Wandering back down Digbeth High Street after a tour around The Event last weekend, it was good to see that someone’s doing something useful with the run-down car dealerships.
Digbeth is Good has the scoop.
Others
So I went to the previously-mentioned Birmingham Creative City launch at lunchtime.
I’d still struggle to explain exactly what it is, so here’s some blurb from the council’s press release:
The Creative City initiative will play a significant role by:
- Creating a fund to build on existing public sector funding of the arts through loans, grants, match-funding and investments. The allocation of funds will be based on the potential for job creation and economic growth.
- Outlining the vision for a new ‘museum quarter’, including a new museum of photography and the development of a new contemporary art gallery.
- Exploring ways to unlock private sector and philanthropic support for culture, linking cultural development to wider economic growth.
So this was really the launch of an idea. In the way that Manchester has Media City and London has Tech City, Birmingham (if it wants it) could claim the title of Creative City.
Thing is, the designations of those other two seem to have been built on much stronger foundations (a strong BBC presence and an already burgeoning tech scene, respectively). All we seem to have at the moment is ideas, visions (like this one for a Museum Quarter), pledges and plans with comparatively little substance. Maybe’s it’s just early days, but if the intention of this event was to make people excited about the possibilities on offer then I don’t think it worked.
Maybe the more substantial conversations are all taking place behind closed doors this afternoon – but then I got the sense from others that therein lies the problem. Chatting to people afterwards actually left me kinda depressed by it all.
Personally, I’m not sure what to make of it and I’m pretty busy, so here’s the audio from the speeches that were made. Please have a listen (they’re all quite short) and I’d love to hear what you make of this in the comments below.
In typical Peter O’Hanra-Hanrahan style, I managed to miss the bit where James Yarker from Stan’s Cafe thanked Cllr Timothy Huxtable for name-checking his theatre company but asked him how he squared that with the council cutting their funding by 100%. The response is in the final audio clip above (although it does make for uncomfortable listening).
On the subject
It would be hugely remiss of me not to point out this rather angry post by Pete Ashton, many of the sentiments of which I would endorse.
A couple more links
- This from James at Stan’s Cafe should be read
- As should this from Stef Lewandowski, should be read too, with some interesting comments
- Philip Parkin is upbeat but says he “struggled to find the substance”
- BOP Consulting point out this launch is all “particularly interesting as it is one of the first LEPs to announce its ambitions for the creative industries’
- Pete’s done a round-up of some of the discussion
- Pete also pointed to the discussion on the Re-Stirred forum
If I was a child aged 8-15 years I would definitely be badgering my parents to go to this half-term circus skills workshop with Cirque Eloize that the Hippodrome are putting on. They taught me some juggling and trampolining a few weeks back and it was great fun. If you’re over 15 then maybe just go and watch the show itself the week after, that’s a lot of fun too.
Birmingham Conservatoire are offering ‘tricks and treats for everyone’ at their Composer’s Platform Halloween Special. If dinner and theatre’s your thing The Kitchen Garden Cafe is offering Fright Bites with Don’t Go into The Cellar Theatre Company.
On the filmic side, The Electric are showing Ghostbusters and at the MAC you can see Nosferatu with a live score by the Midlands Fretted Orchestra.
Jumping the gun by a good eight days (if they turned up at my door that early I’d tell them to do one) are KINO 10 with a Halloween Special promising short films with a ghoulish twist.
Also brought to my attention:
- FIRST FRIGHT: a half-term Halloween horror workshop at MAC from First Light
- There’s a screening of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde with live organ accompaniment at the Town Hall
- Outer Sight Hallowe’en Super Shock Show at The Edge on Sat 29 Oct
Have I missed anything good?
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?
