Moo Studios is a new artists’ studio/gallery in Digbeth. They’re looking for
committed artists to rent space and exhibit together. The rent will be £35 all inclusive. Here is a link to some photos of the space
If you’re interested then you’re invited to send a bio and examples of your artwork to moostudios@rocketmail.com.
Soweto Kinch‘s slightly-delayed third album ‘B19: Part 2 Basement Fables’ is due out shortly and, in readiness, the award-winning saxophonist/MC/producer is off on a short tour to showcase the new material. The tour starts at the Town Hall on Friday 25 July.
The twist is that
Young people aged under 21 from the northwest Birmingham postcode areas of B8, B18, B19, B20 and B21 can collect 2 free tickets per person by quoting ‘Soweto Ticket Offer’ at the Town Hall Box Office. The offer is subject to availability, to secure tickets reserve in advance on 0121 780 3333.
For everyone else, ticket prices are £12.50.
The next PILOT Night takes place on Thurs 28 August 2008 at the Custard Factory and a call has gone out for submissions. You’ll have to be quick though – the closing date is Thurs 31 July.
PILOT Nights are a motley assortment of new, untested shorts from some of the UK’s most exciting theatre companies. Each last between 10 and 20 minutes and together present a glorious mix of comic, touching and peculiar performance. The bar is open all night and musicians play in the intervals. The audience are invited to get a drink, enjoy the show and stick around to let the performers know exactly what they thought.
(Spotted on Audiences Central)
Having promised to mention this before, I nearly forgot. This summer:
Friction Arts will be collaborating with their US partners, Touchable Stories on a unique, living history arts project, attempting to reveal the true voice of Digbeth, Birmingham
There’ll be an exhibition and a series of other events including meetings, talks and dinners. The first such event will be ‘Mining For Gold – a master class in oral history and community engagement’ from 3pm to 8pm on 25 July. Shannon Flattery (Touchable Stories) will talk about work in some of the ‘third world’ communities in the US and Sandra Hall (Friction Arts and recently consultant to the Dutch culture dept) will present her own approaches to working, and making art.
There’s more general info on the Friction Arts site and here’s the flyer for this particular event:
Also coming up at The Edge, although I’ve not seen any info anywhere yet, Scott from Film Ficciones and Matt from Pram will be hosting some underground film nights. I think that’ll be on Saturday 26 July but if anyone has any further info then let me know.
The theme of this year’s Plus International Design Festival is ‘Hybrid’. It takes place on 5 to 8 November 2008 and, as the folks at Fused have picked up on, a call has been put out for submissions:
The Festival is now seeking exhibitors, speakers and demonstrators to work to the theme of Hybrid, which has been chosen as the focus of this year’s event as it not only aptly describes Britain – which is a unique country that has developed in an exceptional way – but it also expresses the current state of graphic communications.
I didn’t go to this last year and for no good reason. I looked at it, thought it seemed really interesting and then felt daft for not bothering. There’s a lesson there. Anyway, enough mutterings, if you’re a designer then you probably want a link for some more info on those submissions.
The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists‘ current exhibition is called Imaginative Portraits. Running until 30 August, it features
A wide range of portraiture by RBSA Members as well as other artists from around the country
The winners of the recently launched Biennial Portrait Award will be shown as part of it.
The RBSA’s gallery is just off St Pauls Square – here’s a map to help you (if you fancy going, like). For more info check the RBSA site or indeed this mention from Audiences Central.
Also on at the RBSA is ‘Reclaim’ – an exhibition of contemporary fine craft by designer/makers who use recycled materials in their craft-making. That’s on until 8 August.
The pic is by RBSA member Emily Porter-Salmon and is called ‘Sisterhood’ (Lesley Chan 2).
The Birmingham Post Power 50 (tremble at their might!) has just been announced. With last year’s list having an impressive showing from the arts world, interest at CiB could almost have been described as ‘mild’.
Ok, so it’s easy to be cynical about these things (and it’s open season on the Birmingham Post site – all the winners’ profiles are commentable), but there’s little sense in detracting from the recognition given to the following folks who work hard on the city’s arts & culture scene.
So, from CiB (hating the game, not the playa since 2007) hearty congrats go to:
While I’m at it, the Birmingham meeja luminaries who would like to thank their friends, family, deity of choice, etc and so on are:
The big list of movers and shakers is on the Birmingham Post website which, like I say, they’ve made an effort to do all nice so you can comment on how brilliant and deserving everyone is.
But feel free to vent your spleen in the comments here if you feel the need.
I’ve just had an email from Heather at Forerunner Records saying:
I’m currently compiling an article for FEED industry magazine about female fronted bands in Birmingham.
I’d like to interview (via email) as many female fronted Birmingham bands as possible to feature and maybe review for this article I’m writing. They should contact me at forerunnerrecords@hotmail.com
So if that’s you, or someone you know, or a local band you know of then get in touch with her.
Incidentally, Forerunner Records’ MySpace tells that they are:
the official record label of Matthew Boulton College in Birmingham. We currently offer our services to existing students, and have special events to search for emerging talent in the 14-16 age group
Which is interesting. It looks like they’re going to get going in time for the start of the new academic year (that’s Sept 08).
Also, apologies for the childish and obvious title of this post.
Rich Batsford is putting on a few Edinburgh Fringe Festival preview shows at the Old Joint Stock Theatre this week:
- Tuesday 15 July – Glenn Wool & Carey Marx
- Thursday 17 July – Zoe Lyons & Scott Capurro
- Friday 18 July – Reginald D Hunter & Jason Scott
I’ve even heard of a couple of those – Scott Capurro, for example, is fantastically offensive and worth checking out if you’re thick-skinned enough.
Tickets are a tenner each and booking info is on the left of this page.
The Electric Cinema recently completed the final stage of its refurbishment with the opening of a 78 seat second screen which features a High Definition projector. So far film screenings have leant towards the populist with Bladerunner (which I went down to see), The Wizard of Oz and, this coming weekend, The Great Escape. Check the Electric Cinema’s programme page for details.
There’s a a new 96 channel recording studio and dubbing theatre in there too, to be used for sound mixing for film and TV.
I’m a fan of the Electric so it’s good to see them able to offer a little more. If they can recoup the cost (which was apparently in the region of £100,000) without having to chase an overly commercial audience too hard then it’ll be a good asset. Fused went and took a look recently and they have a photo and everything.
However, controversy comes in the form of an article in the Birmingham Post this morning. Apparently there’s a £60,000 HD projector sat gathering dust at the (closed for refurb) Midlands Arts Centre. The equipment having been provided by the Digital Screen Network (of which the Mac is a member) which is funded by the National Lottery through the UK Film Council.
There are ‘ongoing discussions’ about what’s to happen with the projector but apparently it’s most likely to go to an arts venue like the Mac elsewhere in the country (and already within the Network).
It seems the Electric wasn’t in a position to join when the Network was first set up so the owner, Tom Lawes, has had to invest/risk a six-figure sum to bring the UK’s oldest working cinema up to spec while watching a valuable public resource lie idle.
Which must be especially galling when you see the list of cinemas the Digital Screen Network are providing projectors to – there are two in Cineworld Birmingham Broad Street, two at Vue Birmingham Star City and one in Cineworld Wolverhampton. In fact nationally the big chains (Cineworld, Odeon and Vue) seem to be doing quite well out of the deal.
Not a movement to encourage the growth of facial hair, Beardaid is some new-think from the people behind the Birmingham-based Bearded Magazine. The idea aims
to help people working in the independent music industry gain more prominent, nationwide media coverage in the UK and abroad
For the price of a pint (£2, kids) a month they’re offering:
- Free copies of Bearded delivered directly to you door (UK subscribers only)
- An exclusive, never before released record (at least 5 tracks) to download every month
- Discounted entry and discounted season tickets to Beardaid gigs
- A whole host of additional goodies, free records, free gigs, free merch, free art and whatever else we find
- Access to view back issues of Bearded electronically
There’s more info on the Beardaid site.
CiB’s frequent flyers may know that 2007′s Supersonic collective memory was a thing of rare beauty, pulling together all sorts of mentions of the festival from across the interwires. This is an attempt at replicating that for Supersonic 2008.
[Update, 29 July 2008] I’ve noticed very little new stuff recently so I’m going to stop actively searching and have unsubscribed from my automated updates. However, if you produce/come across any writings/photos/videos/whatever about this year’s festival then please mention them in the comments and I’ll update this post.
On with the good stuff then…
Capsule/Supersonic themselves
Here’s the Supersonic website itself. If you had a good time at the festival you can say thanks to the Capsule ladies, Lisa & Jenny, on this Capsule blog post. Here’s the festival catalogue, digitised.
Previews
Blogs
Other websites/mags
Fora
Social networks
Photos
Video
If you’re interested about the process of pulling together all this info as quickly/easily as possible then I’ll be writing about it at chrisunitt.co.uk shortly. By shortly I probably mean ‘in a month or two’.
Remember if you spot something Supersonic 08-related on the internet (or just want to say what you thought of the festival) then please use the comments below to let me know.
