: David Massingham
  DanceXchange’s artistic director talks about the International Dance Festival Birmingham
• Tom Bellamy EP Launch Party | Hare and Hounds
  I’ve never heard Tom Bellamy’s music. Really I’m linking to this because I like the artwork (by Jonathan Farr from Mexico City)
• Anna Minton: ‘Ground Control’ Talk
  “Acclaimed journalist Anna Minton presents her book Ground Control” at The Public on Wednesday 18 Nov. I mean to pick up a copy of this a while back but plain forgot. As The Guardian summarised it “This timely and powerful study argues that a flawed urban-planning strategy has turned our cities into unfriendly, suspicious places”
• An Introduction to Creative Theatre Producing, Birmingham Rep
  This course “will look at everything needed to put on a show or start a production or theatre company, from the local pub, to a national tour, to the West End of London. It will also touch on film and TV opportunities”
• Analogue Out in the Open: Unguided Tours
  “For the final part of the Analogue project you can book your place on an ‘unguided tour’ of Taking Time: Craft and the Slow Revolution”
• Unlimited – Invitation to Advice Session
  Arts Council West Midlands will be holding an advice session for Unlimited, the UK’s largest ever disability arts programme, on Friday 20th November 2-4pm at their offices. Click the link for details

The good ship Capsule sails into double figures in December and they’re putting on a succession of parties to celebrate that fact.

• 1 December – Monotonix + Beestung Lips + Cum Dogs + Esquilax (VIVID)
• 2 December – Tunng + Six Organs of Admittance + Lightning Dust + Bela Emerson (Town Hall)
• 8 December – Lightning Bolt + Tweak Bird + Pete Prescription (VIVID) SOLD OUT
• 10 December – Sunn 0))) + Om (The Asylum)
• 13 December – Capsule and 7inch Cinema present: Afternoon Tea – a light buffet with a healthy serving of films (VIVID). FREE Event
• 16 December – Beak> (Geoff Barrow – Portishead) + Einstellung + Thought Forms (VIVID)
• 19 December – Closing Party: Modified Toy Orchestra + PCM + Calvados Beam Trio + Una Corda + Stinky Wizzleteat, plus a selection of special guests (VIVID)

The line-up’s on More Canals Than Venice too, with links to each band’s MySpace profile. Tickets are available here.

But there’s more. As the ladies say:

Not only will we be hosting a series of live shows… we’re also producing an exhibition which delves deep into our archive. This will feature 10 years worth of flyers, photos and related ephemera

If you’ve got anything that can be added to that archive then get in touch with them at info@capsule.org.uk.

Finally, we’re lining up a joint Capsule/Created in Birmingham event for 17 December which will be an excuse to celebrate some of Birmingham’s rising independent talent. More details on this to come…

The Rep have just announced their spring/summer season. They single out the following highlights:

• David Edgar’s staging of Arthur & George
• Alan Bennett’s latest – The Habit of Art
• Brian Friel’s Olivier Award-winning play Dancing At Lughnasa; and
• A major new production of Michael Frayn’s comic romp Noises Off

There’s also “a series of plays inspired by the issues facing young people today” and quite a lot of dance, including some shows forming part of British Dance Edition 2010.

Next year will see the start of a period of upheaval for the Rep, what with the work on the new library that’ll be taking place. As a spokesperson said to the Birmingham Post:

The first work on The Rep building will start in early 2010 with the demolition of current workshops, rehearsal rooms and hospitality suites. These functions will move to another location.

We will continue to produce shows in the theatre during 2010 and we don’t imagine we will have to leave the building until 2011

As Chris alluded to in the 2000th post I’m lurking in the background of Created in Birmingham at the moment. If there was an office it’d have “Special Projects” stenciled on the door, but there isn’t and it really just involved Chris and I sitting on the sofa figuring out things to do that can either generate an income for CiB or raise the profile of CiB. Or both. We’re also looking at ways to use Created in Birmingham as a name to do interesting things. One of the first things I want to do is see if it can send a bunch of people to Germany.

Transmediale is an arts/digital/activist festival that takes place in Berlin in February. Information is pretty scant on the website, which is a shame, but from what I can gather it was started by a bunch of troublemakers and rebellious sorts in Berlin, evolving out of the post-Cold War cultural scene. Or something. At the very least it’s a gathering of a load of people who are doing interesting things with art, technology and society that would probably blow our Brummie minds.

The Arts Council have sent artists over there before and have expressed an interest in helping some Interwebby people go this year to have their horizons broadened, to make connections and to bring interesting and exciting ideas back to the West Mids. I’ve got a couple of people in mind but we need 8 names in total. And due to the unique way funding applications operate we need to know ASAP.

You have to be free during the first week of February (2nd to 7th) and able to travel to Berlin. Flight, accommodation and entrance to the festival will be covered – you need to pay for food and local travel.

The decision on who goes is mine. It’s be nice to have a fair and transparent decision making process but frankly we don’t have time so I’m going for the Interesting quotient. That doesn’t necessarily mean the someone who’s done loads of interesting things will go – I’m more likely to chose someone with potential who needs a conceptual kick up the arse.

Specifically I’m after people who are doing interesting things using media with the aim of shaking up or understanding society better. This could be a website, a zine or simply a curiosity. The model I’m using here is my trip to SXSWi in 2008. Before I went I had loads of ideas but no idea if they were realistic. In Austin I met loads of people who were actually doing the things I’d been thinking about which gave me the confidence to actually do some of them on my return. I’d like to take people who are in that position.

Please note that this is not a done deal. The application still has to go through the Arts Council’s processes. But in order to do that it needs names on it.

If you’re interested drop an email to peteashton@gmail.com with a couple of paragraphs on what you’re doing, where your mind is at and what you might get out of such a trip. Don’t worry if you don’t know – just give me a sense of where you’re coming from. I’m particularly interested in hearing from people I don’t know and people who haven’t been on these sorts of funded trips before. Oh, and people who don’t consider themselves Artists. But artists I know who’ve been funded trips are also welcome.

If you can let me know by Thursday morning that’d be great.

The picture above is Boundary II by Barbara Walker. Looking at it on screen really doesn’t do it justice though and I wholeheartedly recommend you go along to Birmingham Seen at BMAG to see it nice and big.

It’s a great exhibition with a fair few highlights – the early photography of the city is absorbing, the Derek Fairbrother timelapse is morbidly fascinating with few sticking around to watch it a second time and the 1940’s (?) plans for the city’s civic area were .

I also loved the paintings by Paul Hill, a long-time Castle Vale resident. Unfortunately it’s tricky finding any decent examples of his work online. I also liked Michelle Lord’s work, including this titled Ultimate City #1:

So yes, get along and see it if you can. It’s at the Gas Hall until 3 Jan.

• Coral Stars
  Leah says “My aim in blogging is to document my inspirations and thoughts within the realm of fashion, diy + art”
• Best Believe – Coral Stars
  Amy has a bit of a chat with Leah from the Coral Stars blog
• Project Manager – Art of Ideas
  “This programme will focus on collecting and collections and further investigate the conditions and actions needed to develop the market. It will provide an interface with the art world, the business sector and the general public and should develop confidence and aspiration in those making their first art purchases, broker critical debate and relationships for those working within the sector and make a case for the role of the market in economic and cultural terms”

Hi everyone.

It’s occurred to me that, since taking the reins again here, I’ve not really said hello. So, um… ‘hello’.

As the title reveals, this is CiB’s 2000th post, coming just a few weeks shy of the site’s 3rd birthday on 1 December (we’ve got plans for that – stay tuned). I generally prefer to keep the navel-gazing on this site to a minimum but I thought I might as well use this milestone to mention a few things.

It’s good to be back

That’s the first thing to say.

What’s going on at CiB

Yes, so I’ve taken the website over again and will be looking after the blog and everything that goes with it. Send stuff to createdinbirmingham@gmail.com, add us to your mailing list, etc.

Pete Ashton’s lurking in the background and will have a role in some of the other, non-editorial stuff CiB does. He’s written quite a long post about CiB’s history which hints at where the site might be going – hopefully he’ll post it sometime soonish.

How CiB’s going to pay for itself

Because there’s no reason why it shouldn’t, really:

• Advertising – £50 a week is a bargain. Get in touch if you’d like to take advantage.
• Supporters Programme – this is launching on Monday so I’ll leave the info on this until then
• Projects – we’re going to start doing stuff under the CiB name. If there’s a suitable project you think we might be interested in then get in touch

I’ll write a post about this on my personal blog at some point as I’d rather not clog this site up with waffle about how online stuff sustains itself. Kittens and ‘monetisation’ – that’s all the internet is these days (grumble, etc).

More about projects

There are a few good plans in the pipeline, but if there’s anything you think we might enjoy getting involved in please do let us know. We’re thinking workshops on arts blogging, curating festival fringes, acting as a ‘media partner’ at events… have a think and let us know.

Chris Keenan has the above photo showing at Colorado’s Center for Fine Art Photography at the moment, at an exhibition entitled ‘Portraits‘ juried by Mary Ellen Mark.

Tom is the owner of a prefab home in Moseley – once surrounded by many similar ones, his is now one of the few remaining among the redeveloped properties.

Mary Ellen Mark is name that should be recognised by anyone who’s studied photography. To have had work picked out by her (she chose 52 portraits from 2500 submissions) is a great credit to Chris.

Yep, from here on in it’s pretty much inescapable.

The Frankfurt Christmas Market (a celebration of charming curios and glühwein or a tat-strewn bovine/pedestrian magnet depending on your point of view) opened today, which is as good a reason as any to link to Old Dead Eye’s lovely video.

Apparently there’ll be a Solihull one this year too, opening 28 Nov.

On Saturday (14 Nov) the Christmas lights are being switched on with a 5-hour pop-fest at Millenium Point which actually features a pretty impressive line-up. BRMB are putting on The Sugababes, JLS, Calvin Harris, Alexandra Burke, Chipmunk, Pixie Lott, Tinchy Stryder, Little Boots and the Noisettes. Not my kinda thing but I’ve at least heard of all of them.

(Pic by hartlandmartin)

Swimming Without Water is a group exhibition taking place in January 2010 at Moseley Road Bath Centre.

Contemporary artists Flora Gare, Debbie Akam and Tim Skinner will create a site-specific exhibition with the aim of encouraging the local and wider community to rediscover Moseley Road Baths and experience them in a different way. It will also potentially help towards the conservation of a building of historic importance.

The Friends of Moseley Road Baths are currently campaigning to secure the building’s future. You can find out more about that on their website.

Home By Six is a new project from Multistory:

Whatever it is about your journey, if you can tell it in six words we want to hear it.

Stories will be featured in an exhibition called ‘Home by Six’ which will take place at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery in the Community Gallery from 21 November 2009 to 7th February 2010. The Community Gallery is an exciting new space dedicated to exhibitions created in collaboration with communities.

There’s a few ways to get involved in this one:

• Text ‘homebysix’ plus your story, name and town to 60300 (calls charged at your operator’s standard network rate)
• Email: send your story, name and town to yourstory@homebysix.co.uk
• Twitter: use the hashtag #homebysix
• Online: write your story at the Home By Six website

From 12-14 November, Jo Gane will be exhibiting at The Old Science Museum, 144 Newhall Street:

Critically commenting on the traditional British landscape and our continuing search for an authentic and historical representation of it, Coventry based photographer Jo Gane questions the mythologies and values placed upon specific historical sites across Britain. Adopting the traditional wet plate collodion process for her work, the artist goes in search of relics and objects found within the customary British landscape, specifically sighting out those that hold some evidence of historic authenticity

Jo will also be in the gallery on Thursday 12th Nov from 2-6pm creating some of her glass plate negatives.

I’d not come across TROVE before:

TROVE is an arts organisation that uses Birmingham city as its gallery space. Often happening in unused spaces, in the back of vans or in gardens, TROVE brings to Birmingham some of the best emerging art talent from across the world as well as representing some local emerging Birmingham artists

There’s a new open mic spoken word and poetry night called Coffee Shop Poets that’s starting at The Margarett Rose Abri, in Digbeth – a relatively new place that’s billed as being friendly to artists (the cafe, that is).

Actually, on that theme, the flyer insists that there will be no alcohol served, that the audience will be purely there for the poetry and that the surroundings will be safe and appreciative. Which makes me wonder what the heck when down the last time they put an event on.

Anyway, the flyer also says:

If anyone fancies coming along to perform their work (or anyone elses!) or just to listen – they can feel free to come and relax and enjoy a coffee – and will be very welcome.

…admission is free but there will be collection tins for the breast cancer charity ‘Breakthrough’ strategically placed around the joint!

Sounds nice. The next one is on Thurs 12 November and they’ll be running on the first Thurs of the month after that.

The same cafe is also running acoustic sessions on Sunday afternoons and The Espresso Sized Theatre on 27 November

With a cast of three or less, minimal props and each play being between 15-20 mins long

The fizzPOP Howduino event takes place on Saturday 21st November, 10am – 5.30pm:

It’s a free event that will bring together 40 people from different backgrounds to work individually and collaboratively on various projects based around the Arduino platform. (Arduinos are small microcontrollers designed for easy prototyping of things that have electronics/data that respond to things in the physical world and vice versa. In their own words: “It’s intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.”)

The event will cater for people of all skill levels (we’re running introductory workshops for beginners too) with the main aim being to get people combining components – be they electronic or cardboard – and ideas to produce cool stuff.

The workshop places have all gone now but there are still a few attendee tickets left. If you’re really keen to do a workshop then put your name down here and they might be able to free up some space.

Ta to Nikki Pugh for sending the info.