There’s a flyer and a programme here, but I’m on a train at the moment and Chiltern’s wifi is blocking me from seeing them. What I do know is that there are still a few tickets up for grabs here.

The project, by Charis McNelvin, opens today, and explores well being and mental health through a site specific installation featuring found objects, illustrations and moving image.

Charis, together with Hybrid, will be conducting open workshops on 14 and 15 December, creating new work from 10am-3pm with visitors.

The ‘As we dream’ installation will be open Mon – Fri, 10am – 3pm until 16 December. For more information, email charis_mc@hotmail.com

Some of you may already be aware of Inhabit and their temporary, traveling tea shops. They held a small shop in Ladywood for ten weeks, but have since moved on to their next venture in Handsworth, which is due to open on 9 November.

The new shop will be located at 27 Grove Lane, and will have a string of free creative participatory events and the opportunity to work with commissioned artists on their projects set in the local community.

They’ll also be inviting local residents to drop by for tea and cake. Informal drop-in sessions will be held weekly on Tuesdays 11am – 2pm and Fridays 2pm – 6pm.

Look out for more info on Inhabit, as they’ll be setting up camp in other key wards around the city, along with the Pavillions towards the end of November.

For more information on the project, email Karen Meng or call 0121 236 1669

Focusing on ideas and imagery of Islamic art, the project demonstrates the use of inspiration, using these shapes, patterns and colours in a contemporary way. The workshops will give you a chance to learn about basic art elements, techniques, materials and tools, such as acrylics, watercolours, collage and mosaics.

If you like the sounds of spending your Saturdays doing artsy things, find out more and book your free place by calling 0121 333 4173

The Campaign for Drawing is running throughout October, with events taking place all over the world encouraging people of all ages to get creative with a pencil and paper.

There are plenty of events happening around the West Midlands, take a look at this list on the Campaign for Drawing website to find out what’s happening where and when.

mac also have a range of activities going on for The Big Draw, with a series of drawing stations positioned around the city, all ready for you to be inspired by Birmingham and start drawing. Plus there will be plenty of family events over October half term, with mono-printing, trails and inks.

In the meantime, if the idea of doodling has got you inspired, take a look at Draw and Fold Over. Feel free to share finished creations!

There seems to be a lot of talk of human shaped animals roaming Canon Hill Park at the moment.

Some say they have seen rabbits chasing foxes through the bushes, only to find human footprints when they reach the spot… Whatever the explanation, these creatures are known locally as The Changelings.

Expeditions to discover more about these creatures are being run by Birmingham-based art group a.a.s, exploring concealed routes and hidden dens to trace the secrets of The Changelings.

To take a two-hour trip into the undergrowth, head over to Cannon Hill Park on 28 and 29 August at 10am-12pm and 2-4pm.

Tickets can be bought from mac website for £3.30 and £2.20 concessions.

Quarantine, in partnership with Fierce, are hosting a project entitled The Slightest Movement, bringing together groups of strangers to create a temporary community which openly debates difference, exploring tolerance and ‘otherness’.

The task is repeated every day for a week.  Each day the event is re-invented according to what happened the day before.  A small group grows into a large one, gathering more and more strangers into a temporary – perhaps uneasy – community.

The slightest movement will take place 20-25 September in West Bromwich, and are inviting a core group of 15 people, both artists and non-artists, irrespective of background and experience to join this project. If you fancy getting involved, apply using the application via their website www.qtine.com by 3 September.

Autumn Exhibition Opportunity – Call for Designer Makers, Brilliantly Birmingham

This year’s Brilliantly Birmingham festival is taking place  27 November 2010 – 9 January 2011, and is set to visit a variety of venues across the city, including the Flux exhibition of contemporary jewellery design at the mac.

A dynamic and ambitious exhibition of new and emerging designer makers will promote challenging and diverse new work, create a marketplace and contribute to the city as a visitor attraction.

Flux is currently open to submissions from emerging designer makers based in the UK, who are no more than five years out of graduation. There’s no exhibition fee, but submissions have a £20 admin fee.

Application packs can be downloaded from www.brilliantlybirmingham.com and must be submitted by 3 September.

This gentle, interactive performance offers a fleeting experience of a different world. Centred around three pieces of sculptural jewellery – specially commissioned from West Midlands jewellers – it is influenced by dressing ceremonies and fantastical storytelling

The jewellery’s provided by Mikaela Lyons, John Moore and Louise Bryan.

In the meantime, two things that compliment one another have come to my attention.

Firstly, an opportunity:

INTER?OGATION: WALSALL

Call to Artists:

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to become a secret agent for a day in order to interrogate the public spaces of Walsall.

Using the New Art Gallery Walsall as a base you will investigate the artist’s role in the post-industrial world through one of four methods:

INTER?OGATION: ACTION RESEARCH     (09/09/09)
INTER?OGATION: CONSULTATION         (16/09/09)
INTER?OGATION: COLLABORATION     (23/09/09)
INTER?OGATION: INTERVENTION         (30/09/09)

INTER?OGATION: WALSALL explores the impact that one artist (you) can make in one place, in one day.

This programme of work is organised by Longhouse and the New Art Gallery Walsall, working with lead artist Anna Francis (who can also be found here), and is designed to investigate the impact of short, sharp interventions within the public realm.  Deadline for expressions of interest is fairly soon – 12pm Friday 28 August 2009 - so go visit the site to find out more.

Secondly, I really enjoy the idea of creative practice being fused with more spy-like activities – interrogations and investigations.. where everyone gets to be a secret agent and have their own missions!  So for those of you whose toes are curling at me daring to mention WALSALL in a CiB post, I wanted to temper that with a signpost towards a great Birmingham artist – Nikki Pugh. I feel she really embodies this excitement within her practice, but best of all has taken the time to document in detail how she’s used this approach with great effect in her “How to Wow” series.

Do you know of any other local artists who work in this way?

Friday, 05/06/09, 19:00

Ten high-backed chairs, some seating elderly people and some seating younger people, spanned the back of the stage area at The Door, the studio theatre at Birmingham Rep. Above this seating arrangement was a large screen, showing slow panoramics of the Birmingham skyline. In front of them, a gently-lit bed with a man lying down, a wheeled trolley next to him and a fan pointed at him.

A short film entitled “Hats” began. The first shot panned out to show a woman, with coarse patchy hair and a massive grin cackling as she tried on the most extravagant yellow hat with massive straw brim. She looked into the camera and said, “Yes. This is me.”

At this point, I have to admit to no longer being able to see very well due to the large amounts of tears gushing down my face – so if my descriptions fall short somehow, I apologise.

Rosetta Life is a charity dedicated to working with people who have life-threatening illnesses.  “The Magical Glow of the Co Op” was a rehearsed reading as part of the Rosetta Live celebrations that featured the work of two hospices; Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice in Selly Park and St Giles Hospice Whittington, near Lichfield. Working together, more than 30 hospice users generated a performance script that looked at the choices people face when dying and the difficulties they face when making these choices.  In the 10 chairs sat 3 professional actors (the fourth was lying on the bed), 6 hospice users and one care professional.  Throughout the reading hospice users took to the stage to perform alongside the professional actors which really added weight and poignancy (as well as some unexpected laughs) to the evening.

The performance finished with an aftershow discussion called ‘The Big Conversation – Let’s Talk About Living’.  The audience were invited to ask questions of the panel of hospice users who had taken part in the perfomance, health care practitioners and the actors who were still in character.  Until then, I had kept my eyes focused on the stage, hoping to hide anonymously at the edge of a row.  However once the lights went up, I really looked at the audience – at those people who had chosen to spend a night in the company of such a taboo subject.   The audience consisted of every economic/social/cultural background you can imagine, all sat in one small venue watching their loved ones perform, or the words of their lost loved one performed by their peers.  And there were no dry eyes.  Not one.

I feel excited that Birmingham East and North PCT were brave enough not only to fund this project, but also to enable Birmingham to become the first UK city that is making steps to talk openly about how it’s citizens positively approach life as it draws to a close, as well as how they want to be remembered. Created in Birmingham has always highlighted exciting and relevant creative ventures linked to the city, and I can’t think of a more perfect project to write about in my first post proper.  Actors, hospice users, venue and funders are all citizens of Birmingham, breaking new and important (if at times uncomfortable) ground.  This was a performance that anyone touched by illness should see, not just the friends and families of those performing.

“The Magical Glow of the Co-op” was just one small part of the Rosetta Live celebration running throughout June. It culminates in a film premiere at The Electric Cinema on 29th June commencing at 6.00pm.  To book, please contact bookings@rosettalive.org – I know I’m going to be there.