Created in Birmingham

I got an email earlier. There was a letter attached that said:

Andy Street, Chair of the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) Board invites you to the launch of Creative City by Ed Vaizey MP Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries. Creative City is an important new initiative bringing together the public and private sector to harness culture and creativity to drive economic recovery.

The event will include the launch of Catalyst, the new £100 million culture sector wide private giving investment programme, sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, Arts Council England and Heritage Lottery Fund.

I’ve not come across this Creative City idea before and can’t find anything about it online, just stuff about the old Creative City Awards. On the other hand there’s a fair bit of info about the Catalyst fund here. So anyway, it’s the week after next and a light lunch is promised. Bonza. I’ll report back.

Fwiw, the invite had a lot of logos on it.

From p.13 of the BBC’s Delivering Quality First plan:

Factual programming for BBC television and Radio 4 would be moved out of Birmingham and consolidated largely to Bristol and Cardiff, though television production investment with independent producers in the Midlands would increase. Substantial network television drama (eg Doctors, Land Girls) and radio drama (The Archers) would continue in Birmingham alongside the BBC’s local and regional services

Someone’s going to need to spell this one out to me:

• What are the local and regional services that will be staying? (presumably Midlands Today, BBC WM… anything else?)
• Who/what will be moving to Bristol and Cardiff? (Asian Network… anything else?)

This from Andy Charrington at Jealous Designs:

I have the opportunity to start a new space where creatives can have a permanent base whilst having the opportunity to work with other like minded people. I’d like to tell you about it and see if you might be interested!

The space is in Fazeley Studios in Digbeth. There’s more information here and, if you’re interested, you should drop him an email on andycharrington@gmail.com.

He’s also got some ideas about collaborative efforts between the people in that space, which might be interesting – more co-op than coworking.

Ridhi Kalaria, Josephine Reichert and Noemi, three artists and philosophers are planning to open ORT on the 11/11/11, an artist and community café and bar space in Balsall Heath

Ort will be opening at the Make It Zone on 11 November (that’s 11/11/11 – a date of significant interest to the Corduroy Club) with Juneau Brothers playing. If you want updates, Ort is/are on Twitter and Facebook.

(Via Extra Special People)

15 July 2011 was the first anniversary of Birmingham not winning the title of City of Culture 2013. An odd thing to celebrate maybe, but Radar Magazine used it as an opportunity to get a load of people to talk about the creative or cultural experience that had most impressed them over the past year.

I could’ve mentioned any number of things, but in the end I gave a nod to Birmingham Opera Company‘s really-very-excellent-indeed Othello.

Others went for the 4am Project at Birmingham Central Library, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Lundahl & Seitl at Fierce Festival, Companis, Flatpack Festival and the Soweto Kinch Quartet.

I can’t find a copy online – if there’s one floating about then please add a link in the comments.

Actually, speaking of CoC 2013, have the plans for the “six-week Autumn Festival which will have the significance of the Edinburgh festival and Paris Autumn Festival” been officially binned? I remember statements to the effect that it was going to happen regardless of whether Birmingham got the title or not, so strong were the arguments in favour of going ahead.

Still, as has been pointed out, there are quite a few festivals happening in October already.

There’s a certain amount of kerfuffle going on regarding the proposed move of the wholesale markets from the city centre. I won’t pretend to have looked into it all that much and so couldn’t hazard an opinion about any of it. It’s not really this site’s remit either. However, it seems important, so here are a few links and things.

Here’s a video of a meeting of traders at the market. They’re not at all happy. The Birmingham Mail have been following the story and are on the side of the traders, setting up a petition here and covering a call for shoppers to write to council leader, Mike Whitby.

And in order to provide some balance (look at me, ma! I’m doing journalism!) here’s Birmingham City Council partially rebutting some of the claims that are being made.

Arts & Business are organising a match-making event to pair up willing volunteers with arts organisations who could do with a helping hand. They say:

Come and join us for a glass of wine and mingle with representatives from theatres, museums, festivals and galleries who would love your help this year bringing cutting edge art to Birmingham.

Whatever time or skills you have to offer we will look to match you to the right opportunity. These could be in marketing, set design, accountancy, tour guiding, front of house, customer services, exhibition set up, shop assistant, even HR!

If you’re at all interested in getting involved in the arts in some way then this is probably worth a punt. A few years back I volunteered on Fierce Festival 11. Through that I met loads of interesting people and, although this wasn’t the expectation, I was offered all sorts of opportunities to get involved in other things. So arts volunteering gets a thumbs up from me.

It’ll be on Monday 19 Sept 2011 from 6 to 8pm at etc.venues (Maple House, 150 Corporation Street). You can register here.

Yesterday I spent a surprising amount of time on the Facebook Page for the Birmingham Ballroom – the new name for the venue that was the Hummingbird and then the Academy in Dale End.

The End, the smallest of the three rooms (and presumably the old Bar Academy) is due to open next month with the two larger rooms (Birmingham Ballroom and The Other Room) slated for October. No dates confirmed yet but they’ve announced that The Catapult Club will be putting on gigs there.

In the meantime, they’re posting stuff some great behind the scenes stuff to Facebook – doors covered with AAA passes, the stage’s redevelopment and the 8cm dip in the floor from people bouncing up and down.

There’s a chance to see how the redevelopment’s going on 13 August at their Wall of Fame Open Day.

Also on at The Square Shopping Centre (just behind the Oasis market) that day, will be Kerrang’s K’Boot Vintage Market:

The event will be packed with more than 40 independent retailers, stocking everything from vintage to vinyl, to beads to burlesque. Complementing the visiting stall holders with kitsch will be some of Birmingham’s most iconic independent retailers.

Speaking of The Square (these links are seamless) there’s a new bar opening tonight. Well, The Bitter End is the new basement bar from the folks who own the local Hairy Lemon chain – metal fans will know the place as the old Costermongers. FAKE Magazine have more info and here’s a flyer.

Yesterday afternoon I asked Twitter what I should write about next on CiB. I was given four topics and these are they (in reverse order).

Digbeth v the JQ (via @EleanorWi)

Ooh, good one – the battle of the so called ‘creative quarters’ – this could be fun. I’ve just moved from working in Digbeth to working in the Jewellery Quarter and Eleanor knows this, hence the request. FIGHT!

I shall now go on to disappoint with a bland appraisal of the two taken from my own point of view. Your experiences of the places may vary.

I’m enjoying the Jewellery Quarter. It’s nearer my house so cycling in is easier, there are useful amenities (there’s no need to get excited about cash machines around these parts) and there are some decent enough places to grab a drink after work.

The nightlife thing’s interesting. I’ve never been keen on St Paul’s Square as a place to go out but, with UAB book-ending things (with The Red Lion at one end, The Lord Cliffden at the other) and places like Vertu, The Vaults, The Drop Forge and soon The Rose Villa Tavern in between, I reckon we could start to see more people around here of a weekend. There are restaurants here too.

As for the creativity/arts/culture angle, there’s a bigger emphasis on heritage over this side of town, while a a lot of the current activity feels hidden away and goes on behind closed studio and workshop doors. Other than AE Harris (which I love) there isn’t much by way of a decent venue – there’s The Asylum and The Blue Orange Theatre but neither currently has a schedule of events that grabs me. Also, everything over this side of town seems quite managed and smoothly polished (which isn’t necessarily praise but is definitely a contrast).

Digbeth is rougher round the edges but it wears its distinctiveness quite proudly on its sleeve. It’s more performative. It feels like the art and creativity spills out of Eastside Projects, Grand Union, Vivid, Boxxed, Fazeley Studios and onto the streets. It’s a place for music and visual arts to tumble towards. If you want a night out and you like your music then Digbeth, with the Institute, Air, Space 2, The Rainbow, Irish Centre, Adam & Eve and others, can’t be beat.

Space must be cheaper there. That brings in the artist collectives, the gallery spaces and the graduates looking for their first studio space. It’s a shame a shame the developers have made such a mess of the place over the past few years though – too many decent places bulldozed leaving large swathes of cleared, fenced off land.

For a while, the Custard Factory drifted into becoming a nightclub which I’m not sure was a good idea, but maybe that was a result of trying to pack lots of activity into a fairly small area. It seems to be moving away from that again. Besides, Digbeth is sprawling away from the Custard Factory these days and that’s no bad thing.

Both sides of town suffer from a bit of a visibility problem – directing people to either from the city centre is no easy task.

So, to ramble to a conclusion – horses for courses, innit.

Comedy in Birmingham (via @RosieHighlight)

I’m going to duck this one slightly and refer back to the post I wrote a few months back about comedy in Birmingham. Although I’ve asked Ian and he’s reminded me about the Fat Penguin, Cheeky Monkey and Laughing Cows nights in Kings Heath/Moseley that are often overlooked. I’m not sure I mentioned The Drum as another venue for that sort of thing either.

The upshot of that previous conversation was that there’s a reasonable amount of stuff going on although we’re not quite world-beaters, there could be more and it could do with being more visible. Couldn’t that apply to pretty much anything we do here?

Burning Ham (via @LouisHudson)

Louis is presumably referring to EXYZT’s contribution to this year’s Fierce Festival. I wasn’t around Birmingham when most of the events were going on down there and this round-up made me a bit regretful of that. It’s good to see that they’ll be back to work on a new site for the next festival.

Bunnies (via @Ravonski)

With the whole arts funding situation having settled down somewhat and no more cuts looming in the immediate future, I haven’t had much cause to lighten a gloomy post by finishing with a picture of a bunny.

That said, I expect there’s still bad news to come as the effect of the earlier cuts comes to be felt. There’ll be a few more leaving parties, closed signs, permanently-out-of-office messages and euphemistic talk of ‘transitioning’.

So on that downbeat note, cue bunnies:

(Photo by captainsubtle)

Yesterday there was a vintage fair in the Jewellery Quarter. Charles J Davis tool some photos. The Flickr set’s here.

Nick’s doing a thing to highlight community culture in Birmingham. Have a read of his post here and here’s the bit that explains how you can get involved:

I’ll be doing one of my favourite things – chuntering my way through the wonders of Birmingham, asking for 800 words or so and lovely pics. No one’s getting paid for this, but I hope you’ll join in.

Who should I talk to – where is the new community culture in this city and who are the militant optimists?

So, who should he talk to?

(Photo by Sarah Mount)

fizzPOP is for people who like to tinker, whether that’s with electronics, code (maybe there’s some crossover with HydraHack there), motors, gaffer tape or whatever. It’s about trying things out and making things and is the nearest Birmingham has to a Hackerspace.

It’s been on a bit of a hiatus recently but there’s a get-together on Wednesday from 7pm in The Boardroom at Bennetts Wine Bar.

Thank soddery for that. It’d be one hell of a shame if Birmingham couldn’t support something like this, especially with all the talk of how well we do ‘digital’ here. Now can someone please offer them some permanent space?

I wanted to do a round-up of this year’s degree shows but I’ve been a bit busy and the job of pulling everything together is looking a bit daunting (sorry if you’ve emailed me stuff).

It’s a bit late in the day now but I reckon it should still be done. If you could help out that would be great.

If you know of or are involved in any shows that are happening, please leave a comment with as much of the following as possible:

• Name of show
• Date(s) and time of show
• Uni/college course
• Venue
• Link to info

Fr’instance, something looking a bit like this:

• Exhibit This 2
• 8-9 June, 6-9pm
• BCU 3rd year media
• Zellig
• http://exhibitthis2.posterous.com

Muchly appreciated.

We Grow Cherries is:

a talent pool of graduates from the BA (Hons) Visual Communication course at BIAD, BCU. Our Visual Communication graduates span Graphic Communication, Illustration, Photography and Moving Image

Over at CMYKern James has been picking out his highlights.

Today, every so often, I’m going to grab a smattering of tweets and pull them into the timeline below. If you refresh this page every so often you’ll see what’s been added. Or you can see it on the Storify site.

There’s a bigger point to be made behind this. It’s kinda obvious but I might write it up sooner or later.

And it’s not just that I couldn’t think what to write about today (although that too).