TROVE is the gallery that Charlie Levine and David Miller direct, currently located at The Old Science Museum in Jewellery Quarter.
The Terminal Bar is the latest exhibition and it launched the other side of the weekend. Here are some pics and here’s a short interview with guest curator Morgan Quaintance:
Well, I invited, you came, I spoke, we discussed and by the end of it we had a plan. It was a quite intense evening and we covered a lot of ground which I’m going to attempt to sumarise here.
In short, though, the room decided to go for it, to form a committee / steering group and to meet next week with the intention of opening a second Created in Birmingham shop in the city centre around November.
I opened with a 15 minute presentation about the Bullring shop. Here’s the video:
My aim here was to explain what happened, communicate some facts and figures but mostly set the tone for the evening. Yes, the shop was a good thing, yes Birmingham needs something like this and it should happen again. But I’m not going to do it myself. Someone or some group need to make it happen.
Must say I’m rather pleased with my rousing finale at 13:00. Made up on the spot, that was. Anyway…
My notes are sketchy but it probably doesn’t matter. The important details of what will happen will be figured out in the next week or so. What matters is the general picture that came out of the room.
We then moved on to the organisation structure. This was the critical part for me. It didn’t really matter what we were going to do – what mattered was who was going to do it. We agreed that some kind of committee or steering group should be formed. But it was also agreed that co-ops, while nice, are fragile and some sort of benevolent dictatorship would be needed.
After a couple of hours I brought the general meeting to a close and asked anyone who would like to be part of a committee to stay behind. 13 people stayed with various skills and such. Some were pertinent for getting a shop up and running, some were more useful for once we have a shop. I’m going to concentrate on the former for now. After I’ve gone through what we’ve currently got I’ll explain what happens next.
We only took first names so I’m guessing at surnames using Eventbrite – they may be wrong!
Those six had what I’m calling the hard skills needed to find a shop and get it off the ground. Others volunteering for the committee were Kathryn Rushe (whose minutes I’m relying on right now), Simon Gray, Steve Cooper, Karen Cameron, Matt Murtagh and Dennis McNulty. They either offered skills more suitable for later stages or that essential outsider perspective. Essentially they’re willing and able to commit.
And then there’s me. I’m taking charge here but only for the transition. I need to be able to walk away from this project if needbe.
So, what next?
The urgent thing, from my perspective, is that we have a strong and viable core committee to get us a shop in November. While the six people above are better that I could possibly have hoped for there’s still room for more and I know some very interesting people weren’t able to make it on Monday.
Also a benevolent dictator hasn’t emerged yet. We really need a benevolent dictator.
The next meeting will be sometime next week (I’m going to run a Doodle poll to see when most people are free). If you think you’re like to be in this core committee please email me with details of what skills, contacts or other things you’ve got.
Right now I’m not interested in people who can offer time or enthusiasm or who can help build and run the shop. I’m interested in people who can make the shop happen. Level-headed business-minded types. The rest of you will be essential but your role comes later.
Please get in touch.
And if you have any thoughts about this, whether you were at the meeting or not, please use the comments below or, like Simon did, write something on your own blog.
Thank you all for your time, your energy, your thoughts and ultimately your support.
Does anyone know? The Project X website says this (I’ve highlighted the pertinent bit with a red box and, just in case, added a red arrow):
Project X events are/were ace.
Is Stansfield from Léon the promoter for this or something?
Confirmed so far – We Are One, Rhubarb Radio, Join The Dots formerly Scratch Club, Reverb Club, Breakfest, The Beat Suite, Custom Made, Organic, Funkbox, Discomendments, Bentley Rhythm Ace, Open Minded People, Faux Real, Friendly Fire, Loafers Lounge, Planet Breaks, Mama Feel Good, Bunka, Heducation, Soul Share Radio, Habit and Balkanic Eruption.
Via Mama Feel Good.
Same deal as last time. I’ll talk about funding cuts but I’ll finish with a picture of a cute bunny.
DCMS’s latest news is that they’ll:
I’m not too sure of the potential repercussions of the UKFC going but it seems to be responsible for quite a lot. Locally, it currently funds First Light Movies and Screen WM, but I’m not clear on what will/won’t/might be taken on by other organisations.
Here’s the bunny:
Pic by Sjaek
A compelling call for submissions:
Departure Gallery seeks contemporary artists to exhibit in a major warehouse show taking place in two gigantic industrial units 1 mile north east of Birmingham City Centre this August. These spaces are particularly suited to large scale sculpture, performance, projection and installation
More info via Arts Jobs. Must say, my curiosity is piqued.
This year’s Supersonic seems to be coming together splendidly. The bill looks suitably impressive, a couple of big names but otherwise packed with bands that I’ve never heard of in my life.
That’s good though – the point of Supersonic is that Jenny and Lisa know what you should be listening to before you (or indeed the likes of ATP) do. It’s what makes the music press heap plaudits upon them every year.
I think I saw an email saying that the Paragon Hotel is already fully booked with out-of-towners, which indicates that if you’re thinking of booking a ticket it probably wouldn’t do to hang around. The tickets are on sale here.
There was a film crew at the bottom of my road the other morning. I’m not sure what they were filming (it was Doctors last time) but there are a few crews filming in the city at the moment. Hustle‘s back and Helena Bonham Carter Carter keeps being spotted in Kings Heath minding her own business/filming Toast.
However, it’s the no-budget Turbulence that’s swamped my Twitter stream over the past couple of weeks:
TURBULENCE is a Musical Romantic Comedy. The project is a collaboration between the actors David Alwyn, Adrian Banks, Emma Devereaux, Connor Mills, Shay O’Driscoll and Sophie Waller (all recent graduates of Birmingham School of Acting) and BAFTA award winning producer/director team Natasha Carlish and Michael B Clifford. Other exciting collaborators in the project are Adam Regan and the Hare & Hounds, The Scholars and Katy Pryce
There’s no particular budget for the film but it’s great to see how many people have pitched in to get the thing filmed.
Things are being documented diligently on their blog, so have a browse through. There’s likely to be scope for getting involved if you fancy it – a Twitter search for #turbulencefilm should keep you up to date on that.
Here are some pics of a couple of posters/fold-out leaflet things.
I was sent this one which publicises Grand Union‘s thing with Justin Carter:
And I picked up this one which is stuffed with the mind-bogglingly long list of events Rhubarb Rhubarb are doing/associated with over the next few weeks:
Btw, if you want half-price tickets to the Photographic Seminar on Thurs 29 July – Where Social Media Meets Fine Art… Or Not – then there’s an offer over on the Birmingham Social Media Cafe website.
Play isn’t just for kids! Come and join BARG as they host 2 ridiculously fun summer events at the mac to introduce you to the world of pervasive games.
With any luck you won’t need any more convincing and will just run straight over to register for one/both of these (it’s free).
Register for Sunday 15 August and games such as Bull Hunt, Parse the Parcel, Sonar Goggles and Search and Replace will be yours for the playing.
Register for Sunday 29 August and get MYSTERY! Although Enter The Arena makes me think, for reasons not worth explaining, of Prodige Namor’s ‘Mission‘.
I’ve still not made it over to The Hubb which is starting to feel remiss of me. They’ve got an interesting thing happening there next week which looks good – a Chinese and Arabic calligraphy collaboration.
I meant to post this a few days back but forgot. Oops.
You remember the JFK mosaic that used to be at St Chad’s Circus before all that area was redeveloped? There’s talk of relocating it to the Irish Quarter.
The mosaic was commissioned in 1968 and paid for by the city’s Irish community as a permanent testament to the murdered American president
The public consultation meeting will be held at the Irish Centre in Deritend at 6.30pm to 8.30pm.
It has been organised by the Birmingham Irish Community Forum with a view to re-housing the JFK mosaic within the Irish Quarter.
Quote taken from the Birmingham Post who have more info, as does Nicky Getgood who delivers the news that refreshments will be available and that:
This is the community’s chance to let Birmingham City Council know what they’d like to see happen to this unique snap shot of history from the 60’s. Council suggestions to the BICF have so far included incorporating members of the community into the mosaic
Which has the potential to become the mosaic equivalent of a photoshop disaster, only with added hubris.
There was a bit of Dave Harte’s Birmingham’s Creative Industries – the ‘business case’ post that really caught my eye – something that I hadn’t noticed/thought about before.
First the set-up:
I think this position [that creative industries need handouts] comes from the confusion of thinking that the subsidised Arts sector has much to do with the Creative Industries sector. There’s overlap of course but in Birmingham the two most significant contributors to Creative Industries value have been Architecture (32% of GVA in 2004) and Software (35% of GVA in 2004). Music and Performing Arts are low-value sectors in economic terms (1.1% of GVA in 2004).
And, keeping in mind that 1.1%, here’s the bit that hadn’t occurred before:
Writing in 2006, Calvin Taylor noted that it was:
“significant that the arts lobby mostly uses the creative industry tag. Very few other sector bodies, representing other components of what are taken to be the creative industries, use the tag in their sectors promotion work.”
I pointed this out to Pete Ashton who happened to be sat a couple of desks away at the time and he’s run with it on his own blog:
it’s no surprise to me that the “subsidised Arts sector” are the major cheerleaders for the Creative Industries in the West Midlands given they operate on a financial knife-edge and will grab at every opportunity to raise funds from wherever possible. Meanwhile those who make their income from international deals and multi-million dollar sales don’t feel the need to lobby the local chamber of commerce
Although I wouldn’t go along with that entirely – the arts sector is often chastised for not having a particularly strong/coherent lobbying voice around these parts (that’s partly what Creative Republic was set up to solve) and the games industry have been doing some quite high-profile and temporarily successful lobbying recently, especially around tax breaks. However, I agree with the general thrust and would pick out this bit too:
The other fantastically vague label that everyone’s keen to attach to them at the moment is “digital”
Which ties in with a bugbear of mine – that in some conversations the words ‘creative’ and ‘digital’ seem to have become oddly interchangeable, when they’re really not. It’s just there’s perceived to be funding available for ‘digital stuff’ (often quite useless ‘digital stuff’ at that) so that’s what dominates the phrasing of the conversation.
Oh, and I’ve just seen that D’log has chipped in with some analysis of Dave Harte’s stats. Cor, it’s like the good old days of blogging with comments, discussion and all sorts going on (it’s the same voices speaking up too).
Anyway, this is all a bit heavy and texty. In the next post there will be pictures.
We’re still in the process of giving back all the stock from the CiB Shop. One of the items in particular stands out – not because it’s the biggest (although it is) but because it’s amazing.
Back in January, The REP hosted Writing On The Wall which featured:
world famous aerosol artist, Mohammed ‘Aerosol Arabic’ Ali for a one-off evening of live graffiti-art and poetry in The REP’s due-to-be-demolished workshop
The workshop was painted from floor to ceiling – here’s a work in progress pic:
In fact there’s a whole website dedicated to the Writing on the Wall project.
The finished piece was photographed by SalShan Photography and reproduced on a canvas 2.5m wide and 50cm high. It’s beautiful and drew many an admiring look hanging in the CiB Shop just behind our till (not least from me – it’d look great in my house).
Anyway, it didn’t sell in the end and it’s currently sat in the office, which seems a shame. This should be taking pride of place somewhere.
Here’s Pete holding it up (in a somewhat Angel of the Midlands-type pose):
You’ll notice it’s still partly in it’s protective wrapper – we’re taking care of it. Here’s a detail (in case you didn’t get the scale of the original work from the first picture, that’s a door in the bottom right-hand corner):
And here’s the signature on the back – no. 1 of 50:
If you fancy owning this thing then get in touch. The price is £850. You’re welcome to come in and inspect the goods before buying.
Ah there’s a video too. Seriously, someone should snap this up.
