Created in Birmingham

• Midlands sitting pretty at Edinburgh Film Festival – Birmingham Post
  Roger Shannon looks at Birmingham’s representation at the film festival
• Upon further investigation. A site visit to Ludgate Car Park in Birmingham (UK)
  Harry Palmer reports on his investigation/survey of one of the few remaining sites in Birmingham that hasn’t been built on since being bombed in WW2.
• 7inch July listings
  A fine round-up of the area’s goings-on from our recent interview stars

Here’s an interesting one.  The Digbeth-based Dynamics Arts look to be overseeing the launch of a new community radio station that will be based in the Custard Factory.

It’s early days but things are moving apace.  There’s a bit of discussion over on The Stirrer’s forum which will give you an idea of what’s going on but I met Paul Hadley from Dynamics Art and here are some bulletpoints I came away with (note, everything’s liable to change):

• Rhubarb Radio will pick up the keys to the unit in the Custard Factory (the one that’s currently a bridal shop) on 1 August
• The station will start broadcasting using a makeshift studio in the unit at the front of the Custard Factory (on the left, opposite the reception area) as soon as Capsule have stopped using it for Supersonic (so mid-July)
• The daytime audience will be creatives/students/etc
• In the evening there will be specialist music shows, possibly patching in to events at the nearby Barfly, Factory and Rainbow
• Advertising will be used to recoup overheads (including all licences needed) before being reinvested in the station
• The area behind the studio will have a workshop for training sessions on digital film, music, video, etc using Photoshop, Illustrator, Final Cut Pro and so on.  Training will be accredited
• A reference part for this project might be London’s Resonance FM
• The station will broadcast via the internet and probably via a Restricted Service Licence for a while
• There’s no website yet – anyone who wants to help with that (again on a volunteer basis) is very welcome

People who want to get involved (all on a voluntary basis) are welcome and there’s going to be a meeting at The Kitchen at the Custard Factory on Thurs 3 July at 6pm.  As Paul said on The Stirrer:

We’re looking for many supporters to perform all sorts of roles……. it’s not just about presenting, there’s the need for researchers, producers, trainers, admin support, management committee members, fundraisers, marketeers, pr, runners, technicians……. the list goes on.

It’s a busy time for 7 Inch Cinema.  They’ve celebrated their 5th birthday, their excellent Flatpack Festival has gained recognition from the UK Film Counci and they have a series of events coming up as part of the Flux and Supersonic festivals.

Frankie sat down for tea and biscuits with Pip and Ian and discussed Ian’s Favourite Things and the upcoming Flummoxed (3 July) and Knitflicks (19 & 20 July) as well as their plans for the future.

7″ Cinema from Created in Birmingham on Vimeo.

The Birmingham Opera Company, which was faced with cuts to its funding not so long ago, will return to the stage next month with a production of Mozart’s Idomeneo.

As it says on the website:

We don’t have an opera house and we don’t work in conventional theatres. We conjure our theatres out of spaces used for other purposes or maybe just abandoned

Not arf.  This time they’ve taken over the empty Sherborne Rubber Factory building just off Ladywood Middleway (map here).

There are a few details on the Birmingham Opera Company site but there’s more to come soon.  Although it does say performances will be roughly every other day between 12 and 23 August and tickets will be on sale soon.

Head nod to the Audiences Central blog.

• Lucent Harmonic Colour at Flummoxed
  The flyer for ‘a Colortone experiment by Film Ficciones and Micronormous’ as part of the 7 Inch curated Flummoxed – part of the Flux Festival.
• Charlie Levine on GOODS In
  “These are some pics of the show from the front and back of the space”.
• New Substrakt team member
  Tom Martin has joined Substrakt, which is worth mentioning as an excuse to point you towards his rather excellent Tumblr at http://thedeplorableword.net