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).

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?

Link: Brum deal: A second city with a third-rate reputation

They point out that there are some great things about this city:

• The Cotswolds aren’t far away
• High speed rail may soon allow us to get to London in 49mins

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

Literally.

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;

• Thursday 3 February:  7.30am-2.30pm Eastside Cafe, 99 Coventry Street, Digbeth
• Sunday 6 February: 10am-4pm Project Pigeon’s Loft, Milk Street, Digbeth (in Boxxed’s backyard, opposite Birmingham Backpackers)
• Wednesday 9 February: 2pm-6pm Project Pigeon’s Loft
• Tuesday 15 February: 7pm-11pm The Spotted Dog pub, 104 Warwick Street, Digbeth

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.

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.