Created in Birmingham

April was a busy month by the looks of things. The 4am Project took the opportunity of the fourth day of the fourth month to take an early morning photowalk, there was a look at what could be expected from the MAC reopening, International Dance Festival Birmingham got into gear and all sorts of events popped up in the CiB Shop.

The CiB Shop window was jazzed up with the help of Birmingham Royal Ballet, Art Detection Services set up their workshop in store and Shady Bird popped by to play a set. In other CiB news, CiBmail was launched.

The Rainbow announced their plans for developments and expansion both upstairs and below, we said goodbye to more independent record shops and sampad celebrated their 20th anniversary.

Trove showed some science, we had a nosey at CBSO’s summer programme and some behind the scenes footage from The Electric showed up.

Not My Type brought together “a veritable who’s who of Brum talent” (to quote myself) and, in other illustration-related news, the Love To Print crowd released Patterns #1.

Other things to look back on and go ‘oh yeah, I remember that’ include Such Tweet Sorrow, BAP’s document on Birmingham’s Creative Capital, the Big Culture Blog and a call for “more of the Simon Rattle effect”. Also, In Our Backyard looked interesting and Chris Bates made a video for Munchbreak’s Television:

Into March and while Capsule took Home of Metal to SXSW and Flatpack were readying another festival, Rhubarb Rhubarb opened the Rhubarb East Gallery

Pete took a break from the CiB Shop to give an update 2 weeks in, The Photography Collective formed and held their first meeting and We Are Eastside launched linking up Eastside’s creative organisations. Project Brutal was announced too.

The Bulls Head shared a few mixes from some of their guests and residents, Tindal Street released Alan Apperley’s Indeterminate Creatures, we had a look at As One’s work (as it seemed to be springing up all over the place) and Juice Aleem asked us to rock his hologram, with the video being filmed at Boxxed.

February started on a low note with news of funding cuts to the arts and culture sector. Boo.

British Dance Edition took over the city, the Custard Factory waved goodbye to the Factory Club, Fierce relaunched their Platinum scheme and I wrote a post that went on to be seen by HRH Charlie Windsor himself.

We announced how to get involved with the CiB shop and Film Dash 2010 happened. Birmingham made the shortlist for the 2013 City of Culture, the Ikon’s blackboard caught my eye and so did an ace homage to The Wire by a shop in Moseley.

Friction Arts presented their work in South Africa, the MAC’s return was announced, Dave Gaskarth got a nice profile in Creative Review and there was a lot of music-related chat going on.

We gave CiB a bit of TLC, with a make over and, near the end of the month and after a flurry of activity, the CiB shop opened, kicking off three months of madness.

(Photo by Katchooo)

In January this year we introduced and thanked the first few CiB Supporters.

Congratulations were given to Raphael Selbourne for winning the 2009 Costa First Novel Award and we came across The Music Quarter, a new music blog.

Hustle made the move to the Midlands, we had a giggle with Kipple and the Emerging Festivals Fund was announced, with some of the fruits of that being revealed towards the middle part of the year. Leftfoot started their 10th birthday celebrations and our most popular post of the year was published.

Ian joined the CiB team, we got the first glimpse of WeVee and plans were announced for the CiB shop

We also waved hello to Jane Anderson, Mark Wilkinson, Lucy Pryor, Phill Blake, Helen Flanagan, Sarah Lynch, Jade Sukiya, Jodi Ann Bickley, Leon Sparkes and Luke Halliley.

We also said farewell to Neil Farrington.

There’s a few interesting novelty things floating around courtesy of Birmingham’s finest creative minds, all in the festive spirit of course.

Boxer‘s Christmas video ‘Guess who’s coming to dinner‘ is definitely worthy of a mention. As well as being highly entertaining, it also comes with the challenge of a movie quiz.

383 Project have made Jumpify, which you can use with Facebook. Because of course everyone does love a cosy Christmas jumper.

Fullrange have made this amusing video for FleetMilne Residential.

Made Media have made brought the nativity to Twitter. Warning, highly distracting, if like me, you’re going to want to switch all the people around to make sure it features your favorite followers.

Supercool‘s Christmas card was a compelling read when it arrived on the CiB desk. They’ve redesigned the classic 12 days of Christmas.

Birmingham Royal Ballet have put together this bunch of Christmas wishes.

Are there anymore Christmas creations out there that we’ve missed and deserve a mention?

I’ve never witnessed a Twitpanto before, so I’m quite intrigued/ excited to see what goes down. This year’s production is ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’.

The star studded cast features plenty of familiar Brum tweeters, including a cameo from CiB’s Chris Unitt, who’ll be appearing as a member of ‘The Riot Police’.

The fun starts at 2pm this afternoon, and you can watch the whole thing online from the comfort of your home/ bed/ office. Perfect.

Ikon Eastside will be closing their doors for winter and bidding a ‘blonde farewell’ on 3 December.

Starting at 8pm, they’re inviting you to party with them into the evening, taking inspiration from their final exhibition of 2010, AVPD’s Hitchcock Hallway, with the optional dress code of a blonde or white wig.

Alfred Hitchcock is renowned for films featuring blonde leading women such as Grace Kelly, Kim Novak and Tippi Hedren. Music, light and atmosphere all play with notions of mistaken identity and voyeurism.

‘Changing Places, Changing Faces’ opens at Sauce Gallery‘s new residency in the Art Bar, on 5 November until 2 December, with a preview night on 4 November from 6pm – 9pm.

The exhibition will showcase a collection of large scale installations by Juice 126, Mac 1, Remi/ Rough, Sola and Zoot.

The artist will be transforming the Sauce Gallery from floor to ceiling, expect to see large scale installation work, in a range of disciplines from abstract to Dada, projection to animation, photorealism to light art.

There will also be a small selection of original works, limited edition prints and books by these artists available to buy along with an interactive area showing short films, pod casts and graphic animations.

Sauce Gallery is open Monday – Saturday from 10am – 6pm.

Rizla re-crafted is coming to Birmingham on 12 November, as part of their national competition to find the best remix of the Mystery Jets‘ next release, ‘Show Me The Light’.

UK garage scene legend, MJ Cole, will be dishing out inspiration by hosting a free interactive workshop on the art of the remix at the Hare & Hounds from 4 – 6pm.

Along with that, the Mystery Jets, plus Simian Mobile Disco, Friendly Fires, MJ Cole and Le Corps Mince de Francoise, will be performing and DJing live at the Rainbow Warehouse from 9.30pm – 5am. Tickets can be bought online or at Swordfish Records, Polar Bear Records and Zen.

The closing date for Rizla Re-crafted is 20 December, and will be judged by a panel including the Mystery Jets, and will win a Hercules RMX professional MP3 DJ mixer.

Registration for the workshop is supposedly at www.rizlarecrafted.co.uk – which doesn’t actually seem to exist, so if anyone can give an update on that, that would be much appreciated!

The Slavic Soul Feast is taking place on 23 October, organised by Polish Expats Association as a part of Black History Month.

This offers an opportunity to promote knowledge on the contribution made to society by Black people along with the distinctive dances and costumes and original melodies from over 70 regions in Poland.

Lively Hops, picturesque twirls, energetic, joyful movements, coral necklaces, flowers, ribbons, head scarfs, and embroided, gaudy fabrics!

…This is also a pretext to learn more about diverse histories, heritage and culture traditions of other ethnic minorities living in the UK. Along classics of Polish alternative music you will hear  the whole range of contemporary Slavic folk beats!

With contemporary art videos examining multicultural society and ethnic identity by Andrzej Karmasz, followed by delicious vegetarian pierogi and meaty bigos.

The event takes place from 7pm at Stan’s Café @ A.E. Harris. Tickets are £3 on the door, for more information contact roma@polishexpats.org.uk

The Birmingham Cycling Campaign, Push Bikes, present ‘Consider Cycling‘. These free presentations will be dedicated to people who would like to get into cycling, but don’t know where to start.

The presentations will offer advice on choosing your bike, the difference between frame sizes, tyres and gears and how to carry out basic checks and adjustments. They will also discuss safe road cycling, ‘Bikeability’ and using road features such as bike lanes and advanced stop lines.

Presentations will take place at Friends of the Earth, 54-57 Allison Street, Digbeth on the following dates;

Thursday 14 October at 1 – 4pm and 7 – 9pm
Thursday 18 November at 1 – 4pm and 7 – 9pm
Thursday 9 December at 1 – 4pm and 7 – 9pm

All visitors will be given a free cycling and walking map of Birmingham. To book your place, contact Graham Hankins at g8emx@tiscali.co.uk or call 0121 707 0420

We mentioned Birmingham Contemporary Music Group’s new 2010/11 season the other day, and have since picked up this paper which they’ve produced for the new season. Adds a nice touch, we thought.

As part of this year’s Supersonic festival, Capsule have decided to get the kids involved in exploring experimental music. The Kids Gigs take place on Saturday 23 October at 11am and 2.30pm at mac in Cannon Hill Park.

Aimed at 2 – 7 year olds and their families, these 1 hour workshops will involve performances, offering ‘Big Sounds for Little People’. 

Ever since Schoenberg and Kandinsky became pen pals back in 1907, avant-garde art and experimental music has been attempting to find some common ground.  But, it’s not been easy.  While modern art is a mass phenomenon, experimental music is often derided and ignored by the masses.

With a view to introduce children to experimental music at an early age, the events will feature one-man band from the USA, Dosh, and local circuit-bending fiend Glatze.

Glatze uses customised instruments (including: circuit-bent Furby dolls and kids’ toys) that have been specially rewired to create all sorts of musical wizardry. Dosh a multi-instrumentalist; combines a host of instruments into an exciting and unique live experience.  See firsthand how these unlikely instruments are used to make noise / sound / music, and to have a go yourselves.

Tickets are only £5, and can be booked at www.macarts.co.uk or by calling 0121 446 323

Birmingham City Council’s Arts and Young People Team have commissioned Hybrid to deliver a series of events and training sessions providing pathways towards your career in the arts. There are four ways that you can take part:

1. Action learning sets to share challenges and find solutions, facilitated by coaches and those with mentoring experience.

2. Visits to arts organisations, to learn more about who, what and how. Visits with confirmed dates are;

• The Drum, 22 September at 11am – 12.30pm
• Big Brum, 23 September at 2 – 5pm
• BMAG & Community Museums, 3 November 2010 at 10am – 12pm

3. Panels/ Talks on varying themes, with speakers, discussion and networking opportunities. Held at Apache’s Bar, the following events are coming up;

• 15 November, 4 – 6.30pm. Topic: Young People/ NEET. Speakers: DJ, Sophie (Punch), and Abu (Lozells Youth Group).
• 15 December, 4 – 6.30pm. Topic: Community Cohesion. Speakers: Mel Tomlinson, Susan Hope (Craftspace), and Dally Panesar (CIP) & Tricia Yarwood (Birmingham Lifeline).
• 17 January, time TBC. Topic: Health. Speakers: Birmingham Children’s Hospital, with artist and arts organisation tbc.

4. Café style conversations on project development, delivery and evaluation, which will be facilitated by practitioners and arts professionals including Bright Space, Multistory and Birmingham City Council. Also held at Apache’s Bar, the following events are coming up;

• Project Development: 8 October, 4 – 6.30pm
• Project Delivery: 6 December, 4 – 6.30pm
• Project Evaluation: 9 February, 4 – 6.30pm

The programme takes place until March 2011. To register for an event and find out more, please email karen@hybridconsulting.org.uk, or leave a message on 0121 270 6389

Radio IPS, will be taking over the airwaves on 87.8FM, broadcasting live from 20 – 25 September, at 12 to 5pm each day. Daily contributions will feature the following independent art organisations;

Monday: Capsule
Tuesday: Pro Choice
Wednesday: The Island
Thursday: Caribic Residency
Friday: Formcontent
Saturday: Longmeg (live)

Inernational Project Space’s next project is ‘MORROR’, at the School of Art Bournville.

This Michael Krebber and Michaela Eichwald exhibition opens Wednesday 7 October, 5 – 7pm, and will run until 6 November, opening Wednesdays at 12 – 7pm and Thursday to Saturday at 12 – 5pm.

Admission is free, contact 0121 331 5763 or visit www.internationalprojectspace.org for more information.