This week Wendy Cope, one of the favourites to become the new poet laureate said that you can’t write poetry to order. Channel 4 set a challenge to prove her wrong: Write a poem ‘to lift the spirits of the nation’ in the format of a 140 character Twitter tweet.
Katie Parry aka @supercoolkp, a designer with supercool, did just that and managed to get her tweet read on air on the evening news.
Katie said:
I can’t begin to tell you how chuffed I was – I watch Channel 4 News every weeknight so to see my (Twitter) name on the screen was brilliant.
And it’s another small yet powerful example of the amazing connective potential of Twitter. How else would a graphic designer in Brum get their poem recited on the national news?
The segment is available to watch on YouTube and the best of the rest are on Channel 4 online.
Birmingham based band The Destroyers are looking for someone to re-brand their image to co-inside with the release of their first full album. The 15 piece band have recently collaborated on a composition with The Dohl Blasters for the re-opening of Birmingham Town Hall, and have also been commissioned by Flatpack Festival to create new works for a celebration of cinema pioneer Waller Jeffs, to be premiered at the opening of the the festival at the Town Hall.
The Destroyers certainly are an eclectic bunch, drawing influences from a range of traditions: klezma, mariachi, ska, bhangra, Balkan Brass, celtic folk, gypsy jazz, and flamenco. The new branding will need to reflect this.
Interested? Contact Louis Robinson for a full brief: robinson_lja@yahoo.com.
In a meeting yesterday it was decided that the Arts Council will not fund any further plans from The Public, West Bromwich, including those for the long awaited interactive gallery. The reasons given are an absence of a firm opening date for the gallery and the considerable increase in annual revenue funding required to deliver the plan. It was announced last year that tickets for the gallery will be priced at £6.95 for adults, which stoked the fires of many angry taxpayers.
They have, however awarded Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council an award of up to £3m to allow them to develop a revised plans and to bring the building fully into public use. The Arts Council’s intention is that the significant investment made by all the funders will benefit the residents of Sandwell.
Sir Christopher Frayling, Chair of Arts Council England, said:
“We are the national development agency for the arts, and investing in ground breaking creative projects that have the potential to give more people access to great art is central to what we do. That is why we supported this project and why, at every stage, we have worked with our partners and carefully weighed the level of risk involved against the potential public benefit.
But the fact is that, although the building is open, the interactive art gallery at the centre of the vision for The Public is not. We have done everything we can but there comes a point where we have to make a difficult judgement – and regretfully, that moment is now.”
The Public will be releasing a statement later on today.
Light House in Wolverhampton are offering a video production workshop just for women which will be delivered by Film & TV Director Nerina Villa on Wednesday 11th March from 10am – 4pm.
The 1 day workshop will be a ‘hands-on’ introduction to video production techniques, exploring camera operation, lighting and sound. The workshop is designed for all skills levels; beginners, enthusiasts or those with more experience who may be in need of a refresher.
Cost: £35 + VAT (10% discount for earlybird bookings taken before Fri 27 Feb).
For more information or to book contact: Kelly Jeffs on t: 01902 716055 e: kelly@light-house.co.uk
Designer Makers are a vital part of the creative industries, yet are often overlooked and are sometimes dismissed as hobbyists. Their are many support networks around the West Midlands that show a thriving sector, and a need for even more good exhibition space to hold all of this new work.
Here are a few opportunities and support networks around at the moment:
Designer Maker West Midlands - the advocate for the designer maker sector in the WM and holds quarterly meetings with designer makers to maintain a dialogue on funding and future opportunities.
Craftspace – a crafts development organisation.
designGap – a selective membership group of well over 200 designer producers, designer-makers and artists.
The Mailbox – have exhibition space available.
Contact: Helen – 0121 6321000, info@mailboxlife.com.
Bilston Craft Gallery – have exhibition space available.
Contact: Carrie Jones – 01902 552506.
Moseley Arts Market – is organised by the Moseley Creative Forum and is held alongside the Farmers Market on the fourth Saturday of every month.
Own Art (Arts Council) – you can sell your work in participating WM galleries through this scheme.
The REP have commissioned a play entitled These Four Streets inspired by the stories of local people who were connected to or affected by the Lozells disturbances of October 2005, where the rumour of a rape sparked disorder leading to a man’s death, widespread damage and a fracture between two communities.
These Four Streets tells the stories of over 30 characters living and working in an inner city area. It is a collaboration between six young female writers, inspired by their own meetings and interviews with dozens of local people. The production explores the power of rumour and what it feels like to live in a place that everybody else has given up on.
I was really impressed with the REP website which allows visitors to comment on the production information, giving people a platform to tell their own experiences and opinions.
These Four Streets runs Thu 12 Feb 2009 – Sat 28 Feb 2009 and will tour regionally.
Spiritual artist Mohammed Ali, known for merging graffiti style with Islamic art, has just won an ITV South Bank Award in the Arts Council England Diversity category.
Although aerosolarabic (aka Mohammed Ali) travels worldwide to create new work he is still based in Birmingham. Recently he has painted murals in the city addressing the recent Gaza crisis and is known for painting murals highlighting the plight of the Palestinian people. Worldwide politics aside, Ali has been at the forefront of the discussing local graffiti politics, as mentioned in a post back in Jan ’08. On an international level he has managed to connect people of different communities through his art.
Overwhelmed at receiving the award, Mohammed Ali said:
“It’s an honour to accept a mainstream British Arts award. The art that I do is for everyone, it is universal. I truly believe that art enhances people’s lives and brings communities together and I hope that my work continues to inspire people from all walks of life.”
The awards will be screened on ITV on January 28th 2009.
Birmingham based theatre company Little Earthquake will be embarking on a regional tour of their brand new production in March, The Haunting. The project will look at the phenomenon of Victorian Spirit Mediums and through performance, story-telling and illusion will recreate the atmosphere, mystery and titillation of a mid-nineteenth century Séance.
Performances will take place in five of the reputedly most haunted heritage properties across the Midlands: Highbury Hall in Moseley, Birmingham; The Molineux Hotel in Wolverhampton; Tutbury Castle in Burton-on-Trent; The Old Guildhall in Leicester; and Gainsborough Old Hall in Lincolnshire. Only 20 seats are available at some venues and the maximum capacity at the larger venues is 40.
Tickets are available from Oxboffice.
The Birmingham Bloggers Group will be hosting their third free social media surgery for voluntary and community groups next Wednesday, January 28th at BVSC 138 Digbeth, B5 6DR, (map). You can drop in anytime between 5.30pm to 7.00pm. Volunteers will be on hand to offer free advice to anyone who is curious to how tools like blogs, podcasts, video and social networks could help to their organisation, community group or charity. The surgery will be: No boring speeches or jargon just hot drink and some friendly advice.
I have a particular interest in how small organisations can use all this ‘internet stuff” to promote themselves so I will be going along for the first time to offer up my bit of knowledge and heaps of enthusiasm to anyone who needs it.
On tonight’s episode of Inside Out (BBC One, 7.30pm) presenter Ashley Blake will be exploring the recent successes in the West Midlands film industry.
Ashley Blake goes on set of forthcoming Northern Soul film ‘Souled Out’ during its filming in Stoke-On-Trent, and explores other recent feature films shot in the region such as up-market chiller-horror ‘The Children’, ‘Nativity’, the semi-improvised Christmas comedy starring Martin Freeman and also Ashley Blake! as well as ‘Faintheart’, the world’s first user generated feature film which will be screened in 150 cinemas for free next week. All four films have been co-financed by regional screening agency, Screen WM through its Media Production Fund. (Thanks to Screen WM).
I was really touched by what Chris wrote about Baldy’s Blog in his thank you post last Thursday. It got me thinking that if we could harness the huge support of the creative community which made it possible for CiB to win an award, what could we do if we used that support within project which would affect people who need it most, for example a charity?
When I was looking at Ben Javens’s website shop yesterday I had a flash of inspiration. Here is my idea:
- Brum’s best known 2D artists donate an original image, drawing, photograph etc. to CiB
- CiB sets up an online shop using a website service like Cafe Press.
- CiB sells limited edition t shirts, canvas bags, pin badges etc which sport the original images
- All the profits go to a Birmingham based charity suggested by you, the CiB readers.
So, that is the bare bones of an idea which could be made into a rather nice charity project, with a bit of your help. What I am asking you, the readers is:
- Would anyone like to offer an image / illustration to be used?
- Can anyone recommended a Cafe Press type service?
- Most importantly: What Birmingham based charity could the proceeds go to?
Answers in the comments please! Any other ideas / comments gratefully received.
When running any project/ festival/ organisation one of the most difficult things to get right (and one of the most important) is the visual identity or dare I say it, ‘brand’. When putting any publicity together: flyers, posters, website etc. it is so important that the visual elements speak to your intended audience and tell something of the ethos of the organiser. When I have put together publicity for projects in the past I have found that the finished artwork is sometimes missing that magic ingredient, which for me is illustration.
In my opinion promoters Capsule utilize the magic of good illustration just right. Each piece of design they commission is executed with full force, and this ballsy, risk taking approach is one reason why they run some of the most well recognised events around.
Ben Javens has created these posters for Capsules Jan / Feb events and they are quite typical of the bold, hand printed style you can see on his weblog, he has some lovely bits for sale in his shop too.
The next Creative Networks event is Land of Promise: BFI National Archive on Thursday 29th January – From 6.00pm until 10.00pm at tic at Millennium Point. This month’s guest speaker is Jan Faull, Archive Producer at the British Film Institute (BFI) who will introduce and explore highlights from key documentary projects made possible through the BFI National Archive. It is free to attend.
For those who have never been to Creative Networks I can wholly recommend it. They always choose really inspirational speakers like Nick Broomfield (Biggie and Tupac, Kurt & Courtney) and of course Pete Ashton and Stef Lewandowski (founders of this here blog).
At each event their is an opportunity to pitch your business, project idea or to just introduce yourself to the audience. Your details then go on to a rather handsome newsletter and the website. If you would like to pitch at the next CN event please contact Dave Taylor on 07989 498 550 or email creative.networks@tic.ac.uk.
