I’m not really one for reprinting press releases that are sent to me but I’ll make an exception. Here follows a message from Pete.
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I’m running a couple of courses which I hope will become regular monthly things.
The first is Matt and Pete’s Photo School (see poster)
Here we’re combining an academic approach to photography with the the practical peer learning of a Flickrmeet. As well as hobbyists we’re also looking to help those who can use photography better in their businesses or as a personal development course.
Through a combination of group teaching, personal goal setting, one-to-one mentoring and peer learning, Matt and Pete can help you become a better photographer, whether it’s for photos of your family or as a valuable business tool.
The first class in on Sunday Feb 6th at The Victoria from 12-5pm. The usual cost is £60 per head but we’re doing an introductory offer of £25 for February.
The second is Social Media Group Therapy (see PDF poster).
This is run with the Moseley Exchange and is aimed at the self-employed and small businesses who are having issues with their online activity. “Group therapy” isn’t just a joke. I think people’s problems, once unpicked, can be best be answered by those facing the same situations.
Social Media Group Therapy avoids the snake oil and magic beans of fly-by-night “experts” with a structured environment of peer learning led by someone who understands the pros and cons of the online world.
This course is on Tuesday March 6th at the Moseley Exchange from 6-8pm and costs £25 per person (£20 for Exchange members).
Or, more accurately, Google Maps in Eastside Projects. You can now use Google Maps to take a tour around the gallery and their Painting Show.
I’d seen the Google Art Project and I knew they’d started mapping inside shopping centres, airports and comic shops but I didn’t know they were doing anything in the UK. Fancy that.
This is pretty impressive:
Ken Jones of Bright Eyes has sent an incredible list of gigs he attended at the Town Hall (and other venues) from 1964 to 1974
Presumably that’s not Bright Eyes as in Conor Oberst’s band. Or maybe it is.
In other Town Hall news, Classic FM have got an interview with Andrew Jowett, the Chief Executive of Town Hall Symphony Hall Birmingham.
A moving image exhibition project, an art gallery and a South Asian arts organisation make for quite a nice banding together, I think.
Tonight’s event celebrates Chinese New Year and Fake Magazine inform us that highlights will include:
On the Way to the Sea, directed by Tao Gu which was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival and Rotterdam Film Festival in 2011. They’ll also be work by China’s most famous director, Wong Kar-Wai as well as animation by Royal College of Art alumni, Sharon Liu and Setaka Mizuno. They’ll also be plum wine and a live traditional Chinese musical performance in the interval.
The National Trust recently made the details of over 700,000 of the objects in their care available online for the first time.
I quick search for objects around Birmingham reveals 1,350 items, a fair few of them with accompanying pictures.
You can check out the online collection at nationaltrustcollections.org.uk. If anyone spots anything particularly good in there, please let me know.
With thanks to Museum Network Warwickshire for pointing this one out.
Secret Admirer puts interviews with bands, mainly from around Birmingham and the West Mids, on her blog. I was just at the This Is Tomorrow gig the other night at the Hare & Hounds, so the Matt Beck interview and Silver Souvenirs made for good reading.
Is anyone else out there blogging about Birmingham’s music scene? The Blue Whale Blog used to be my main place for that kind of thing but that’s been quiet for a while. BrumNotes and Counteract do a decent job but there must be more (especially non-indie stuff) out there.
It was good to see this list of favourite sites from BCT’s Leigh Walker. I’d not heard of a single one of them before so I’ll link them up from here too:
Head over to the Birmingham Conservation Trust website for why Leigh picked these.
If anyone else happens to do a list of their favourite Birmingham-centric websites then let me know – in the comments, by email or Twitter, take your pick. It’s always good to hear recommendations.
The Oasis Radio has been up and running since Monday and is broadcasting until 27 January. It’s broadcasting from Birmingham City University and is being played out in the Oasis shopping centre and online.
It’s mainly music and such, but they’ve also put together quite a decent short documentary about the history of the place too:
Made in the Jewellery Quarter is the name of a group exhibition featuring Capricorn Coating, Alabaster & Wilson, David-Louis and LJ Millington:
The goal of ‘ Made in the Jewellery Quarter’ is to let the people of Birmingham and the wider region know what is made on their doorstep, plus give them the opportunity to buy a piece of craftsmanship and a contemporary product from artisans, designers and most importantly locally based businesses.
I like how a bunch of different businesses have pulled together and taken it upon themselves to make this happen. Anyway, the exhibition will be at the Art at Artfull gallery, 23-24 Warstone Lane, B18 6JQ from 1-28 February.
Black Book Brum is a blog that is:
dedicated to Brums hard working and often underestimated Graffiti/Street artists.
Whether you interested in old school graf, sticker kings and queens or just the general art scene around Birmingham this is the place for you. Join me as I travel across the City noting the newest work as it happens!
The archives tell me that Newtasty was last mentioned on here by Pete nearly four years ago. I’ve just spent a few minutes flipping through his Facebook Page and there’s some good stuff on his blog too.
