Created in Birmingham » Misc

First signs of Flatpack Festival 2010

Chris Unitt — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:45:03 +0000

Ooh, nice.

More info (but only a little).

Birmingham listings websites

Chris Unitt — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:04:21 +0000

I’m still getting up to speed on what’s happening around town but thought it’d make sense to go through some of the main sources of arts/culture/ents info out there. Next up: listings websites. There are loads of em and theoretically they should all have the same information on them. Here’s the ones I know of:

All Brum / Art Brum / Live Brum – there’s a whole family of these sites now, all feeding into All Brum which tends to be my first port of call if I’m at a loose end. Stuffed with nice features too.
Birmingham Alive
Birmingham City Council
Birmingham Gig Guide
Birmingham Listings
MyVillage – they’ve gone for a social network flavour but
Scene Central – Audiences Central’s offering with a West Mids-wide scope
Skiddle – as you might expect from Skiddle there’s a greater number of club nights than on many other sites but there’s a fair amount of other stuff too
Visit Birmingham – the official tourist information visitor website
What’s On In Brum

NB – The following aren’t really listings, just good sources of info:

There’s also Russ L’s monthly ‘Lots Of Things To See And Do In The West Midlands’ series which tends to feature theatre, gigs, the main festivals and boxing/mixed martial arts (NB – don’t try and submit stuff to him or you’ll find yourself excluded). The 7 Inch Cinema newsletter is always stuffed with interesting local events too – sign up for that on the 7 Inch website.

Have I missed anything decent from that list? What do you tend to use?

Popcorn Comedy

Chris Unitt — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:39:05 +0000

Very late notice, but if you’re at a loose end tonight then you could do a lot worse than head over to the Electric Cinema for the Birmingham launch of stand-up/video comedy phenomenon Popcorn Comedy:

featuring the rap/stand up stylings of Doc Brown and the wonderful Holly Walsh live on stage, as well as a selection of the newest and funniest videos from the web in glorious high resolution

It’s part of the Birmingham Comedy Festival (which is currently ongoing) as well as being sponsored by Hello Digital.

Tickets are £6, get them from the Electric Cinema website or, more realistically given the time, on the door. I’ll be going along, maybe see you there.

There’s a little more info on Dice Productions’ blog – they’re organising things and will be premiering their new video.

Broad Street vs. Birmingham’s Cultural Heritage

Adrienne — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:51:42 +0000

The lovely Ben Whitehouse made an excellent point on Twitter this evening – we spend time celebrating the various celebrities of Birmingham, but there are some terrible glaring omissions too.

On the top of Ben’s list (by default, she’s the easiest to make a case for..) is Dame Barbara Cartland – BORN IN EDGBASTON! Other missing talent includes: David Lodge, John Wyndham, Barbara Cartland, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Sir Barry Jackson, Arthur Conan Doyle. Admittedly, Dexy’s strikes me as the odd one out in that list – but even so, it’d make for an eclectic alternative ‘walk of fame‘ instead of the obvious Ozzy Osbourne and Frank Skinner.

If you were to add anyone to the walk, who would it be and why?

And if you were to create a more ‘cultural’ walk, where would you put it and why?

Gallery 37 Arts Project Showcase

Adrienne — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:25:00 +0000

This Friday will see the culmination of three weeks’ creative activity by forty apprentice artists in Birmingham, as Gallery 37 hosts an arts showcase at Pavilions Shopping Centre.

Now in its eleventh year, Gallery 37, the award winning Birmingham City Council backed arts training programme, offers young people from Birmingham aged between 16 and 24 years the chance to discover and develop their creative talents and interests.

Sponsored and hosted by Pavilions Birmingham, this year’s students have been working alongside professional artists in collaboration with four of the city’s leading cultural organisations: The Birmingham REP, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and Sampad (South Asian Arts).

From 4.00-5.30pm, the finished artwork will be displayed at the project’s city centre hub, Pavilions, at Moor Street level.

The Deputy Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Councillor Chauhdry Rashid will be attending, and Gallery 37 artists will deliver speeches and take part in performances.

There will be an opportunity to see a live performance from The REP, ‘The Way Back’, a vibrant new piece of children’s theatre devised entirely by the Apprentice Artists telling the story of three young people setting out on an adventure.

Performances staged in collaboration with Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and Sampad will also be screened at the Showcase. Visual art inspired by the work of artists in Ikon Gallery’s current programme, including Carmen Herrera and Birmingham based artists Simon and Tom Bloor will also be on display in a window installation at the Gallery 37 hub.

Continuing their support of the arts, Pavilions have sponsored a celebratory meal and will display the work as a lasting legacy of the project for shoppers to enjoy.

Inspiration Bank: museums meet technology take two!

Adrienne — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:21:17 +0000

Following on from my previous post, I was alerted to another site focusing on the digitisation of collections, offering similar functions to the Pre Raphaelites site, but covering a greater range of collections.

Inspiration Bank showcases rarely seen artworks and decorative objects from Midlands-based gallery, museum and library archives – currently including Birmingham Central Library, New Art Gallery Walsall, the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery and Wolverhampton Arts and Museums Service. The easy-to-use site contains over 5,000 zoomable images, including artworks by Van Gogh, Lowry and Epstein, glazed ceramics from the heart of the potteries and locally produced objects from the time of the Industrial Revolution. If you follow the links above, you’ll see that not all of these destinations have their own dedicated site, and so it seems even more important and exciting that Inspiration Bank exists to unlock some of their hidden treasures!

Whilst use of the site is completely free, you do need to register with them in order to collect and comment on your favourite zoomable images using an online album. Schools and colleges interested in discussing how they could make the most out of the site within the classroom should contact Inspiration Bank manager David Allen at info@inspirationbank.com or 0121 204 9886.

Inspiration Bank was built by and is managed by Birmingham City University’s Media Content Lab, who do lots more interesting projects besides – so go have a browse of their site!

Moseley Festival 2009 – doing it for the love!

Adrienne — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:11:56 +0000

I’m a sucker for anything that is done, simply because. Not for money, not for social status, not out of obligation – but just through the love of whatever it is that you do. And Moseley Festival strikes me as one of those things.

Moseley Festival 2008 at the Patrick Kavanagh

Happening annually for over 30 years, organised entirely by volunteers from Moseley, this year’s festival has the biggest line-up to date featuring over 80 creative and community events in more than 50 locations happening between 26 June and 5 July 2009. That’s a pretty packed line-up in a short space of time, so to make sure you don’t miss out on anything that particularly tickles your fancy make sure to visit the festival site which has all the latest news and details on all the events. With a line-up that includes (but is certainly not limited to) Morris Dancing, jazz improvisation, burlesque, farmers markets, open gardens, Rocky Horror, Handel, and an art trail, you’re going to need to be quick on your feet if you want to see even half of what’s on offer!

Live music at the Fighting Cocks 2008

Moseley Festival street fair 2008

Visual / Art of Ideas II – 30 June to 12 July, 2009

Adrienne — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:25:08 +0000

I was already aware of the extensive work of Arts & Business, an organisation determined to foster innovative partnerships between businesses and the arts – but had somehow managed to remain oblivious to the existence of their Visual arm. With the imminent launch of an exhibition of works curated by Stephen Snoddy, director of The New Art Gallery, Walsall, this has all changed and I’m finding myself excited and curious about the schedule of events which run concurrent to the exhibition, as part of the Art of Ideas II programme.

Running from 30th June until 12th July, Snoddy has selected work from the Visual collection, taking nature as his theme. The exhibition, held at Baskerville House, will feature works by a variety of artists including: Daniel Bosworth, Ian Bratley, Louise Cattrell, previous Ikon exhibitor Ravi Deepres, Anne Guest, the craft-tastic Betty Pepper, and award-winning Birmingham-based photographer Stuart Whipps.

The Art of Ideas II brings a second year of high profile debates to Birmingham audiences, endeavouring to instigate lively debate around the ‘Art of Collecting’ as well as the relationship between museums and collections in the UK. You might wonder why this is currently so relevant to Birmingham, but with the Ikon gallery in the midst of a feasibility study (in association with Tate Connects) focusing on a proposed museum and permanent collection of contemporary art in Birmingham, it seems exactly the right time to be holding such discussions. If this subject tickles your fancy, the free discussion, ‘A New Museum for the 21st Century’ will be happening on 8th July from 18:00 – 19:30 at Baskerville House. I’ll be keen to see whether anyone dare broach the subject of the current economic climate and it’s impact upon collecting!

A wide variety of other free events are happening over the course of the programme, which include tours of the city’s cultural destinations, family fun days and other social events which celebrate the creative industries in Birmingham. Hooray for summer fun – July looks set to be a lot busier than June, and I’ll be featuring many of these events on CiB! Full details can be found on the Art of Ideas II site – although please note that many of these events are run by other organisations and you may need to book places.

BAF: British Artists Football

Kate Spragg — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:48:05 +0000

You don’t get to see teams of artists pitted against each other on the football pitch often, but if you have nothing planned this Saturday, go and cheer on four of Brum’s best teams at the British Artists Football Tournament.

The teams battling it out for the typically bespoke trophies are from throughout the U: AC Tortured Birmingham / Dynamo Artists Birmingham / Eastside Projects / Liverpool Relational Athletics/ Real Worcester / Bristol /Stoke Airspace Gallery / Lokomotiv Yorkshire / Jibbering.

Tournament: Saturday May 23rd 1.00pm – 6.00pm (draw takes place at 12.00) Aston Powerleague (just off the M6; 5 minutes from Birmingham New Street by train).

Post Tournament Awards ceremony: 8.00pm onwards The Lamp Tavern (10 minute walk from New Street Station).

Music Is Not Pollution

Kate Spragg — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:46:37 +0000

Newbie CiB contributor Rich Batsford has pointed me in the direction of a short documentary detailing ‘the shocking way that Birmingham’s vibrant culture is being degraded by the complaints of a vocal minority, poor regulation and lack of awareness’.

The film comes out of a number of recent issues where venues key to the Birmingham music scene have been faced with difficulties amounting to eventual closure due to complaints of a very small minority of people and alleged behaviour by the Council and Property Developers which leaves much to be desired.

In response, Project X have produced this short film to highlight some of the issues and hopefully stir up some action:

Mudlark – making life playable

Kate Spragg — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:51:59 +0000

Some fellas named Mudlark have been in touch, a cross-platform company who have recently moved into Fazeley Studios in Digbeth from my hometown of Tamworth. I didn’t know anything about the company but from the projects outlined on their bright and breezy website I recognise some past projects. Notably, ‘Love City’ – an SMS mobile phone and web game played over several different locations, bringing players together through sending messages of love.

The aim of the game is to move about in the real world to locations that are mapped onto the game world of Love City. Players score points by sending messages to players who share locations with them in the game world. The game was originally launched across 3 cities (Nottingham, Leicester and Derby) on Valentines Day 2007.

Mudlark are currently developing ‘Chromaroma’ a project backed by the 4IP fund and Screen West Midlands. The website describes it as ‘a pervasive online game played in the real world’. It uses smart cards and urban mass transit systems as a currency and environment to allow people to play as they commute, travel and move around their urban environments.

This is one of the most exciting companies I have seen in a long time, who seem to be successfully combining a games company, a TV company and a web company. The website is clean, crisp and outlines what they do without all of the usual alienating mumbo-jumbo speak. They will be getting together with an invited a group of people who are also developing new practices, projects and ideas on a similar ethos on Friday 22nd, and hopefully will be posting any interesting outcomes onto their website.

Advertise on Created in Birmingham

Kate Spragg — Sun, 10 May 2009 19:28:33 +0000

As of this month Created in Birmingham is no longer funded by Creative Republic, this is because the blog has achieved its original objectives, and along the way become a great resource for the creative and cultural sector in Birmingham.

This now means that CiB needs to become self sustainable, and to do this needs to call upon all of those organisations, companies, galleries, theatres, festivals and individuals who have benefited from CiB in the past to invest in the future of the website by advertising.

So, why advertise?

Created in Birmingham reaches approx. 20,0000 visitors a month, which means you could reach that amount of people, letting them know about your services, exhibition, event or anything you want to tell people about.

Unlike most other websites, CiB is dedicated to a particular sector – creative and cultural, which means the audience or potential customers you are trying to reach are right here. It is also dedicated to a particular place – Birmingham, but is not only read by people from the West Midlands, but worldwide.

How much does it cost?

2 week advertising spot: £75.00
4 week advertising spot: £140.00

2 week advertising spot for charities or companies under 6 months old: £50.00
4 week advertising spot for charities or companies under 6 months old: £90.00

Adverts will be a 125pxl x 125pxl image, which will link to your website. At the end of your advertising period I can give you the number of times your advert was clicked on.

Payment options:

Pay via Paypal – to email address: Createdinbirmingham [at] gmail.com
Pay via invoice – please provide full details via email and you will be invoiced on the first day of advertising.

Advertising rates are negotiable.

Email – Createdinbirmingham [at] gmail.com

JEE Camp by Kasper Sorensen

Kasper Sorensen — Sun, 10 May 2009 18:24:45 +0000

JEEcamp, an unconference about the future of journalism took place Friday, May 8th at The Bond in Digbeth. The event, organised by Paul Bradshaw, saw a group of 85 journalists and media producers getting together to discuss the current state of the industry and, how to make money from journalism.

JEECamp: Speed – dating by These Digital Times

The entrepreneurial spirit was high at this years JEEcamp, unlike last years event where people were still holding on to their jobs, it was clear that this year was all about looking forward. Kyle MacRae kicked off with the only formal presentation (followed by an interesting Q&A session) of the day, about the rise and fall of Scoopt.com – a venture, trading photos with big media companies on behalf citizen journalists. Kyle and his wife ran the company for a couple of years before selling it to Getty Images, who eventually shut it down a few months ago.

One of the main topics of the day, that kept coming up, was the power of hyper-local journalism. James Hatts, editor of London-SE1, see a future of one or two person publications and stressed the importance of having people on the ground, as opposed to sitting behind a desk. SoGlos.com, a local online magazine covering the area of Gloucestershire, was presented by the co-founder James Fryer. He explained how they make hyper-local work by focusing on high quality content, and something as old-fashioned as email newsletters.

(...)
Read the rest of JEE Camp by Kasper Sorensen (286 words)

Brum will appear on Windows 7

Kate Spragg — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:05:06 +0000

A photograph of the Selfridges building (or alternatively, a darlek’s left arse cheek) is going to appear as a choice of desktop wallpaper on Microsoft Windows 7.

Ignoring those of you with fancy Macs, I don’t know how many people actually use the preloaded wallpapers on PC’s, but having an image of Birmingham’s most recognisable building next to the likes of the Guggenheim Museum to choose from can’t be bad. Download here. (Hat tip to D’log)

Kids in Museums

Kate Spragg — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 07:15:10 +0000

The lovely folks at London based charity Kids in Museums are looking for a volunteer to launch and maintain its Flickr site.

Kids in Museums came about when in 2003 Guardian writer Dea Birkett’s young son was thrown out of the Royal Academy for being too noisy, Kids in Museums now leads in promoting family-friendly policies and attitudes throughout Britain.

The charity have put together a Museums and Galleries Manifesto, which is really interesting reading for anyone who works with families in the arts. They also give out the annual Guardian’s Family Friendly Museum Award, which their website says has been an incredibly successful way of encouraging and guiding museums and galleries across the country to make family visits engaging and enjoyable.

I should imagine that the volunteer post can be done remotely and would be a good opportunity to work with a well connected, worthwhile London based charity. Candidates should be familiar with Flickr and, preferably, other appropriate social media sites. Interested? Please email: getintouch[at]kidsinmuseums.org.uk

Lauren Laverne comes to Brum

Kate Spragg — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 10:16:31 +0000

Last month an unlikely collection of street artists gathered in Shenley, Birmingham, joined by senior citizens and BBC2’s ‘The Culture Show’ presenter, Lauren Laverne, to create a giant mural. The mural will be a permanent “thank you” to Lottery players, who in just one year alone, invested over £235million to help fund Good Causes projects across the Midlands.

The artists are all members of the Arts 50 Alive Network. This Lottery-funded project works across the most deprived areas of the Midlands to integrate young and old through art. Working together allows the groups to find common ground and helps break down negative social stereotypes that can otherwise cause animosity and fear between the age groups.

Big City Plan Digital Challenge

Kate Spragg — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 23:08:03 +0000

Birmingham City Council’s Big City Plan is looking for imaginative photographs and films showing how you think Birmingham should develop over the next twenty years.

In the spirit of this user generated content age it doesn’t matter if you use your mobile phone or the latest camera technology. Entries will only be accepted from amateur photographers/filmmakers though, which does make you wonder how amateurs would have access to the latest camera technology?

Perhaps you feel Birmingham would benefit from greener areas or maybe you have an idea about how public transport could improve. Your vision could be for the whole city, or your local area.

Competition Categories

Competition Rules

The closing date for this competition is 20 April 2009.

Links for 14th March

Kate Spragg — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:09:49 +0000

Screen West Midlands and Film Birmingham bring BBC’s Survivors to Brum

Screen WM is proud to announce that the West Midlands, through Screen WM and Film Birmingham support has secured the relocation of the major BBC TV drama series, Survivors to Birmingham.

Council leader offers creative alternative to dwindling city.

After a string of high street closures by Wolverhampton retailers last week, City Council leader Neville Patten suggests revitalising the city centre by using the empty units as an extension to art galleries or opening them up to community groups. Good on ya, now lets see it happen.

Antonio Gould & Nickleodeon

Antonio Gould is a social media creative type who has just signed up for a three month production contract with Nickelodeon and will be developing lots of interesting digital stuff for kids. Hopefully he will be documenting his ideas in his insightful blog.

Boogie Nights audition call

The Crescent Theatre in Brindleyplace is on the hunt for males of all ages to come and show off their talents as the theatre prepares for this year’s musical production of Boogie Nights.

Fused Magazine take the best of the WM to SXSW

Fused Magazine have gone off to Austin, Texas to show the US just what the West Mids are made of. They have produced a CD of music from the hottest bands currently emerging from the region. The CD has been produced to give to music company execs, PR’s and Pluggers from the world’s biggest and best labels. They have kindly left it behind for us all to give a listen.

Flatpack Festival installation trail

Kate Spragg — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:07:15 +0000

Last Thursday I joined a rowdy bunch of art buffs, film lovers and the Flatpack devotees on the Flatpack Festival installation trail. The trail started at 5.30pm at Urban Outfitters with an introduction from Flatpack director Pip and representatives from the Universities involved in the project. The festival starts tomorrow with ‘Curzonora’ at Town Hall, and the trail runs until 15 March.

The quality of the student work produced went beyond my expectations, which shows when students are given the opportunity to show work outside of University buildings and away from cosy degree shows things can get very exciting for both artist and art lover. I know when I was on a Fine Art degree course I thrived on finding unusal sites to exhibit my work and my practice was all the better for it.

I think it is easy to underestimate how much it means to students when they get asked to participate is such projects and how much they can get out of it. I commend Ian and Pip at Flatpack, and the Universities for taking the time to put this together as I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Following on with my latest obsession with maps, I have put together the installation trail as a Google map with photographs and links to videos I took of the artists introducing the work on the launch night:

View Larger Map

Artsfest themes announced

Kate Spragg — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:00:06 +0000

The theme for ArtsFest 2009 has been announced and is: Anniversaries and Celebrations. The festival will recognise major anniversaries taking place this year such as:

The bicentenary of the death of Matthew Boulton.
The bicentenary of birth of William Penny Brookes.
The bicentenary of birth of Charles Darwin.
The 50th anniversary of the Mini
The 50th anniversary of Motown.
The 50th anniversary of Barbie.

These big anniversaries link in with other recent arts exhibitions Dreams of Science: The Life of Charles Darwin in the Russian Imagination at Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Story of The Supremes at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. If you can think of any more big anniversaries or celebrations please comment.

Flatpack shop window trail

Kate Spragg — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:43:02 +0000

Something strange is happening in the city. Shop window sale signs appear to have been mysteriously replaced with intriguing footage and tributes to long forgotten figures.

All will be explained on Thursday evening’s launch of the shop-window installation trail from Flatpack Festival. The Trail starts at Urban Outfitters [map] from 5.30pm. A tour will take the party around the shop locations on the night, ending at COW Vintage in Digbeth around 8pm. Tessa Burwood’s has written more about the trail for the BBC website.

Fazeley Studio Launch

Kate Spragg — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:11:10 +0000

Many apologies for the lack of posts the last week, with this and that happening I haven’t been able to bring you as many posts as I would have like to, normal blogging service shall be restored from herein.

One great thing I missed out on last Friday was the launch of Fazeley Studios in Digbeth. I have gathered together photos, reviews and anecdotes for the pleasure of both you and I to enjoy. As far as I can tell the night was filled with live music, art, a fashion show and lots of booze.

by oneblackbear

From Bham post:

Developed by Lucan Gray, son of Custard Factory owner Bennie Gray, Fazeley Studios, in Digbeth, is a 1.25 acre collection of magnificent but previously derelict listed buildings fronting Fazeley Street which have been restored to form 44 studio offices for creative and digital businesses.

“They [digital industries] are great success stories for the city at an extremely challenging time, so it is important that we can provide them with the kind of space and support that they need in order to grow.”

we make art

by we make art

“The Studios are beautiful and it is starting to become a hub for creativity, which in our minds is a about time. The people behind Fazeley Studios have obviously recognised that creative people don’t always want to work in damp and dirty places such as the Custard Factory and clients want to visit clean and well-presented studios. Long live this new era of creativity in Brum.”

The Destroyers tear up the Fazeley Studios launch from DoP Diaries

More nice things to look at:

Who is based at Fazeley Studios?

Adhere Advertising company blog

Chris Unitt has just moved in…

…with design company substrakt

Meshed Media

Oscar-nominated film director Mike Figgis to speak at Boilerhouse Voices

Kate Spragg — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:08:28 +0000

Twice Oscar-nominated film director Mike Figgis will be coming to Birmingham on 12 March as the latest speaker in the Boilerhouse Voices series of events staged by Jewellery Quarter based communications consultancy Boilerhouse. Figgis will address an invited audience of Boilerhouse guests, but a limited number of tickets will be available to creative industries professionals on an application basis.

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.

Half term creativity

Kate Spragg — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 02:15:40 +0000

Many of the local galleries and museums have fun and creative activities for the kids on half term this week:

Half Term Family Workshops
Following a special gallery tour, families will use a variety of media to creatively explore the themes and ideas within the current exhibitions.
17, 19 February 2 – 4pm
Ikon Gallery
Free – to book call 0121 248 0708.

Science Spectacular
Drop in during half term to trap silly specimens in jars, cast ancient dinosaur teeth, create your very own planet and much more!
16 Feb – 20 Feb 11am – 1pm
Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Free

Gigglefest!
Gagsters, comics, pranksters and clowns will be performing as well as the opportunity for budding young jokers to learn some tricks of the comedy trade.
All week.
Central Library.
Free

Created in Birmingham design competition

Kate Spragg — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:57:40 +0000

A few weeks ago I set out an idea for a CiB charity project involving a design competition resulting in the production of a limited edition CiB t-shirt which will raise money for a Birmingham based charity. Now, two weeks on, I have done a bit of research, taken on-board all of your suggestions and found lots of helpful people who would like to get involved.

We have decided to money raised will go to a popular choice for a Birmingham based charity: Acorns Children’s Hospice.

This is the first call for submissions and here is how it will work:

Anyone can submit a design entry to the competition, as long as you follow the specifications needed for printing.
From the entries 20 final designs will be chosen and made into 50 limited edition pin badge sets.
One final design will be chosen and will be made into 50 limited edition t-shirts and 50 limited edition canvas bags.
All items will be lovingly screenprinted by hand and sold online by Cut – Out, a fantasic DIY print company based in the West Midlands. All items will be printed with eco friendly inks and on top quality Earth Positive apparel.

The brief:

We want to make a t-shirt that people will really want to wear, so the brief is very loose. The emphasis here is celebrating creative talent in Birmingham and raising some money in the process. You could design something which reflects the creativity of the city, or just your own style, it’s up to you!

Submission guidelines:

The design should work using one colour, if the image is a photograph it needs to be converted to half tone.
The design you submit needs to be 300 dpi (usual print quality).
The design should be no bigger than A3 in size.

Deadline: Friday 6th March 5pm. Send your design as a PDF or JPG file to Createdinbirmingham[at]gmail.com, and hang on to your originals.

Birmingham Twestival

Kate Spragg — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:12:54 +0000

Last night was Birmingham Twestival, a gathering of Birmingham Twitter users. The evening was a delightful mix of games, prizes and squinting at name tags, all in the name of charity. Birmingham joined over 175 countries in hosting a event to raise money and awareness for charity: water.

Photo by Lee Allen

I had a lovely time, mostly trying to spot my twitter friends from either their name tags or avatars, I even won a raffle prize – $200 of hosting vouchers! I asked the Birmingham tweeple to tweet a review:

If you need to remember the names of your new friends you made last night, a list of the attendees was posted on the blog today. Photographer Lee Allen (@photosbylee) took some great photos, you can see them on Flickr.

When I get word of how much was raised I will post it. Thanks to all the organisers for doing such a brilliant job.

Links for February 11th

Kate Spragg — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 23:23:58 +0000

Creatives are invited to comment on the Big City Plan
Following the cancellation of the Big City Plan workshop, Creative Republic have rescheduled the event for 6pm on Wednesday 11th February. The format remains the same with the event featuring a presentation on the Big City Plan with a discussion afterwards that will be written up as a formal submission to the consultation process.
Kate Beatty – new website
Kate is a photographer based at Fazeley Studios, Digbeth who’s impressive portfolio and client list can been seen on her brand spanking new website, designed by Substrakt. The site is clean and functional and is home to the beginnings of a passionately written personal blog.
Last exhibition at Jibbering Records
The last exhibition at Jibbering Records, Moseley will be The Shapes of Things to Come…..and Have Been,
an exhibition of original artwork exploring the philosophy of interconnectedness by James Dawson. Jibbering Records will close its doors for the last time on Saturday 21st February and will be sadly missed by many people, it has been a hub of creative activity for many years.
Arts Assembly
Arts Assembly is a non-profit making organisation based in Warwickshire. They are hosting their next group exhibition at the Vaad Gallery, The Custard Factory, March 6th, 7th and 8th. The preview night is on Friday 6th with the usual free drinks to quaff.
Audiences Central job vacancy
Audiences Central is the audience development agency for the West Midlands and they are currently looking for a Data Inputting Administrator.

Links for February 6th

Kate Spragg — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:49:44 +0000

Birmingham: British rock’s forgotten city?
Louis Pattison at The Guardian Music blog chews the fat over the city’s musical heritage and starts debate a plenty with statements like ‘Birmingham, however, is not a music city’, and comparing Brum to the swaggering ‘Madchester’.
D’log – Handsworth Songs
The excellent 60-minute film Handsworth Songs (John Akomfrah & Black Audio Film Collective; 1986) is now available on YouTube, taken from an old VHS tape of a Channel 4 broadcast in the late 1980s.
Vivid – Pioneers Series
VIVID’s Pioneers series continues in February with two exciting programmes, Inspirations and Figuring Landscapes. Inspirations + special screening programme presented by Malcolm Le Grice Sat 07 Feb 2009.
Bloggers love snow
Matt Murtagh’s photographs of an eerie winter wonderland. Parboo’s snaps of Mac, kebablog’s obligatory snow post and finally snowc*ckhunt, snowy adventures of the … erm, phallic kind.
Birmingham Twitter Flash Mob
Simply a flash mob of Twitterers in Birmingham City Centre. At midday, the mob will stand still for two or three minutes, and produce signs saying “I’m a twitterer”, “Twitter rocks”, “tweet tweet”, you get the idea.

Opportunity from Hamfisted

Kate Spragg — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:47:55 +0000

HamFisted! is a Birmingham-based, experimental arts company that produces live theatre, interactive interventions and visual arts projects, in conventional and unconventional spaces, in professional and community contexts, all with the aim of putting smiles on people’s faces.

HamFisted! has an opportunity for visual artists to work in primary schools and children’s centres. The day-long workshops will take place in schools in the Aston, Lozells and Newtown area of Birmingham between Tuesday24th February and Monday 9th March.

During the workshops the techniques used will be screen printing and collage. They will be creating a large aspirational image based on the children’s ideas. The fee for this work will be £1,000.

Interested? Email Johnny O’Hanlon: headquarters@hamfisted.org.uk using Aston Project in the subject line.

Links for February 1st

Kate Spragg — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 20:52:55 +0000

Snow in B29.
The Flickr group: B29 will be tracking and rating the incoming snow via twitter over the next week, and gathering any photographs taken within the postcode.
Desk space for rent at the Fierce Earth office.
The Fierce Earth office have a desk for rent in a prime city centre location for a bargain £200 a month (plus VAT). For more details visit the site or contact Helga at helga@fierceearth.com or call 0121 244 8080.
Zhang Enli in Conversation at Ikon.
On Monday 2 February, artist Zhang Enli will discuss his work and forthcoming exhibition at Ikon which opens on Wednesday 4th. The event takes place in the Lecture Theatre at the School of Art, Birmingham City University, 6.30pm – 8pm. Places are free but should be reserved by calling Ikon on 0121 248 0708.
Gane vs Iddon at Three White Walls Gallery.
An exhibition of works from landscape photographers Jo Gane and Henry Iddon. The exhibition explores the photographic relationship with the night, where long exposures offer a view of the landscape unseen by the human eye. Runs until 2nd March.
Home of Metal open day.
The third open day is being held on Saturday 7th February at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery 11am – 4.00pm. Fans are encouraged to bring memorabilia along with their personal stories to the gallery to be recorded – all of which will go towards the new digital archive, which aims to tell the true story of the birth place of metal. – Think antiques roadshow for Metal fans!