Created in Birmingham

Karen Kiely‘s been looking at Birmingham’s fashion blogging scene, which is something she’ll apparently be exploring as part of her Social Media as Culture module on her Masters. She’s picked out Style Birmingham, Uber Brum and The Doll on Fashion.

I thought I’d have a root around for a few others.

Rajmeena posts sketches, there are dribs and drabs on the Retail Birmingham blog, We Create have a blog that occasionally features ‘about young British fashion designers’ although not so much recently. LABB Magazine’s blog goes in for loads of pics. Fused cover fashion from time to time too.

Selina Jervis is from Birmingham but not around the city so much as far as I can tell. Her Flying Saucer blog has been popular for a while and it’s interesting to see they’ve recently snapped her up as a guest blogger on Browse Bullring.

Cheers to Jim for pointing me towards Vintage Reflection.

There must be more out there… (*hint*)

Flip Animation Festival is happening on 4 – 6 November in Wolverhampton. The festival is organised by Light House Media Centre and hosts a programme of educational workshops for young people, along with experimental animation for grown ups, plus industry led panels, feature film screenings, international showcases, retrospectives of short films and spotlights on animation studios.

While there are still plenty of events yet to be announced, here’s a peak at a few of the highlights announced so far;

Workshops in Introduction to Animation and Writing an Animated Comedy with The Brothers McLeod, both on 4 Nov.

Gaming themed workshops, including an Introduction to Building a Game with XNA and Big Screen Gaming on Halo: Reach, also on 4 Nov.

Young animators aged 14 – 16 are invited to the free Film Nation: Shorts Animation Workshop on 5 Nov.

Plus Wolverhampton Art Gallery are also running an exhibition entitled RE-animate which will be on until 27 Nov.

Tickets have yet to go on sale for this year’s festival, so keep an eye on the Flip website for the latest announcements.

On 21 October, Geese Theatre Company ask “…but does it work?”: Researching Theatre with Offenders.

Geese Theatre Company invites you to “…but does it work?”, a unique event to gain insight into one of the leading arts organisations working within the Criminal Justice System and to hear from leading academics who have conducted independent research into the company’s work.

The evening will showcase excerpts from two Geese projects ‘Journey Woman’ – a performance for female offenders and ‘Stay’ – a performance for male perpetrators of domestic violence. There will also be presentations from Dr Gemma Hurst of the University of Liverpool and Professor Stephen Bottoms of the University of Leeds on the findings of their research.

“…does it work?” takes place at Pinsent Masons, Wesleyan Building from 6.30pm.

Places are limited, so RSVP to reserve your place by contacting Geese at mailbox@geese.co.uk or by calling 0121 449 6222

The Traditional Arts Team have got a busy Autumn schedule, filled with dancing, storytelling and folk music. With events held across Birmingham, Sandwell and Solihull, there’s plenty of opportunities to get involved all the way through to December.

A few highlights include the Storytelling Cafe which is held at various venues, Moseley Village Band held fortnightly on Thursdays, Sunday Workshops at Moseley Dance Studio, Ceilidh Dancing for all ages, Storytelling courses, and music and song sessions.

For regular news and events around the West Midlands, The Traditional Arts Team also produce a monthly magazine, acting as a diary of all things folk. Folk Monthly is only £14 for a 12 month subscription.

Moseley Exchange are hosting a hosting a workshop on 14 October, organised by Moseley and Kings Heath Labour Party, around how those areas can support the creative community locally.

Discussions will be led by the following locally-living people (this copy/pasted from the email I received):

Sally Luton was – until she recently retired – a senior manager at Arts Council England. Sally has experience of supporting artists and creative industries during both good and challenging times.

Stephanie Dale is a locally based writer for stage and radio, a tutor on the MPHIL in Playwrighting at Birmingham and a visiting lecturer at Birmingham City, BSA, lecturing in Writing and Devising.

David Clarke is one of the country’s leading experts on the development of the cultural and heritage sector and the creative industries.

The event will be Chaired by Andy Howell who has an established background in both arts policy development and practice in Birmingham and beyond.

Places are free, but email events@compasswestmids.org.uk to reserve your place.

Anyone got any pre-emptive thoughts on this?

This may be of interest to anyone involved in storytelling, whether your platform is filmmaking, social media or gaming, Switchboard and Event with Me are teaming up with Power to the Pixel, to present A New Currency: Multiplatform storytelling and social capital.

The event is free to attend and takes place on 12 October, from 1 – 5pm at mac, hosted by The Producers Forum.

“Social capital” now has a very real value and multiplatform storytelling is increasingly the way to ensure that our projects are contemporary, compelling and wide reaching.

CiB’s Chris Unitt will be on one of the panels of guest speakers, along with Natasha Carlish, Nick Booth, Dave Harte, Julia Higinbottom, Pip & Lisa/Jenny and Helga Henry. They’ll be discussing how their experience in using social capital and multiplatform storytelling has lead to some exciting and innovative projects and new ways of working. The event will also feature a live and recorded web cast from the annual Power to the Pixel conference.

Book your place via their eventbrite page.

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group launch their 2010/11 season on 10 October with a double focus. The concert will feature new work by composer Simon Holt, along with the talents of pianist Rolf Hind and soprano Sarah Leonard, plus work by hugely influential German composer Helmut Lachenmann.

Simon Holt’s complex, dramatic music was first performed by BCMG in 1990 and it has rarely been out of the ensemble’s repertoire. Twenty years on, BCMG presents another Holt premiere.  A Knot of Time, conducted by Richard Baker, is the composer’s setting of five poems by Federico García Lorca – the Andalucian poet whose dark, passionate and enigmatic texts have much in common with Holt’s own sound world.

Following the Season Launch Concert, there are whole string of concerts filling the BCMG diary through until Summer 2011. The programme until the end of 2010 looks like this;

BEAST: States of Play – 16 & 17 October. Presenting another weekend of electro-acoustic sound, using this spectacular multichannel diffusion system.

Feel the Buzz – 24 & 31 October. A free composing workshops for 14 to 18 year olds held at mac.

Families@5 conducted by Oliver Knussen – 14 November. A bite-sized interactive concert for young people and families, exploring energetic and jazz-influenced music.

Mark-Anthony Turnage 50th Birthday Concert – 14 November. A celebration of the composer’s work, with pre-concert talk Mark-Anthony Turnage and Charlotte Bray, open to all ticket holders.

BCMG conducted by Peter Rundel – 5 December. This high-octane mid-afternoon concert features works from two established younger composers – Tansy Davies and Enno Poppe.

Tickets for all of the above can be bought online or by calling the box office on 0121 767 4050

‘Empire of Rust’ is an exhibition of photography by Birmingham based artist Brigitte Winsor, currently on show until 30 October at The Warehouse Cafe.

…an abstract exploration of wabi-sabi – the Japanese aesthetic of the imperfect, the incomplete and the impermanent – where beauty can be found in the unconventional. Abstract and colourful, it highlights how art can be found in the least likely places of the everyday environment.

AIRTIME is an event taking place on Wednesday 20 October, hosted by a-n The Artists Information Company on behalf of Air in partnership New Art Gallery Walsall and DACS.

Held at New Art Gallery Walsall, AIRTIME is open to practicing visual and applied artists in the West Midlands who are looking for advice on professional matters such as insurance, promotion and funding, along with developing networks and collaborations with like-minded people.

This is a chance to gain information and tips from artists, arts organisations and other experts, including Hencilla Canworth Insurance Brokers, representatives from AIR, a-n, Companis, Coventry Artspace, Craftspace, DACS (Design and Artists Copyright Society), NAN,  New Art Gallery Walsall, Rhubarb Rhubarb, Trove, Walsall City Council Creative Development Team and other arts organisations from the region.

The events are busy and fast-paced, so make sure you have in mind the kind of information you want to get out of this unique opportunity. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served-basis, with some reserved especially for final year and graduating design students, so pre-booking is essential.

RSVP your name and address to airevents@a-n.co.uk with AIRTIME Walsall in subject box.

Art of Ideas is a group exhibition curated by Matthew Collings and Matt Price, entitled ‘The Witching Hour’, which will be taking place in the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery’s Waterhall Gallery from 11 – 14 November.

The four day exhibition will explore darkness and the uncanny, featuring photography, painting, sculpture, printmaking, film and animation, from over 20 artists based in or hailing from the West Midlands.

The Art of Ideas publication is designed to encourage more people to start collecting contemporary art in the city and region. With its supernatural theme, The Witching Hour exhibition offers an opportunity for people who are interested in collecting art – whether individuals, businesses or arts institutions – to see and acquire works by leading and emerging artists from the West Midlands.

- Matt Price

Exhibiting artists include both internationally renowned names along with emerging talent, including: Hurvin Anderson, Richard Billingham, Graham Chorlton, Faye Claridge, Ravi Deepres, Tessa Farmer, Brian Griffin, Roger Hiorns, Harminder Singh Judge, Chris Keenan, Idris Khan, Karin Kihlberg / Reuben Henry, David Miller, Sally Payen, Juneau Projects, Ged Quinn, David Rowan, Liz Rowe, George Shaw, Toby de Silva, Gillian Wearing and Stuart Whipps.

The Conservative Party Conference starts tomorrow, so expect a fair amount of disruption around the city centre – especially the city end of Broad Street around the ICC and Symphony Hall.

Travel advice aside, arts and culture will be getting a foot in the door a few times over the duration, including this lot:

• Jonathan Watkins (Director of Ikon Gallery) has been invited by Jeremy Hunt MP to speak on Sunday. His speech will apparently “highlight the cultural wealth of Birmingham and promote Ikon’s ambition for the creation of a new museum of modern art in the city”
• Screen WM are putting on a fringe event called City as a Platform (reminiscent of the much-referenced, lesser read Dan Hill post) on Monday
• Ed Vaizey MP will be off and about on Monday. He’ll be officially opening Zellig and later on checking out BCU’s Skillset Media Academy
• Rosie Kay Dance Company will be performing Double Points: K at the Symphony Hall on Tuesday

There’s probably more happening too, but those are the ones I’ve come across.

I’ve also been invited, with a bunch of other local bloggers, to go and meet Sayeeda Warsi (Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party and Cabinet Minister without portfolio) and Andrew Mitchell (MP for Sutton Coldfield and Secretary of State for International Development) later today.

On 6 October at 7.15pm, ARC (Anti Racist Campaign) and Duende Performance Co. will be hosting this event at The Drum.

A panel featuring film and theatre makers Kenan Malik, Colin Prescod (Institute of Race Relations) and Dave Rogers (Banner Theatre) will dicuss why they believe immigration has been, and is, good for Britain.

• Report – Birmingham Municipal Bank / TSB, Broad Street Birmingham, Jan 2010 – UK Urban Exploration Forums
  “The vaults are amazing, this is real hollywood film territory”
• Decibel performing arts showcase: Artists’ information sessions
  At the Arts Council offices on 5 Oct, 11am to 1pm
• Filmrats September 28th « Art, music, film and luna riot
  Nice write-up of Filmrats from the other night. Includes some of the films that were shown
• Adventures In New York City and House Dance Elements =] « Dancegeek’s Blog
  Champion dancer from Birmingham heads to NY and shows the locals how it’s done
• Interview with: Hannah Geddes, Freelance Creative Designer | Creative Boom Birmingham
  Specialising in theatrical performance art, designing for bands and artwork for weddings and civil ceremonies
• Moseley Road Baths Memorabilia Day
  On 30 Oct, with guided tours, displays of the history of the Baths and a speaker from Manchster’s Victoria Baths
• Digbeth is Good » Getgood Link: YouTube – Inside the Custard Factory-Bryn: Freelance Artist
  “Bryn talks about his practice and how having a studio at the Custard Factory has helped him”
• Soho Road – from the Five Rivers to the Five Boroughs (1 of 5) « Thinking & Thumping
  “I’m on the road again. This time to the USA, as Punch Records, the producers of “Soho Road to the Punjab“, will take it to New York next year”. Worth reading the other posts in this short series too
• GOTOJAIL – The Cell Project | Arts Nation West Midlands
  “Imagine if you could walk in to a prison cell and talk to a serving prisoner… now you can.” It’s a compelling sales pitch
• Radio Pebble Mill
  The emergings of a new online radio station, maybe
• photosynthesis » a collective of photographers from the Birmingham Botanical Gardens
  Lots of names I’d not come across before

The first Visualise Festival will be held on 21 – 31 October, as a major celebration of young people’s visual creativity. They’re calling for anyone under the age of 24 to submit their artwork as part of the Young People’s Open Visual Art Competition, which will hold a high profile exhibition in Birmingham City centre.

All forms of artwork are accepted (apart from films), and must be no bigger than A3 in size. There are also some prizes up for grabs and will be awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place entries in each of the age brackets, along with an art box for every shortlisted entry.

Deadline for entries is 4th October 2010, and notification of selected entries will be made during the week commencing 18 October.

For more information, visit the Visualise-Birmingham website, or contact the Visualise team at info@visualise-birmingham.org or by calling 07886 367 544 or 07971 824 188

Sutton Coldfield based artist Michael Goodrum, aka, Visionary Glass, was another of the exhibitors in the Victoria Square marquee during Artsfest. Using individually hand-cut fragments of glass, Michael creates a range of stunning sculptural glass canvases depicting the abstract forms from nature and landscapes.