Why is Birmingham investing in a new central library? Will it meet genuine needs or is it simply landmark architecture for the city and very little to do with library services?
On 22 September, The Birmingham Salon and CILIP West Midlands, a local librarian organisation, invite you to join them in raising these questions. They will be meeting at The Studio to debate the merits of the plans for the new Birmingham Central Library. The meeting is from 7.30pm – 9pm, with complimentary drinks before hand from 6.45pm.
The People’s Archive is a new collaboration between the Library of Birmingham and local digital company In Cahoots, which is set to be piloted this month at ArtsFest, running from 10 – 12 September.
This interactive project invites members of the public both young and old to share their knowledge and help shape Birmingham’s past into a new online resource for the city’s collective memory.
For the very first time one of the Library’s most popular photographic collections, the Warwickshire Photographic Survey, will be made available online, offering a unique treasure trove of buildings, street scenes and events in the city between the 1880s and the late 20th century.
If you’d like to have a look at old Birmingham or think you might be able to recognise a face, or confirm a date, make sure you drop by the Library of Birmingham stand at Artsfest.
Todd Geary is an Birmingham based illustrator specialising in music, politics, social issues and sport. He works fast and regularly posts topical, vibrant pieces like this one on his blog, take a look at toddgearyonlineportfolio.blogspot.com
So the programme for this year’s Artsfest is now up online, complete with a nice little selection of search options so you can filter through the events that you’re interested in.
The festival runs this weekend, from Fri – Sun, and is the biggest free arts and culture festival in the UK, with around 600 performing, visual and digital artists at events taking place all across the city.
I would give you a run down of everything happening, but there are heaps of events, performances, screenings, workshops and all sorts of goings-on, so I’m not even going to attempt it. Chris did, however, mention a few things to look out for the other week.
The Museum of Windows exhibition opens at Bordesley Centre of Contemporary Art, Digbeth, on Fri 10 September, with an Artists Talk at 18.30 – 20.30.
Taking the form of an instalation, the exhibition takes vacant or dilapidated factories and warehouses in Digbeth, and proposes their hypothetical redevelopment as art galleries.
The proposed designs combine aspects of white cube galleries with the existing structures of local buildings, whilst also replacing one or more of the outer walls with glass facades. Were they to be built, these structures would transform previously abandoned spaces into sites of artistic appreciation and their transparent facades would allow visitors to view the surrounding industrial landscapes.
The exhibition will run across the weekend of 11 & 12 September, open each day from 10am – 5pm.
After a packed month and a half, along with the summer holidays, Birmingham Hippodrome’sSix Summer Saturdays has come to an end. The series provided perfect weekend entertainment for the kids – both young and old, with a variety of performances across the city centre. We posted up a video the other week, but the Hippodrome have also taken plenty of great photos to document the festivities.
And that’s not all, the good news is, that the crew will be back for one last event, transforming the Arcadian into a Land of Fairytales on the Saturday of Artsfest, 11 September.
So if you haven’t already heard of this programme, read on, because artists this sounds Amazing (yes, it deserves a capital).
Extra Special People (ESP) is a membership programme run by Eastside Projects, for anyone who would benefit from engaging with a dynamic, ambitious, artist-led environment.
ESP members are offered a range of opportunities to develop their practice and career through critical group discussions, practical support and guidance, exhibition and residency opportunities, networking events and one-to-one support from established arts professionals and ESP staff. Dialogue between members is generated through a weekly programme of informal and formal event including seminars, talks, film screenings and visits to projects, exhibitions and events in other UK cities.
There are a number of opportunities currently available, visit the website to read more and apply, along with a rundown of this months programme of events.
Volunteers are needed too – 12 hours work will get you a weekend wristband (over 18′s only). They’re also after any professional standard photographers who’d like to help with documenting the festival to get in touch. Info about both opportunities here.
Mike Connolly is an award-winning documentary filmmaker with over 10 years experience in factual and arts television production.
William Ellis is at the vanguard of music photographers and is widely recognised as having created an important document of the contemporary jazz scene in Africa, Europe and The Americas.
Alyn Shipton is an award-winning author and broadcaster, who is jazz critic for The Times in London, and a presenter/producer of jazz programmes for BBC Radio.
To read more about these guys and their extensive careers working around jazz and the media, visit the event page.
Stuart Griffiths, Chief Executive at Birmingham Hippodrome, has blogged revealing what we can expect from their new season of dance.
As the climax of Birmingham Royal Ballet‘s 20th Anniversary celebrations, David Bintley’s brand new production of the classic fairytale, Cinderella, has been presented as a gift to the city. You can catch it from 24 Nov – 12 Dec (and follow the Creating Cinderella blog in the meantime), but before then there’s plenty to keep you entertained. A few of the highlights include:
Matthew Bourne will be bringing his latest production north of London for the first time, plus the Welsh National Opera are offering a selection of new operas and revivals.
On the musical front, several favorites will be back by popular demand, with new productions of including Hairspray and Chess. Bringing 2010 to a close, Joan Collins tops the bill at this years pantomime, along with Julian Clary, Nigel Havers, Keith Harris and Orville, and Jeffrey Holland in a spectacular production of Dick Whittington.
If you’ve been about Digbeth today and yesterday, you may have noticed a few of these more interesting looking billboards. 48 Sheet is an experimental art installation is the latest project by EC-arts, which runs until 14 September, using advertising billboards as blank canvasses for the five participating artists.
Nikki Pugh went to the Make-It Zone open day at the weekend and returned with a load of photos. The sort of photos that made me go ‘ooh’ and ‘cor’ a lot (in my head, at least).
The place screams ‘POTENTIAL’ (and also, in places ‘fixer-upper’) and they’ve got artisan workshops for rent.
Here’s a pretty great opportunity for some free incubation space at the prestigious address of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce.
BXL are offering free desk space in a fully networked office, along with access to a vast database of schools and businesses in Birmingham and Solihull.
What’s that? Nothing comes for free? Okay, in return for your free space you also have to commit to giving up a bit of your time, by sharing your expertise to support BXL’s work in schools, which to be fair, is still a good deal.
If this sounds intriguing, they’re open to suggestions and ideas of how their work can work together with others, so get in touch with Chris Bishop at chris.bishop@bxlworks.org.uk or call on 07919887212
