Created in Birmingham

For those that are into these kind of things, you can now add Created in Birmingham to your Circles on Google+.

If you’ve no idea what Google+ is then I really wouldn’t worry about it if I were you.

Incidentally, now’s probably a good time to remind you that if you want to follow the entirety of Created in Birmingham then:

• createdinbirmingham.com is still the main place to get everything
• You can Like the Facebook Page
• You can follow the Twitter account
• There’s a Delicious account where all the links for the Friday link round-ups are collected together
• There’s a Created in Birmingham Tumblr too, where I tend to quickly post or reblog flyers, posters, videos and photos – it’s a more visual thing

This week and next there’ll be a new contributor on CiB. Ahmed Ahmed won B-Hive 2011′s Digital category and so, lucky guy that he is, he’s now doing a placement with me at Made Media. Ahmed’s also the guy behind the Dine Birmingham blog, in case you’ve come across that.

I thought looking after this site would be a useful experience for him, so I’m handing over the reins for a bit. Please say hello, comment on his posts and generally make him feel welcome.

A few weeks back we put a call out for guest posts. The response was really very decent, so we’ve decided that, other than some link and job round-ups, over the next few weeks we’re pretty much going to hand the site over to our esteemed guests with a post (roughly) every other day. Please make them feel welcome.

If you fancy getting involved and want to suggest something to post then it’s not too late. See the details on the earlier post.

New for 2011, Created in Birmingham is now tumbling away. This is our attempt to start up some form of flyer wall, to try and feature all the things we don’t have time to write a full post about.

We’ll be posting flyers, videos, and general Tumblr friendly bits and pieces we come across, in handy bite size chunks.

You can find and follow us at createdinbrum.tumblr.com

We’re taking a bit of a break here but CiB will return in the new year. In the meantime, I’ll be posting a few ‘year in review’ things to remind you that 2010 was alright really, and that all the talk of (and worrying over) money over recent months shouldn’t detract from some great art, work and artworks.

Meanwhile, just to show how 2010 looked on Created in Birmingham, we published 649 blog posts and attracted 578 comments, garnering 222,264 pageviews from 81,937 unique (like snowflakes) visitors. There was also 1 shop that took £45,000, with most of that money going to the artists themselves.

Over the past 12 months we’ve also had 40 CiB supporters and a handful of advertisers – a big thank you goes out to them for helping us to keep the site going.

These were the 10 most popular posts published this year:

1. Apache Indian has his own bar
2. Recommended BCC arts cuts (possibly)
3. CiB Shop – The End Game
4. Coming (very) soon – the CiB Shop
5. CiB Shop – here’s how you can get involved
6. CiB Shop – an invitation
7. Birmingham arts and arts grant budgets for 2011/12
8. Factory Club closing down
9. The HMV Institute
10. The Radar Magazine

I’m not really one for doing ‘best of’s but (off the top of my head) it was good to see the MAC reopening, I liked the Steve McCurry retrospective at BMAG and Len Lye at Ikon (which is still on), Birmingham European Theatre Festival was fun and I enjoyed a load of things at International Dance Festival Birmingham.

Odd but great moments included ‘sleeping’ on stage during Stan’s Cafe‘s Tuning Out with Radio Z (which I’ve written about here) and, of course, That Shop.

There was plenty more besides and far too many things I wish I’d seen but didn’t. I suppose I’ll just have to try to see more next year.

Four years ago today Pete posted an interview with Rob Youngson (the full text of which has since disappeared). 2,659 posts, a hatful of contributors, 3,799 comments and a couple of awards later and here we are.

Obligatory shot of celebratory macaroons:

If CiB was a child it would be able to:

• use a spoon, fork and dinner knife skilfully
• hop on one foot
• enjoy singing simple songs, rhymes and nonsense words
• understand and obey simple rules (most of the time)
• learn names, addresses and phone numbers if taught
• persistently ask ‘why?’

Bit late on this one, but I’d like to send some sincere thanks to the new CiB Supporters who are helping to keep this website going (and the shop, for that matter):

• Bareface Media

As well as helping to support us, those people are also taking advantage of one of the cheapest advertising deals in town. If you want to do likewise then go to this page for details.

Before this month runs any further away from us, many many thanks to the CiB Supporters who are helping to keep this site (and the shop, for that matter) going. Last month we gained:

• Edward Moss Photography

As a heads-up to our supporters, we’ll soon be adding your logos and names to a board in the Created in Birmingham shop, just by way of an added ‘thank you’.

Want in? There’s info on how to become a CiB Supporter here.

A couple of eagle-eyed people noticed that the design of the CiB Twitter page changed a week or two back. Now the main site proper has been given a going over.

Thanks to the folks at Substrakt for doing this, especially Claire and Ryan who put in the most hours.

This is the fourth change of clothes Created in Birmingham has had. For a trip down memory lane (courtesy of the Wayback Machine), here’s a reminder for long-time readers of how the site looked back when it first started:

You may have noticed a strange and unfamiliar name on your Created in Birmingham posts in recent weeks, so I think it’s about time I emerged from the shadows and said hello…

Hi! I’m Ian Ravenscroft and I’ve joined the CiB team to (hopefully) continue the blog’s sterling work in unearthing Birmingham’s artistic and creative gems.

I was created in Birmingham myself, I’m a former journalist, and I’m now a producer at Meshed Media working with current CiB editor Chris Unitt. I’m also a writer with comedy and animation collective Dice Productions and had a hand in founding and running Film Forum West Midlands too.

That’s me. So, if you see me out and about, do say hello. Or if you have any news, events, places or people you’d like to highlight on CiB, remember to be in touch!

Thanks very much to the following who chipped in to help keep Created in Birmingham trundling along in December 09.

New (in fact the first) CiB Supporters:

• Supercool
• Substrakt
• Images of Birmingham
• Burnt Pixel
• Rewired PR
• Kings Heath Centre Partnership
• Elizabeth and Paul
• Surely?
• Cycle 4 U
• Mubu
• Theatricalia
• Indigo
• Made
• S&X Media
• Empty Creative
• The Other Way Works

Thanks too, to ladyandsmall for designing/making our special Christmas cards.

Knowing Me, Knowing You

Big thanks to Capsule for co-hosting with us, Jon Bounds for compering, VIVID for the space and everyone who took part for, well, taking part.

Kings Heath Big Party

Thanks to the Kings Heath Centre Partnership for having us and Sarah Allen for her excellent organisational skills. Also, ta to VIVID and Fazeley Studios for lending tea urns.

I’ve got a few things in the pipeline for Created in Birmingham:

• A new theme
• Closer ties with Jobplot (for jobs) and Live Brum and Art Brum (for listings)
• Better Facebook/Twitter integration
• More CiB Projects
• A new writer who’ll be unveiled shortly

The CiB Supporters thing has got off to a good start and I’ll be looking for even more ways to thank/reward folks who sign up for that.

Other things under consideration – I’m thinking about launching the mailing list but am looking for the best way of doing it. A shop’s looking likely too. I’d like to start doing interviews but haven’t really had the time so far. I really like the idea of doing a one-off (for starters) magazine – I’ve got my eye on what the folks at Newspaper Club are building.

Is there anything you’d like to see us do?

Today’s the last day to become a CiB Supporter for a bargain £50 instead of the usual £75.

Sign up here now

The offer was meant to end yesterday, but I’m going to extend it until midnight tonight (or whatever time I wake up and flip the switch tomorrow morning).

Thanks to everyone who’s signed up so far. You’ll be pleased to know the special Christmas cards (designed by band new crafty duo Lady and Small) are being delivered today, so you’ll get them sometime next week.

There seem to be two reasons people are signing up:

1. As far as advertising goes it’s ridiculously cheap (see details of the offer here)
2. People seem to like CiB and want to ensure that it can carry on

Please note – this offer is for online sign-ups only. If you can’t pay online and need invoicing then I can do that but it’ll have to be for the full £75.

Two more notes:

1. You don’t have to be a ‘creative’ person, organisation or whatever to sign-up – anyone’s welcome
2. If you’ve got nothing to advertise but want to support anyway (as a couple of people have done) then you can use this banner (right click-save as) and this link – http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/cib-supporters/support-cib/ – when you’re asked for them

Hip hip… hooray!

Yep, on 1 December 2006 Pete Ashton posted an interview with Rob Youngson, little suspecting (presumably) what the website would become.

We’re not having a party (actually tonight we’ll be out celebrating Capsule’s 10th birthday) but if you can make it down, please say hello at the Kings Heath Big Party on Saturday where CiB will be running the mulled wine stall from about 10am-6pm.

Here’s to another few years, eh?

Starting today there’s a new way to support Created in Birmingham and help make it sustainable.

It’s called CiB Supporters, costs £75 for 1 year and you can sign up here now.

But wait, there’s an introductory offer!

Oh yes indeedy. Until 10 December (or the first 50 takers, whichever comes first) you can sign up for just £50! Bearing in mind it costs £50 to advertise on the site for a week, that’s dirt cheap. (NB – The offer is only open to online sign-ups – if you need invoicing it’ll cost the full £75. Email us here for that).

In return, you get:

• Your advert/logo (125×125 pixel block) shown on rotation in CiB’s sidebar and linking to your website
• Your advert/logo shown on the CiB Supporters page and linking to your website
• A mention in that month’s ‘Thank You’ post
• Listing on the Supporters tab on the CiB Facebook Page
• Your Twitter name (if you have one) in the CiB Supporters List
• A specially commissioned Christmas card (if you’re a supporter prior to 10 December and you provide your address)

In addition you’ll be helping to make Created in Birmingham sustainable and (although it shouldn’t need saying) you’ll have our thanks too. In fact, we’ll try and find extra ways to thank our supporters over the year.

Please note, if you want to change your advert/logo over the course of the year it’ll cost an extra £15 per change.

We’ve already had a few takers which is superb (and means we’re definitely sending some Christmas cards). You can see those nice peoples in the sidebar on the right already.

I’ve taken the liberty of asking myself a few questions about this, in a contrived way of explaining things a little more. If you have any more questions then please drop me an email or leave a comment.

Why this approach?

We think £75 should put large and small organisations on a similar footing. From our point of view it’s a lot simpler to manage a programme like this than to run weekly advertising (although we’ll be doing that too). We’ve eschewed the option of means-related charging – partly because it’s trickier to administrate, partly because it’s nice how the CiB format treats small and large (roughly) the same.

Who is this aimed at?

CiB helps promote a lot of arts/cultural/etc organisations in the city – I’m hoping that they’ll chip in to help ensure that there’s an outlet for their work.

There’s also a lot of companies that I’m sure would love to market themselves to arts organisations and/or the sort of audience that Created in Birmingham attracts.

Finally, on a cost per impression basis, £75 is incredibly cheap – it’s sale of the century, folks!

What about other people who want to support the site in some way?

People are welcome to use a photo of themselves and link to, for instance, their Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn profiles. Otherwise, we’re looking at other ways for people to support the site – through the many and varied CiB Projects, for example.

Does being a CiB Supporter guarantee me editorial coverage?

Just the mention in the monthly ‘Thank You’ round-up.