This is nice. Creative Review are doing a thing on creative workplaces for their November issue so they asked their readers Where do you work? with the most interesting reponses to be used in the Nov issue.
The Jewellery Quarter-dwelling Life Agency have answered with this.
Tomorrow night (Thursday) I’m taking a wander over to Warwick Arts Centre, as are a couple of Birmingham-based outfits, for It Came From Pilot:
Father and son duo, Kings of England perform Where We Live and What We Live For. In 2001 75 year old Peter Bowes had a trans-ischemic attack, a stroke. In this gentle, moving work he and his son remember and imagine the man he once was.
The Other Way Works premier Avon Calling which explores the eternal triangle of mother – daughter – and Avon Cosmetics. Drawing vividly on personal source material Louise Platt reveals an intimate and comic portrait of a woman, a mother and an Avon Lady. Ex-Avon lady.
This is part of Fierce‘s programme of stuff at WAC running from Sept-Dec (although no news of what else is upcoming just yet).
A few extras for context:
Only a couple of days in and there’s already some good (and helpful) chat over on the CiB Facebook Page.
I’m planning to use that page’s discussion board when I need to ask questions, rather than cluttering up the blog. For example, we’re currently asking for suggestions as to who it’d be good to go and interview.
I’ve also opened a topic over there called ‘The Spam Board‘. Forgive the slightly cheeky name, but that’s a place for people to promote whatever they’ve got going on. It’s another thing for me to dip into occasionally too, so for instance we’ve got:
Rage Arts – The Scent of Evil
The Scent of Evil was made by The Rage Ensemble @ Birmingham Rathbone at The Urban Film Club. The club gives young people the opportunity to work with professionals to create short films. The young people worked with the director to create the story for The Scent of Evil and assisted behind the camera as well as appearing in the film itself
Friction Theatre – Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht
On at the Old Rep Theatre from tonight until Saturday 10 October:
Mother Courage and her Children is considered by many to be the greatest play of the 20th century. Brecht’s anti-war themes are as current today as when the play was first performed in 1941. Mother Courage’s business is war. She trades in brandy, boots and belts, endlessly dragging her children across Europe whilst attempting to protect them from the war’s devastating effects. Epic theatre at its most thought provoking.
What’s more, use the code ‘Friday Fiver’ when booking tickets via The Ticket Factory to take advantage of £5 for the show on Friday 9 October.
It was Tindal Street Press‘s 10th birthday the other week (happy birthday!). They’re a Birmingham-based, independent publisher with one heck of an impressive track record – three Booker nominated books isn’t bad for starters.
They’ve just had a couple of books nominated for The People’s Book Prize too:
You can vote for them if you want or, perhaps even better, buy copies of either book – it’s not long til Christmas, after all…
One of the newer kids on the block, Best Believe is the work of Amy Martin – Sister 45 of Mama Feel Good fame.
Amy knows more than most about artists’ professional development so there’s a few mentions of that amongst interviews of local creatives (Kate Beatty and Nicole Scribbel so far), curated events listings, opportunities for artists/promoters and whatever she fancies flagging up.
The Flip Animation Festival brings three days of animational loveliness to the Light House in Wolverhampton, starting on 5 November (although the launch will be at Millennium Point in Birmingham).
There’s a fair amount being packed in – portfolio reviews, screenings of shorts and student films and workshops on game design and scriptwriting. Greg McLeod, from the Brothers McLeod will be animator-in-residence on the Friday, allowing all and sundry to watch him working. In fact, borrowed from the newsletter, here’s a summary of what’s on (follow the links for detail):
Tickets are now on sale via the Light House box office (01902 716055) or on the Flip Animation Festival website.
In the Birmingham Post yesterday Punch Records‘ Ammo Talwar spoke his mind on what he sees as Birmingham’s neglect of this year’s Black History Month, especially in comparison to the enthusiasm shown over the Staffordshire Hoard:
When do we start pleasing the really big crowds – the ones who aren’t there, the ones who want to see something different? Do we have to get a metal detector down to Handsworth to unearth Apache Indian’s first gold tooth, or lock on to Steel Pulse’s forgotten cymbal set?
It’s Black History Month and there should be real effort and real funding to promote the treasures left to us by Birmingham’s black achievers.
Can’t argue with that.
The Black History Month website has a full run-down of everything happening over October (click the link and scroll down the page). It’s a little tricky to pick things out, although I’ve heard good things of East is East which is on at The Rep and Eric Roberson will be at The Drum on 10 Oct.
In the Birmingham Post piece Ammo mentions a showing of the controversial documentary, Deen Tight:
Filmed on location with Muslim rappers, DJs, slam poets, breakdancers and a graffiti artist in concerts, recording studios, at homes and in the streets. Our story focuses on the perceived conflict between traditional religious ideals and modernity, as well as both the positives and negatives of Western Pop culture on todays’ Muslim youth
That’s at The Drum on 13 October.
Very late notice, but if you’re at a loose end tonight then you could do a lot worse than head over to the Electric Cinema for the Birmingham launch of stand-up/video comedy phenomenon Popcorn Comedy:
featuring the rap/stand up stylings of Doc Brown and the wonderful Holly Walsh live on stage, as well as a selection of the newest and funniest videos from the web in glorious high resolution
It’s part of the Birmingham Comedy Festival (which is currently ongoing) as well as being sponsored by Hello Digital.
Tickets are £6, get them from the Electric Cinema website or, more realistically given the time, on the door. I’ll be going along, maybe see you there.
There’s a little more info on Dice Productions’ blog – they’re organising things and will be premiering their new video.
If you want a fix of Birmingham-based artistic/cultural info online then there are a fair few places to fill your boots these days. As I’m just getting back into the swing of things, I thought I’d start off by running through a few good uns.
A particular fave of recent times is More Canals Than Venice, run by the mysterious PixieSixer. Well worth bookmarking/subscribing to if you’ve not already.
Hi, it’s Chris Unitt here. In what was rapidly becoming the worst-kept secret of modern times, Pete Ashton and I are taking on Created in Birmingham again.
It’s really good to be back.
Thanks for all the comments after Adrienne’s post, ‘Moving forwards’. We’ve taken some of those on board. There are likely to be a few tweaks and changes over the next few months – nothing too radical, but the site needs to evolve a bit if it’s to sustain itself and stay relevant.
On a related note, we’ve got a couple of new things:
Please do sign up if you’re interested in either.
However, the most important thing is CiB isn’t about whoever’s running it – it’s about all the fantastic and fascinating stuff happening in Birmingham. Which means I need to get on with writing some blog posts.
