Created in Birmingham

On Wednesday afternoon I went to the Crescent Theatre (not been there in a while) for a briefing from the Arts Council on the new funding arrangements for arts organisations.

Someone from Stan’s Cafe went in the morning and has written up a few thoughts. It’s worth a read as it articulates a few frustrations beautifully. To nick a bit of that write-up:

Now there will no longer be RFOs, every current RFO is being invited to apply for National Portfolio Funding. One advance is that this application process is open to any organisation that qualifies, rather than having to be invited to apply as before. There will certainly be opportunities for some companies to move up from project funding

And that last bit was the reason why a fair few people were in the room.

The session went down reasonably well, given the circumstances. Ros Robins (ACE Regional Director) was sympathetic but direct and didn’t make much attempt to hide the fact that the Arts Council have suffered a blow and are trying to find their feet again.

Here are the slides from her talk:

My notes

I scribbled a few notes and they’re reproduced below, for what they’re worth. Apologies in advance for any omissions or inaccuracies. I’ll try to clarify anything I can.

RFO’s end March 2012
National Portfolio Funding starts April 2012
G4A not changing much now.
Strategic (or managed) funds are changing

Gritted teeth from Ros while outlining the cuts.

Not all bad – some Lottery money coming back in 2013. More info on that nearer the time.

ACE WM reduced their staff from 46 to 27 in the recent restructure. Been asked to halve admin costs again, but will be required to do so in a couple of years time. To achieve this they recognise that they’ll have to wok in collaboration more. There will be a move from doing strategic projects to commissioning others to deliver them.

NPF orgs can’t apply for G4A.

ACE has five 10-year goals:

1. Talent and artistic excellence are thriving and celebrated
2. More people experience and are inspired by the arts
3. The arts are sustainable, resilient and innovative
4. The arts leadership and workforce are diverse and highly skilled
5. Every child and young person has the opportunity to experience the richness of the arts

Four major changes to the funding programme:

• open application process (online)
• fixed term of normally 3 years but flexibility for variable length funding agreements for 2-6 years
• funding agreements with orgs based on clear criteria and shared goals
• funding agreements based around ‘strategic’ and ‘programme’ relationships rather than one size fits all

Eligibility

• UK based with activity mainly taking place in England
• Min £40k funding (would be £20k but due to the level of reporting and evaluations that will be required that wouldn’t be enough)
• Engage people in arts activities/help arts orgs to do their work
• Oustanding track record or outstanding potential
• No profit to be distributed to members/shareholders
• Majority will be delivering a programme of artistic work
• Orgs delivering strategic work will have to demonstrate leadership, will have high expectations placed on them and will not necessarily be large flagship organisations
• Applicants must be incorporated
• Must contribute to at least two of ACE’s goals

Criteria for decision making

Stage 1 – assessing the application:

• Contribution to goals and priorities
• Governance, leadership and engagement
• Financial sustainability of the org

Stage 2 – balancing the portfolio:

• All goals priorities
• Diversity
• Range of artforms
• Dfferent sizes/types of orgs
• Geographical spread

Consortium bids are possible. Might be too soon to coordinate them this first time round, but looking over hte 10 years, so there is time to develop a consortium over the next couple of years and put an application in later on.

Applications

All applications must provide:

• Mission
• Proposed programme of work and how funding would be used
• Management accounts 2010/11
• Planned budget 2011/12
• Outline budget for years after
• Non-RFO’s must provide:
• Most recent financial statements
• Evidence for meeting the criteria (governance, quality, engaging audiences, risks)

Orgs decide how much to apply for.

Timeline

• Nov – open for applics
• Nov – briefing meetings and ongoing conversations
• Jan – deadline for applications 10am on 24 January 2011
• Jan – Relationship Managers start to assess applications
• Feb – moderation
• March – decisions
• April – publish Arts Council Plan 2011/12 to 2014/15

It will be a very competitive process. Have a fallback position in case you don’t get funding. G4A applications may be less competitive in 2012. Think about whether you want the extra responsibility and scrutiny.

A quick message from the folks at We Are Birmingham;

Four months after Pete asked Birmingham’s creative communities for help, the We Are Birmingham shop is very nearly ready to open. We start trading on Saturday morning at 10am but before then we want to have a little drinks reception to thank everyone for their help and support and to announce stage two of this project.

Please come to the shop on Dale End at 6.30 on Friday evening. There’ll be a very short speech in our gallery after which we’ll give you a tour of the spaces above the shop. It’ll all be over by 7.30.

Sample 2 is the second exhibition from Sample, due to launch on 19 November at Zellig, and will be on display until 26 November.

The exhibition will feature artists from multiple disciplines, with each piece unified by a circular format.

The circular form shapes our very existence. From the atoms and cells which craft our being, to the huge globe we live on which orbits an enormous ball of fire. This cycle of life is the perfect example of design. Seamless. Unrelenting. Absolute. Complete.

For more information, take a look at the Facebook event page or email Sample for an invite to the launch evening.

• State of the West Midlands « D’log
  “Just published, State of the West Midlands report, 2010″
• Want to be part of Dancing for the Games and get free entry to The Dance Show and Clothes Show Live this December as well?
  Then the info’s all here
• no2self.net » Made in Birmingham
  “I was recently contacted by some students from Birmingham School of Architecture and asked to take part in an exhibition they’re organising called Made in Birmingham for an upcoming RIBA/BAA event. The request was simply to pick my favourite building in the city and provide a 50 word explanation. Here’s what I’ve just submitted:”
• First transatlantic cable company invests million in high tech wire production – Advantage West Midlands
  Very occasionally an AWM press release will contain something fascinating
• The beat of a different Brum: a culture weekend in Birmingham | Travel | The Guardian
  “Eastside, while steeped in that clamour and grime, has dusted itself down and stepped back out with a raw new glamour”
• Home is where the Art is
  A new blog for me to follow. Marcus styles himself: “Community art worker, creative agent, married, Dad, Birmingham UK”
• Higher education – universities with arts courses bear the brunt – Telegraph
  Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and Creative Studies to lose all funding

Or it does according to someone at the new Fallen Angel Bakery in Harborne if the experience of Paul at Ricemedia is anything to go by:

Fazeley Studios might host some fine digital media companies, Ikon Eastside and our own fair office but there’s still some work to be done apparently. That or the guy’s a numpty.

Darren John designs these quirky illustrations, and is based in Birmingham. He’s also on Flickr, where you can take a look at some of his more recent work.

Earlier today Alex Jones and I popped over to an aircraft hangar at Coventry Airport. Rosie Kay‘s in there at the moment with Aquila TV, filming a version of her most recent work – 5 SOLDIERS: The Body is the Frontline.

Some of Alex’s photos are on Flickr here.

In the spirit of full disclosure I should mention that we’re involved in this project too via Meshed Media (that’s our day job, in case you didn’t know).

Birmingham Book Festival‘s writer networking event, The Writers’ Toolkit is taking place on 20 November at South Birmingham College from 10.30am – 4pm.

The event is their third annual gathering, attracting both emerging and established writers along with those involved in the writing industry, including publishers, producers, agents and various organisations. The day is a great opportunity to learn about the business side of being a writer and to network through a mix of panel discussions and Q&A sessions.

For more information on who’s attending and booking, take a look at the Writing West Midlands website.

The deadline for booking is Friday 12 November, and costs £32 (£26 concession).

On 20 November, The Hare & Hounds and Birmingham Jazz will be welcoming the Grammy nominated Christen Scott Quintet to Birmingham.

Considered somewhat jazz pedigree, as the nephew of saxophonist Donald Harrison, Scott has become one of the great innovators of his generation as part of an achingly cool new wave of contemporary jazz artists. He arrives at the Hare & Hounds in support of his new album ‘Yesterday You Said Tomorrow’.

Tickets are £13 (£10) and are available online via theticketsellers, by calling 0844 870 0000 or in person at Polar Bear Records, Kings Heath.

Art of Ideas kicks off towards the end of this week, the four day event will celebrate the cultural life of Birmingham, with a series of talks, exhibitions and related events held at various galleries and institutions around Birmingham.

We’ve already mentioned a few of the associated events such as The Witching Hour and In Conversation with Brian Griffin and Stuart Whipps, so here are some of the other highlights…

12 November: Grand Union Event,
7.30pm – late

Launching the new Grand Union Editions, patrons scheme, plus an artists talk will be given by Jamie Shovlin on his current exhibition, Hiker Meat, along with Mike Harte and Euan Rodger.

Places must be booked, so e-mail Grand Union to reserve your spot.

12 November: What is an art collector?
6.30 – 8.30pm at Ikon

13 November: The Future of Public Collections, Collecting and Spending £1m.
6.30 – 8.30pm at Ikon

13 November: In conversation with… Paul Hedge (Director of Hales Gallery, London)
3 – 5pm, New Art Gallery Walsall (free event, no booking required).

14 November: Brokerage, Endorsement and Representation.
3 – 5pm at the Lecture Theatre, BIAD, Margaret Street

Unless stated otherwise, e-mail or call 0121 248 1200 to book your place for these events.

Artists Clinics

Art of Ideas have also teamed up with Business Link West Midlands to deliver a series of development workshops aimed at new and emerging artists. They will look at how artists can increase their income through alternative routes to market.

mac: 12 November, 11am – 1pm
Wolverhampton Art Gallery: 18 November, 10am – noon
mac: 19 November, 11am – 1pm

Places for this must be booked, e-mail or call 0845 113 1234. Places are limited.

Aedas Presents is a new monthly art programme held at Aedas Architects in Colmore Plaza, which will present a series of exhibitions by students and emerging artists.

The first 12 months are to be curated by Charlie Levine, and the first artist is Hannah Ainsworth, whose work focuses on matters relating to light, movement and surface

Duration is explored through work that is in a state of decomposition alongside a process that could be eternal.  Perceptual experience measured through time is tantamount to the reading of Ainsworth’s work and these works in particular.

After opening on 18 November the exhibition will be displayed in Colmore Plaza until 26 November. To arrange a visit, contact aedaspresents@aedas.com

Big congrats to Kerry and Dave from Fused! Steve’s put some crackin photos on his blog.

Brilliantly Birmingham is kicking off on 27 November, celebrating contemporary jewellery from local, national and international designer makers for the 11th consecutive year, through until 9 January.

With a programme of workshops, special events and free exhibitions, including a ‘Treasure Trail’ of exhibitions at venues across the city, visitors will be taken on a journey of jewellery making, from initial concept to finished product.

This year’s profiled designer is Birmingham City University Graduate Li-Chu Wu whose original paper jewellery was chosen from seven candidates. Her designs consist of a series of one-off wearable paper pieces and body adornments created using a mix of metalsmithing and new technique.

The fifth annual FLUX will also be held throughout the festival, showcasing and selling the work of new and emerging designer makers at mac.

On 24 November, curator Anneka French presents Important Artefacts in the final ARC of 2010. The exhibition draws on the history of site as a place for keeping objects of value, including paintings, works on paper, installation, live work, projection and text.

It seeks to address the idea of collecting as a process of investigation or accumulation, the idea of collections as things to display, and of the collector as someone driven by a particular passion.

Artists exhibiting work are Matthew Andrews, Jane Morrow, Tutte Newall, Tim Robottom, Molly Rooke and Joanne Masding, who you can read a bit more about on ARC’s website.

ARC is taking place at The Vaults from 6-8pm, entry is free.

Photographer Liz Hingley spent two years researching and documenting the diverse culture and religious communities who inhabit Handsworth’s Soho Road.

Her critically acclaimed exhibition ‘Under Gods’ stories from Soho road is now open at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, running through until 26 February 2011.

At a time when religion is seen to cause much social unrest and breeds fear through misunderstanding, the photographs show the reality and intensity of different lifestyles and the beauty religion brings to everyday inner city life.

- Liz Hingley

Take a look at the collection on her website for a few interesting quotes which accompany the photographs.