Michael Smith looks for the positive in what some consider Europe’s most boring city – Birmingham
Putting the ‘n’ into ‘BBC cuts’.
UPDATE
You can see this episode on iPlayer until 7pm on 4 November. It featured The Event (in particular, Creative Machines, Minimalist Sculpture at Curzon Street Station), Eastside Projects and Project Pigeon and was actually quite complimentary about the fringes of the city (although not the centre, which is probably fair enough).
The Birmingham Post have reported on the plans to rename the ‘Gun Quarter‘. I’m with Sir Albert Bore on this one (except on the political correctness bit – not sure I get that):
Like it or not, and I am not into the arms trade myself, the Gun Quarter has a historical connection with this city. This is just political correctness.
We haven’t got a big vision for this area, we haven’t got it right and we are not going to get it right if we call it St George and St Chad because it doesn’t mean anything, it doesn’t convey anything.
Which seems fair enough, but on the other hand there is precedent for seemingly arbitrary renaming of areas around the city. What do you reckon?
It’s been a while since the last (public) handwringing over why Birmingham’s reputation suffers nationally. Thankfully, the Independent has steeped in with an article doing just that (as pointed out by Neil Holland on Twitter last night).
Link: Brum deal: A second city with a third-rate reputation
They point out that there are some great things about this city:
Um… thanks. To be fair there were shout outs to the BRB and CBSO massives too.
Features quotes from Siôn Simon, Adrian Goldberg, Clare Short, Helga Henry, Khalid Mahmood and Trevor Beattie.
Building it up
I like this from Si Jobling (one of Multipack‘s founders). He’s miffed that the Midlands are often overlooked when people talk about the Web industry in the UK, so:
Throughout the Summer months, I’ll be visiting a variety of design/Web/creative agencies around the West Midlands as part of a Design Tour of The Midlands to promote agencies in the region and find out how they work.
Knocking it down
ISIS Waterside Regeneration are inviting arts, cultural and social enterprise agencies on a site tour of Warwick Bar, at the heart of Eastside cultural quarter on Thursday 24 February, at 12 – 2pm and 4 – 6pm (arriving at 12pm or 4pm).
Visitors will be given the opportunity to express interest and early stage ideas for use of the buildings and spaces, including temporary events, installations or performances from one day to monthly lets.
There remains a commitment to retain Warwick Bar as a distinctive quarter, currently home to Grand Union, the area provides links to Birmingham’s cultural community through a varied mix of on-site activity.
Light refreshments will also be available, with owners and agents on hand to discuss ideas and approaches to sustaining activity in the Eastside area.
RSVP to admin@sueball.co.uk, and meet for the tour at 122 Fazeley Street, B5 5RS.
Project Pigeon currently reside in Boxxed‘s backyard in Digbeth. Working with pigeons and people, they aim to bring about social change, and so are currently working on a community pigeon loft.
Traditionally, pigeon lofts are designed to reflect the culture in which they’re located, and so in keeping with this they’re after the designs and ideas of local residents in order to build a loft that reflects all the different cultures in Digbeth and Highgate.
They’ll be holding Community Consultation Days throughout February on the following dates for people wanting to get involved;
Designs can also be submitted to projectpigeondigbeth@gmail.com
Eastside Café will be exhibiting designs between 9 -12 March, plus keep an eye on their Flickr photostream where they’ll be uploading entries.
The pigeon loft will then be built between mid March and May 2011 so look out for further information.
New design images of the Library of Birmingham have been released, showing the first look at what we can expect from the central rotunda (top) and the outdoor amphitheatre.
Operating as a main focal point of the building, the central rotunda features a breathtaking wall of books across several floors, with the image showing an improved environment with user-friendliness at its core. Wide travelators and escalators provide links between floors, while spacious public areas are flooded with natural light.
The outdoor amphitheatre, meanwhile, promises to become a hugely popular feature of the new building upon completion. Accessible from the music and children’s sections of the Library of Birmingham, the amphitheatre will provide the perfect space for outdoor performance and activity which can be viewed by onlookers in the above Centenary Square.
Due to open in 2013, over the next year the library aims to complete the construction of the concrete frame, the installation glazing, and the application of the distinctive frieze.
The next peak at the Library’s interior will also come in the new year, as a ‘flythrough’ video is to be released, offering the most in depth look so far inside the Library of Birmingham.
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.
The next version of the Big City Plan has been announced. Download the plan and, if you see fit, leave a big city comment on the site. There’s a lot more to get your teeth into than there was the last time it was put out for discussion.
There’s a Big City Video too:
Bullring have launched a new website to unveil their proposed plans for the regeneration of Spiceal Street, creating a hub of restaurants around St. Martins church.
With Jaime Oliver’s Italian restaurant set to open in October, Bullring are preparing to submit their planning application for the new development, with a view for completion in the Autumn of 2011.
What are you thinking? With the Mailbox and Brindley Place do we really need another batch of restaurant chains? Or are you excited at the prospect of finally getting a decent bite to eat without the trek away from the centre? If so you can pledge your support for the project via their site.
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.
To find out more about this, take a look at the full event details.
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.
In the latest Monocle (the monthly with the unhealthy obsession with airport lounges and a design sensibility that Unhappy Hipsters would adore) there’s a look at ‘Rebranding Britain’.
As you’ll see from the slightly grainy pic above, there’s no mention of Birmingham (although they found twelve other cities worth naming), just a pointer in the general direction of the midlands and the suggestion:
Failing towns should be abandoned
Oof.
Ta to Johnny Cullen for pointing that one out.
Tonight on the One Show (7pm BBC, although it’ll inevitably be kept back until 7.29pm) we get to find out whether Birmingham gets to call itself City of Culture in 2013.
The Daily Mail has already called it for Londonderry (you’ll have to excuse the lack of link to that one) but we won’t know for sure until later. Win or not, I think the folks who ran the bid should be applauded for their efforts.
My fave aspect of the whole thing has been the unashamedly promotional posters on the London Underground. Ed Vaizey said of the bid:
I see it on the Tube in London. It is a very entrepreneurial approach to raising the profile of the city across the UK
Which was beautifully put. More of that sort of thing, I say.
Meanwhile, a map’s been drawn up to visualise some of the suggestions that were put forward through the Big Conversation and Talkeoke projects in the run up to the bid:
Word’s been going round (although at the moment I can’t tell where from) that Thursday 15 July is decision day on the whole City of Culture 2013 thing.
While we work ourselves into barely-concealed bundles of anticipation, Arts Industry have done a quick round-up of each city’s bid. All much of a muchness, but recent events give the Derry bid a bit of topical oomph.
The Birmingham Post have revealed some of the plans that went into the Birmingham bid. The comments aren’t pretty but some people will never be happy and, until such time as we get the decision or see the whole bid, passing any sort of judgment’s a bit tricky really. I’m still intrigued by the autumn festival and would love to know who the big name guest curators might be (I think I heard preliminary approaches had been made).
Still, haven’t we had promises that, irrespective of the decision, all these events are going to go ahead regardless?
The Birmingham Post’s Jon Walker spotted the above advert at Westminster tube station and this morning the paper (well, website) is reporting ‘MPs sign Commons motion to back Birmingham City of Culture bid‘. So how’s the bid going?
It’s difficult to gauge this. Thing is, we (as in, the people of Birmingham) aren’t going to be the target of much of the promotional stuff because we’re not doing the judging. You’d assume/hope the effort is being spent outside the city (like the poster above).
Btw, I should make it clear that I’m supportive of Birmingham’s City of Culture bid and think it’d be great to get the award.
So far, around Birmingham, I’ve seen a stack of flyers (at the Council House), a few adverts in various brochures and… well that’s been about it. On the plus side, I’ve not seen much of the usual trick of tacking a logo on to anything vaguely within grasp.
It would be interesting to see how the city is being sold to others, though. Which of the city’s strengths are being pushed forward? Bearing in mind the branding looks like it’s been recycled from a luxury watch marketing campaign, I’m guessing the Jewellery Quarter (and by association, the city’s industrial heritage) features in some way. What else?
Most visible from our perspective is the online stuff. Here’s what the various cities are doing:
The good news there is that Birmingham’s website is as bland, information-free and predictable as all the others. The Facebook/Twitter stuff is being done just as poorly as everyone else’s too. Sad to see the previously quite popular canvasbirmingham.com site was killed off though (with credits for the local folks who developed it removed).
I’ve not seen so much discussion (there’s this on the Stirrer) so has anyone got any thoughts on all of this? Feel free to comment anonymously if you must.
