This looks ace:

The Event is a contemporary arts festival in Eastside, Birmingham to showcase the best in artist-led activity. Bringing together artists, curators and artist-led projects, visitors are encouraged to immerse themselves in challenging artworks indoors and out.

The Event will be delivered by some of the city’s key artist-led groups to explore a range of contemporary arts activity including visual arts, performance, live art, film, video, web-based, installation, intervention and sound, all demonstrating the diversity of the thriving arts community in the city.

The roll call of artists involved is fantastic; drawn largely from the committee behind the Birmingham Contemporary Art Forum (giving things a nice, artist-driven feel) with another five commissioned projects on top.

The Event runs from 4-8 November, with exhibitions open 12-5pm and events taking place daily. For more info, here’s the timetable.

(Pic – Marina de Stacpoole, ‘Child’s Play’. From The Space Between, Surrounds Our Desire, an exhibition curated by Mona Casey)

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Still, I did make it along to the Arts & Business Awards. The special guest was Patrick Stewart (who walked, not teleported on stage – disappointing) and the winners were:

• Community Award – EC-Arts & National Express Coach
• Cultural Branding Award – Stan’s Cafe & AE Harris (Birmingham) Ltd
• Museum, Libraries and Archives Award – Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust & Inchscape Motors Shrewsbury
• People Development Award – Holte Visual & Performing Arts College, St Francis Primary School & Signet Trading Ltd
• Sustained Partnership Award – Sinfonia ViVA & Rolls Royce plc
• Young People Award – County Youth Arts & Balfour Beatty Capital
• Business Volunteer of the Year Award – Colin Wells from Prologic plc & Multistory (also winner of the Champion of Champions Award)

Congrats to all of them.

After that I wandered down to the Sunflower Lounge for Gallery of Owl’s ‘All You Can Eat Zine’ which was fantastic – billed as ‘a night of Zines, comics, small press, music and performance’. It provided all of that as well as a palpable sense of

I didn’t stay for that long, but long enough to catch Richard Peel’s entertaining performance of Dracula, have a chat with Claire from ATTA grrl a buy a couple of zines (ATTA grrl and Girls Who Draw, since you asked). There was a good turnout, a great atmosphere and the excitement of knowing there’s loads of interesting stuff going on around the city.

Here’s what I picked up:

And check out the hand stamp too – easily the best one I’ve had in a while:

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28 October 2009

• Filmrats Halloween special – a multimedia evening of short films and live music. Plus fancy dress

30 October 2009

• Ghost walk at Highbury Hall. £9.95 and you get a jacket potato – can’t say fairer than that.
• An American Werewolf in London at The Electric (and again on 31 Oct)

31 October 2009

• The Phantom of the Opera – 1925 silent film at the Town Hall, with prizes for the best Halloween costume.
• Cherry Pop Peep Show presents The Bare Witch Project. Burlesque, music and magic upstairs at The Victoria.

2 November 2009

• Halloween Monster Movie Challenge 2009. Sound Bar will host the screening of the films submitted for the challenge

I’ve been cobbling this list together over the past few days – further suggestions would be welcome in the comments…

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It’s on at BIAD on Margaret Street from 12 to 22 October. More info on More Canals and the Clickety… Facebook Page.

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The Arts Council recently asked for regional submissions to win a significant pot of money under the title ‘Artists Taking the Lead’ - linking into themes of the Cultural Olympiad, and leading up to the 2012 Olympics.

The first selection process has happened, and details of the potential regional winners have been announced and can be found here.  Unsurprisingly, all of the West Midlands shortlisted are designed to happen in Birmingham (with perhaps the exception of Imagineer Productions – which doesn’t specify, but has obvious Coventry connections?) and so it seemed relevant to point it out to the CiB readers and point you to the site where comments are invited on which idea excites you the most.

I have rather strong feelings on the selected few and would be curious to find out what you all think.  If any particularly strike you (either positively or negatively!) then feel free to leave a quick comment below explaining why.

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In the meantime, Birmingham’s creative communities continue to toil away and many things have been going on.  Here’s a snapshot of where we’re at right now!

‘Hey for Lubberland!’ can be spotted gracing the canals around Brindley Place.  This work, by Simon and Tom Bloor (and part of Ikon’s off-site projects) will be in situ on the towpath behind Bank Restaurant in Brindleyplace until 13th September 2009.  Visitors can be transported by this working barge, and whilst onboard peruse the floating library of utopian design.  The title ‘Hey for Lubberland!’ was derived from a 17th century English ballad about the New World, mistaken for utopia, but in fact a kind of fool’s paradise.  You can be transported between 13:00 and 17:00 on Tuesdays – Sundays, and best of all admission is free!

If you’re interested in creative networking opportunities, then there’s a new group which will have it’s first meeting on August 13th.  Creative Playground is being organised by Steve Gray and Kate Manion, and offers:

..a chance for people who work in a professional capacity in the creative and digital sectors to get together for drinks and a chat, make new friends and hopefully make some new collaborations as well. Ultimately it is about strengthening the city’s creative community and we’ll be looking to the RDAs and various bodies for support to help us do this.

It looks like a slightly different group of people to those you might meet at BSMC etc. and will hopefully prove rather interesting!  You need to signup with meetup.com and then apply to become a member as there is a selection process as explained here:

The ground rules of joining are: 1) You must be in a professional role within the creative industries, 2) You or your business must be located in Birmingham, 3) You must fill out all the introductory fields in your profile with sufficient detail, 4) You must upload a photo of yourself to your profile. No company brands etc.

Also on Thursday 13th August is the private view of a brand new collection of work, entitled SAMPLE:

New work has been created by a range of Midlands artists including Daniel Westwood, Martin Donnelly, Matt Clugston, Steve Ellis, and Joe Mitchelmore.  The work will be available to view online after the launch at the SAMPLE website, so even if you can’t make it you don’t have to miss out!

And lastly, so that this post isn’t completely ridiculously long, on a transatlantic note, Birmingham-based photographer Chris Keenan (who recently featured in the Visual / Art of Ideas 2 exhibition) has had a piece of work selected for a world-class international exhibition, Art of Photography.

This year they received 16,000 entries from 57 countries.  111 images were chosen for the final exhibition and Chris Keenan’s Franz Joseph Glacier (above) was one of them. The selection was made by Charlotte Cotton, curator and head of the Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

If you’re likely to be in and around the San Diego area any time between 29th August 2009 and 1st November 2009 then stop by the Lyceum Theatre Gallery and marvel at some Birmingham talent!

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The Event - 2007

The first two weeks of April 2007 saw the culmination of a series of artist-led activities within Birmingham, and this was ‘The Event‘.  At that point in time, the number of artists choosing to stay and work within the city had increased, and an intensification of artistic production had taken place.  It felt very much like Birmingham projected a unique sense of identity, and it was easy to believe that the city held great potential.

Consisting of exhibitions and performances devised by ten of the brightest young visual art organisations in Birmingham at that point in time, the sixteen-day celebration focused on a myriad of event-based practices and exhibitions in such a way as to implicate the whole city into its logic.  Participating organisations included: a.a.s., Capital Art Projects, Colony, [insertspace], International Project Space, Modulate, Periscope, 7inch Cinema, Spectacle, and Springhill Institute.

A lot of interesting work took place, and indeed some of these organisations have developed and flourished (surely most notably 7inch Cinema) – but those without links to their work above, and even some who do have links, are either no longer working as artists / arts organisations, or have begun working under different names without leaving on online breadcrumb trail for me to follow.

In 2007, whilst not all that long ago, there was a definite sense of optimism and indulgence in the arts and arts practice – much moreso than we now have in 2009.  The recession will inevitably have played a large part in this shift, with organisations cutting back or closing down – but what other changes has Birmingham faced that has brought us to this point, so different to that of 2007?  Is there still intense artistic production?  Do people still believe that Birmingham has this great potential?  Have artists changed their practice in response to the current financial climate and retreated back into their stereotypical draughty garrets?

In a timely fashion, The Event has returned once more to open up and explore contemporary art making.  Through an open submission process, artists are invited to send proposals to be included in the November festival.  The deadline for proposals is quite soon – July 13th – but submissions can also be emailed.  I’ve included the details taken from the website below, but please send any specific queries to kaye@the-event.org I will be keen to see which artists are selected, and how their practice reflects the current mood of the city – and also how different the artforms will be, if at all.  Will The Event be inundated with digital submissions, and will there be any entirely virtual submissions running concurrently?

Open Submission

Deadline Midday 13 July 2009

The Event is a contemporary arts festival in Birmingham, showcasing the best in artist-led activity.

We are currently seeking proposals and submissions from artist projects and artist/curators in the Midlands for inclusion in The Event, November 2009.

Proposals with a budget of up to £2000 can be considered. Deadline for submissions is midday on Monday 13 July, proposals received after the deadline cannot be considered.

Proposals must include the following information:
Project proposal (maximum 200 words)
Brief biog/CV
Indication of project costs
Supporting material

Postal applications should be clearly marked:
BCAF Steering Group
The Event
Eastside Projects
86 Heath Mill Lane Birmingham
B9 4AR

NB. Please enclose a SAE for return of material.

e-mailed application should be compiled into one document and emailed to:
kaye@the-event.org

Please contact Kaye Winwood 07834 244 609 or email kaye@the-event.org with any queries.

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As was previously mentioned here on CiB, the 4am Project is the genius concept of Karen Strunks, a Birmingham photographer who singlehandedly convinced thousands of strangers across the world that it would be a great idea to stay awake/get up at 4am to document that moment for no other reason than to be part of a larger group of people doing just that.

And people, in their droves, agreed that it was a great idea and stayed up (or set their alarms, like me!) and took photographs and sent them to the 4am website, or tagged them on Flickr so that everyone could see a snapshot of the world, of their world, at such an uncomfortably late/early hour.  Who knew you could create such extensive social capital before breakfast?!

Building upon the success of the previous event, 4am photos have continued to flood in, without being prompted to do so – and Karen has now decided it’s time to coordinate another 4am en masse.  The date of the next event is: 21/06/09.  (And in case you somehow missed it, the time will be 4am, and the place will be wherever you are!)

In addition, the 4am Project has been nominated for the Digital Press Awards, and if you think (like I do) that this project is a fab idea and a lot of fun, then vote for it to win!

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The event which has most piqued my curioisity is entitled “My Dad’s on Twitter but he doesn’t know why”.  More than just another opportunity to ‘talk shop’, this event promises to collate the ideas and input of attendees into a collaborative group mind map exploring how and why people use social media.  In addition, after the event there will be an opportunity for an online audience to have input into the map as well.  I’m keen to see how this will utilise Bubbl.us – something I stumbled across earlier this week, and which looks like another great free tool.

The event which has most piqued my TASTEBUDS however, is definitely the festival finale – a grand high tea for 300 creative workers in Fazeley Studio’s magnificently restored 19th century chapel reception.  Fazeley currently provides a high tea for tenants every Thursday and have decided to build upon the success of this for the festival.  I’ve been promised there are exciting and secretive things planned for this event which will be unveiled on the day, but if the promise of the tea alone isn’t enough of an incentive, there will also be a preview of the latest Ikon Eastside exhibition – an installation by an emerging Chinese artist called Xu Zhen.

For more details on all of the events taking place during the festival, the Fazeley Digital website will keep you in the loop,  as well as provide opportunities to sign-up for certain events and provide feedback/interact with others.

© Adrienne for Created in Birmingham, 2009. | One comment |

Kate Chapman & Charlotte Goodwin - Amplifying the Map

I have to admit to be SUPER excited about the impending re-opening of the mac.  So ANY news, or any work linked to the opening, in turn excites me too.  In addition, my personal interests are deeply rooted in events which involve an element of participation – and with that in mind, I’m particularly excited to touch upon ‘Site and Sounds’.

“Site and Sounds offers a taste of the activities planned for mac’s re-opening in 2010 including workshops, walks and the premiere of a specially composed anthem for mac. mac’s Associate Artists Stan’s Cafe and Motionhouse Dance Theatre will also be presenting work as part of the summer programme including an adventure in the dark and some in-your-face dancing.”

There’s a substantial programme of events leading up to the re-opening – details of which can be found on the macartists website, as well as information on how to book for workshop places.  I was excited to see a screen-printing workshop advertised, then realised I am sadly 16 years too old to take part. Sniffle.  If you DO fit into that age category however, I think it’ll be a lot of fun!

I’m also curious about the recent theme of ‘mapping’ which keeps cropping up in projects and artist’s works of late.  This time, artists Kate Chapman and Charlotte Goodwin are exploring the mapping theme by inviting people who live, work or play close to mac to re-discover familiar places and explore places they have never visited before, sharing their thoughts and observations to create an audio map of the changing landscape.  All of these recordings will feed into an audio map – a web of downloadable audio tracks focusing on different locations in a mile radius of Cannon Hill Park.  I’m wondering if any CiB readers have experienced any other map-themed artworks/projects of late – if so, send me an email or leave a comment.

I will also be interested to see ‘Underground’,  performed by four dancers from Motionhouse Dance Theatre.

“Set within a rocking tubular structure, using physical dance, poignant imagery and surprising aerial encounters, ‘Underground’, explores the reality of train travel.”

Considering the title of the performance, I imagine it would originally by inspired by the experience of underground travel as opposed to regular trains.  How this will translate both to regular train travel as well as the open space of Cannon Hill Park will remain a mystery until the performance itself, which is happening Saturday 18th July at Cannon Hill Park at 11.30am, 1pm and 3pm.

Motionhouse Dance Theatre - Underground

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These games, much like the Emergent Game a few years ago prove that interactive play doesn’t have to be homed exclusively online or in the playground but can explore geographical areas in new ways, look at how we now communicate online and off, and give a chance for grown adults to play.

Another Nicky doing good work in the city is Nicky Getgood who writes the blog Digbeth is Good. She uses social media stuff like maps, videos and games within her blog which demand importance in the real world and sets the context firmly within the geographical area and a real community. The most interesting projects I have seen recently rely on this process of interweaving online and offline participation, such as 4am Project and other activities like Flickr meetups which happen in the city.

Now spring has sprung the BARG group are taking games onto the streets of Birmingham, with the aim of  taking a fresh look at neglected parts of the city, and reclaiming them much like how skateboarders do. This Saturday between 2pm and about 7pm they will be hosting an afternoon of play and picnics on Curzon Street. For more information and maps etc go to Nikki’s personal blog.

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So what is a network anyway? In our case, a free association of individuals bonded by two essential qualities – an interest in creativity and a friendly, open minded attitude. We realised that between ourselves and our immediate friends we have between us a tremendous variety of interests and an urge to be together and be creative. Weekly meetings began and continue still, the network steadily grew. Our fifth event – Xhibition, comes up this Saturday in Moseley.

(...)
Read the rest of Project X & Brum’s creative scene – by Rich Batsford (494 words)

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Ever wondered how programmes get commissioned?

How hard can it be to pitch your idea to a panel of experts in TV?

How To Pitch will discuss the most toe-curling pitches – from freezing up, to ideas that are just plain ridiculous, and hear the experiences of our panel on the pitfalls of pitching programme ideas. This session will demystify the process of how a programme idea ends up on our screens and provide you with a comprehensive guide of what’s hot and what’s not in TV today. Plus top tips on how to give a successful pitch under pressure.

Chair:
Johannah Dyer: Chief Executive, Hotbed Media

The Panel:

Aysha Rafaele: Deputy Commissioning Editor Documentaries, Channel 4

Jonnie Turpie: Digital Media Director, Maverick Television

Catherine Elliott-Kemp: Creative Director, Isis Media

Interested? Tickets cost £5 and to book you need to sign up for RTS Futures at the website.

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I have been working with media interaction from an arts marketing perspective for some time, but it is such a fast moving beast you need to say on top of your game. I should imagine that this event will offer something for a seasoned marketing person, but also a complete beginner looking to get some press coverage for their creative endeavours. If anything, it is a chance to visit the stunning Fazeley St Studios in Digbeth.

Speakers include:

• Ian Taylor, Commercial Director and Kurt Jacobs, Head of PR, Marketing Birmingham
• Marverine Cole, Broadcast Journalist Sky News and Austen Duffy, Director FunF Media
• Anna Blackaby, Creative Industries Editor Birmingham Post
• Jon Bounds, Social Media and Web Consultant

The event also incorporates a creative writing workshop led by Clark Baim, Co-Director of Change Point Training to identify, develop and write a piece of news, express your view or highlight a success as relevant to your work.

Strong written content generated from the workshop may, with your permission, then be submitted towards industry and business to business publications by Creative Republic on behalf of you and your organisation. See you there!

Here is a video debrief of the SXSW event – How Bostin was Austin?

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Now in its 23rd year, SXSW Music has grown from a tiny music festival in Texas to an essential event on the music industry calendar. It’s four hyperactive days of making connections for musicians, recording companies and every other business touching on music, from concert bookers to copyright lawyers, publishers to social media types. Creative Republic thought this would be an ideal opportunity to find out what the Birmingham team’s experiences were and what they’ve learned.

As the dust settles on the old way of doing things for the music industry, has SXSW shone some light on a new model?

They have lined up Kerry Thomas and Dave O’Coy from Fused and Lisa Meyer and Jenny Moore from Capsule, amongst others who are ready to be quizzed. Leading the quizzing will be Andrew Dubber and John Mostyn.

So you might want to ask them a question or two as well. Timings for the event are:

• 6.30pm Arrival; cash bar available
• 7-8pm Panel discussion and questions
• 8-9pm Networking and event close.

There is no charge for attending but they do ask for you to sign the Creative Republic Charter, and to RSVP. A map and directions for the venue can be found at www.creativerepublic.org.uk.

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The Feb Creative Networks is the 3rd Creative Forum event with special guest speaker Ash Atalla, the writer and producer best known for producing The Office. The Creative Forum bit is usually a series of stands from organisations like Business Link and Screen WM on hand to offer advice. 5.30pm – 10.00pm

The first BARG happened last month; games were played, cake was eaten and their was a whole lot of enthusing and exploring of social mechanisms. The Second BARG will feature: a look at rapid prototyping kits for game, discussion of a planned St Patrick’s day game, evolution of the Emergent Game and more.

If you didn’t attend last month, you can still get in on the fun by turning up at The Lamp Tavern, Digbeth at 7pm.

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Mike Figgis, whose Hollywood credits include Leaving Las Vegas and Internal Affairs, is a visionary filmmaker who thrives on taking artistic risks. For the last decade, he has been working at the cutting edge of creative digital video. His film Timecode was a product of this, shot in a single day without a script and using four digital cameras to create separate stories unfolding simultaneously in real time on a quadruple split screen.

If you would like to apply for a ticket contact Rob Adams: rob.adams@boilerhouse.co.uk.

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In my opinion promoters Capsule utilize the magic of good illustration just right. Each piece of design they commission is executed with full force, and this ballsy,  risk taking approach is one reason why they run some of the most well recognised events around.

Ben Javens has created these posters for Capsules Jan / Feb events and they are quite typical of the bold,  hand printed style you can see on his weblog, he has some lovely bits for sale in his shop too.

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For those who have never been to Creative Networks I can wholly recommend it. They always choose really inspirational speakers like  Nick Broomfield (Biggie and Tupac, Kurt & Courtney) and of course Pete Ashton and Stef Lewandowski (founders of this here blog).

At each event their is an opportunity to pitch your business, project idea or to just introduce yourself to the audience. Your details then go on to a rather handsome newsletter and the website. If you would like to pitch at the next CN event please contact Dave Taylor on 07989 498 550 or email creative.networks@tic.ac.uk.

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First up, on Sunday 14 Dec from 3pm til late they’ve got their ‘anything goes’ open mic night at The Adam And Eve in Digbeth. Expect music, spoken word, comedy… pretty much anything of that ilk.

Then every other Friday at Digbeth’s Spotted Dog, from 6pm they’ll be hosting “meetings of like-minded creative people and those who would like to see a project come to life”. The first one of those will be on 19 Dec. Could be interesting.

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It’s a follow-up to the shindig the Night Times put together in September and, again, looks like a very good thing. Here’s the flyer, with the line-up underneath:

Main Room – Eardrum & What Dubstep Emile, Mr Elephant Marc Reck, Pure Vibes Aries and Benny, Bigger Than Barry Scott Bleepz, Ultra + Benn Nott, Hog Sir Real, Break Thru Dan B & Reaction, Fixed Phase 2 and Pace

E:volve outdoor party Stage – Paul Glazby, Strange Dave B2B Livewire (B2T), Riggsy, Dion, Rob Diaz, Jock Dreadster, Sonik

The Kitchen – Custom Made, Loafers Lounge, Jibbering Records, Funk Box, Friendly Fire

The Balcony – [SIC], Bleep Bleep (Bigger than Barry’s sister), Osmosis, Funkaliscious, Bunka and Overcast.

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Hello! The Eccentric City Christmas Auction (with optional fancy dress) will take place on Tuesday 9th Dec 2008 at The Anchor Pub in Digbeth, Birmingham. 7.30pm start.

A cross between carboot and ebay, this is a fun-raising night full of joyfulness and Christmas cheeriness (therapeutic activity in an economic crisis – lets all raise our wallets with 2ps and defunct credit cards together!).

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From 6.30pm on Tuesday 16th December, we’re invited to partake of festive parlour games hosted by one of Kerrang’s presenters and suitably stylish entertainment. However, for any scrooges, humbuggers or serious networkers amongst us there’ll be space for those who want to escape the organised frivolity

More info is on the Creative Republic website, including details of how to sign up to that Charter (if, indeed, you think it appropriate). At the time of blogging I can’t see the info for RSVP-ing but it’ll be there soon, I’m sure.

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© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | One comment |

As far as the Big City Plan is concerned, so far there’s been plenty to talk about but nothing in writing to pick apart. Birmingham Central have picked out highlights of the

City Centre Masterplan (Big City Plan) Report from Acting Strategic Director of Development at Birmingham City Council to the Cabinet meeting on the 24th November

There follows multitudinous charts, maps and options. Worth a read if you’re interested in what’s being planned. (via D’log)

In fact, if that floats your boat then you might be interested in the next Creative Republic event. They’ve rescheduled the Creative Masterclass with Michael Wolff for Thurs 27 Nov at Fazeley Studios. The aim will be for Michael to

take on the challenge of developing a fantasy brief for that imaginary role, a creative director for Birmingham

Attendance is free but you’ll need to sign up via their website.

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Here’s the full line-up:

The Heritage Orchestra

Lizzy Parks (album launch)

DJ Cro hosting 2 and a half hours of local MC talent including Ko-Syne (Soulthump, Livebox), SPX (Kung Funk), Redbeard (Eat Good) and more

Visuals by Chromatouch

It’s competition time!

I’ve been given a couple of tickets to give away for this.  All you have to do is shout up for them in the comments.  Just some quick rules:

• The first person to claim them takes both the tickets (well, guestlist places)
• No-one CiB-related can play
• No previous competition winners can claim the tickets
• You’ll need to use a proper email address for me to confirm things with you
• I get the final say on any decisions (if it’s really necessary)

So go for it…

Meanwhile, here’s the flyer:

You can also have a nosey at the interview with Mary Wakelam, of Birmingham Jazz, who co-promotes these events.

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From 4-6pm there’s the Birmingham Music Network with a networking event for the city’s music-related peoples:

The Birmingham branch of Musicians Union will be supplying luxury chocolate biscuits and good coffee for all. There’s food and drink afterwards supplied by the creative networks lot too. Come and talk about music and what you’re up to and meet some new people

Then after that, and until 10pm, there’s the Creative Networks networking event.  They don’t mention biscuits or coffee but do speak of “From Bedroom To Broadcast: How to break into TV and the battle to retain your filmmaking integrity thereafter” which is a talk by Lee Kern.  Lee recently set up a fake TV production company called Monkey Tennis to pitch ridiculous ideas to commissioners so he sounds ok to me.

Both events are free.  Here’s the flyer for the latter:

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | 2 comments |

The Birmingham Book Club and Popular Culture Meetup Group – next meet is 24 Sept at the Green Room, Arcadian Centre.  Currently reading The Secret History by Donna Tartt.

The Birmingham Film Meetup Group – next meet is a trip to Stan’s Cafe’s ‘Of All The People In All The World’ on 23 Sept.  “The main purpose of this group is to meet up at various times and on various days of the week to go and see films at a variety of venues across the city”.

The Birmingham Musicians, Singers & Songwriters Meetup – next meet is an open mic night on 21 Sept at the Adam & Eve in Digbeth.  “It’s a group for songwriters, singers and musicians. The aim of the group is to meet for socialising, discussions and playing our own music”.

Birmingham LGBT Book Club – next meet is 6.30pm on 23 Sept for Stans Cafe – ah, same time as the Film Meetup, cool!  Monthly meets with a new book each time and “primarily for the LGBT community but all are welcome”.

Midlands Comedy, Music, Movies, Politics, Walking & Writers – next meet is 3 Oct at The Old Contemptibles near Snow Hill Station in the city centre.  A new group but 40 members already.

Birmingham Psychogeographical Association – another new group with no meets planned yet.  “Meet other local people who are interested in Psychogeography, reading books about psychogeography and using experimental methods to explore urban and rural areas”.

And a little further afield…

The Coventry & Warwickshire Writers Meetups – next meet is on 7 Oct at the Railway Club in Coventry.  “Come to one of these Writers Meetups in Coventry and Warwickshire to review work, trade literary tips, make friends and have fun! All writers and should-be writers are welcome”.

Coventry & Warwickshire Artists Meetup Group – Red Teapot Tuesday is the name of the “drop-in artists’ get-together” at The Cafe at The Herbert, Coventry.  First Tues of the month, the next one being 7 Oct.

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | 5 comments |

The Eccentric City newspaper shortly holds it eccentric auction (23rd Sept, Anchor pub, Digbeth, Birmingham - 7.30pm onwards). With much anticipated joy and excitement, British luminary eccentric Mr John Ward www.johnwardinventor.co.uk will be in attendance. This is a unique and wonderful honour that The Eccentric City newspaper team wanted to let people know that something outside the norm of day to day culture continues to gather greatness! A truely eccentric occasion beckons! Please feel free to come along!

BiNS has info about what the auction consists of.

John Ward seems an affable chap – here he is on Pebble Mill at One (a while back) chatting about making creations from rubbish.  According to his website, the late Screaming Lord Sutch officially appointed him Minister of Inventions for the Monster Raving Loony Party.

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Brap, the Birmingham equalities charity, has racked up 10 years and is celebrating on Saturday night (20th Sept) at the Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath.

Performing on the night will be The Special Beat (featuring Neville Staple and Ranking Roger) and ex-Birmingham Poet Laureate Dreadlock Alien.

Doors are at 9pm and tickets are £15 – available on the door or through www.theticketsellers.co.uk.

Among many other things, Brap produce the Speak Out magazine and are looking for submissions for the next issue. The theme is ‘This is Bimingham’:

Outside of London, Birmingham is one of the country’s most ‘diverse’ cities. It is also a city with one of the biggest gaps between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’. We want to know what this means to you.

Whether it’s an essay, photograph, poem, or story, this is your chance to tell everyone your perspective on ‘This is Birmingham’

Submissions need to be in by 24 October.

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