Tweets from Artsfest

10th
Sep
2011

There’s loads of stuff happening at Artsfest this weekend. I pulled out a few suggestions here (with more in the comments below that post) but to get an idea of what people are up to, here’s a live Twitter search to have a look at:

Meanwhile, I’m covering what’s going on in the Dance Marquee today. You can follow all of that on the Dancing for the Games website.

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Artsfest 2011

8th
Sep
2011

Artsfest 2011

The programme for Artsfest 2011 is now online (in addition to the PDF brochure that came out a few days back).

As ever, there’s an unfeasibly huge amount happening. I’ve not had time to have a proper browse, but here’s what I’ve spotted after a swift glance through the listings:

  • 2 for 1 entry to the Home of Metal exhibition at BMAG all weekend
  • Birmingham Young Poet Laureate, The Library Theatre, Saturday at 2pm – performances by the shortlisted poets
  • Birmingham Royal Ballet, Centenary Square, Saturday at 6.30pm - doing excerpts from their autumn season
  • Classical Fantasia, Centenary Square, Saturday at 8.15pm – the CBSO, Birmingham Opera Company and fireworks
  • BE Festival presents Move Me, Broad Street Stage, Sunday at 2.30pm and 5.30pm – an interactive contemporary dance event hosted by Barbara Nice.
  • Best of Birmingham from Kerrang & Q Radio, Centenary Square, Sunday from 5pm – with The Guillemots headlining
  • In Conversation With… is a whole strand of interviews with the likes of Tindal Street Press, Michael Seal, Ian Emes, Paul Kaynes, Keri Davies, David Massingham and Rosie Kay
  • The film strand at the Crescent Theatre is usually good too.

I’ll be spending Saturday in the Dancing for the Games-sponsored Dance Marquee before nipping off to the (not Artsfest-affiliated) The Boat That OxJamBrum Rocked, returning to catch the end of Classical Fantasia.

Looking at that list it’s mainly the bigger names that have stood out, which means there’s probably loads of decent stuff I’ve missed – let me know if you’ve got any recommendations.

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  • We are Birmingham
    “as we approach the six month marker Jeff slash Dave brings the world up to date with how We are Birmingham is getting along”
  • Dudley festivals axed – Audiences Central
    “Dudley Performing Arts (DPA) have axed their Rock The Castle and summer festival, both of which take place at Himley Hall, Dudley and attract in the region of 5,000 people”
  • No Aloha
    New zine
  • Oxygen Theatre Company
    “Oxygen Theatre is a Birmingham-based theatre company that aims to produce provoking theatrical experiences that inspire, challenge and engage it’s audiences”
  • Artsfest 2011
    It’ll be on 10/11 September and applications for artists are now open
  • Studio Bonito’s whiteboard
    “Having moved into bigger offices at the beginning of march we have finally finished illustrating our whiteboard wall”
  • Brum museums to charge admission – Audiences Central
    “Charges for Aston Hall, Blakesley Hall and Soho House are set at adults £4 (concessions £3), children under 16 free, annual multi-site pass £16. Sarehole Mill has slightly lower prices of £3 for adults and £2 for concessions (“due to it being a smaller site”)”. Applicable from 1 April
  • Birmingham’s Fierce festival is a gem of local legacy-building
    “Fierce understands that it’s not just the party itself that matters, but the traces it leaves behind”. Lyn Gardner says so.
  • Madrid Digital Research Project #1 at Sampad
    Report from Lorna Hirst on a two-week placement at Medialab Prado
  • Jeff Stuka: Hidden Birmingham
    “Here’s a little tour I wrote for some friends once, a kind of lost heritage trail of some things I’ve found in my time here.  I enjoy it and perhaps you might too”. This is very good
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Michael Goodrum

1st
Oct
2010

Vissionary glass

Sutton Coldfield based artist Michael Goodrum, aka, Visionary Glass, was another of the exhibitors in the Victoria Square marquee during Artsfest. Using individually hand-cut fragments of glass, Michael creates a range of stunning sculptural glass canvases depicting the abstract forms from nature and landscapes.

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A bit more news in the follow-up of Artsfest, this time on the musical front. Over the weekend BBC Radio 3 recorded two homegrown jazz performances for the Jazz Line Up programme, which was broadcast last weekend, on Sunday 26 September.

Recorded at the Symphony Hall, Birmingham bands led by Ben Markland and Percy Pursglove played at the special edition of Rush Hour Blues. The show is currently still available to listen to on BBC iPlayer.

Take a look at this post on the Birmingham Jazz blog to read a bit more about it.

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Louise Blakeway

24th
Sep
2010

Louise Blakeway

Louise Blakeway is another of the artists who exhibited work in the ArtSpace tent at Artsfest.

Consisting mainly of drawings, paintings and prints, her work is largely concerned with natural or found objects, architecture, landscapes and the human figure.

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Don Henderson

Don Henderson and Katherine M. Waters from Corpus Gallery were showcasing some of their work in the ArtSpace tent at Artsfest the other weekend.

Don (above) is a painter and mixed media artist working on canvas, while Katherine’s work in sculpture and paintings are concerned with the development and advancement of traditional laquering techniques. Below is one of her Birmingham Babies.

katherine m waters

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Polite Assassins

15th
Sep
2010

Polite Assassins

Picked this up at Artsfest. I can’t find much about it online, but it looks interesting.

20 – 22 September at The Victoria, Green Gorilla Presents – Polite Assassins – A play celebrating an almost forgotten heroine air-brushed out of history, Mary Seacole. Starting at 7:30pm, tickets are £7/ £5 concessions.

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Just a quick round up of everything going on this weekend, there’s a lot and we wouldn’t want you to forget and miss out on anything!

Cum Clubbing – Hosted by VIVID, this art party does not look like something to be missed (although it’s happening now, so get down quick). From 8pm – late, VIVID’s project space will be taken over by live music, DJs and visual artists who’ll conspire to create an excitingly strange evening of camp disco. Tickets are £5.

To save time I’m going to be both lazy and efficient, and link you to everyone else who’s been talking about this. Take a look at Digbeth is Good, More Canals than Venice, brianduffyhasabigbrain, and Birmingham: It’s Not Shit.

Zine Festival - Not put off by the scale of Artsfest, this niche festival has a weekend full of events for you to get involved in.

  • Starting this evening at The Edge is a screening of ‘$100 & A T-Shirt‘, Joe Biel’s documentary on zine culture. Entry is a £1, which also gets you a bag of popcorn, along with a talk from Pete Ashton and Rob Horrocks on the emergence of the small press comics scene and music zine influence in the 80s.
  • The Victoria is host to the Zine Fair on Saturday from 12 – 6pm, along with a workshop from 2 – 2.30pm with Peter Lally, as he runs through the history of Alternative Press and curates a Q&A session on running your own zine events.
  • At 5 – 6.30pm Island Bar are inviting zine fans to ‘Drop in + Draw’, offering a pencil and paper to unwind with, before the party starts with the Atta Girl Zine Party, 8pm – 2am.
  • From 6.30 – 8.30pm, Get A Grip will be guiding guests through the process of making your very own totally unique t-shirt. T-shirt, equipment, inks, images and expertise supplied for £20 per person. If you fancy it, book in advance, more details here.
  • Sunday will be a chilled out picnic in Cannon Hill Park at 1 – 4pm. With nothing for sale and free to attend, the party will be meeting at mac.

Artsfest – As already mentioned, the weekend of free arts events kicks off this evening and will continue to entertain through to Sunday night. With live performances coming from Centenary Square and Chamberlain Square, along with short films and animations screened at the Crescent, plus various performances and workshops held at theaters and bars across the city, don’t let the miserable weather deter you from leaving the house!

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CiB at the ballet

10th
Sep
2010

This is a bit self-indulgent and it starts with a brief recap, so please bear with me.

Back in Feb, Ian posted something about BRB presenting some work choregraphed by their dancers. One of the pieces used a track called Printer Jam by Mistabishi and was spotted by the people behind the Drum and Bass Awards, who invited the dancers to perform it at their launch event.

Matt Murtagh saw the piece and tweeted about it. I posted a screenshot of that tweet on CiB.

Anyway… a screenshot of that tweet on CiB made it into a video intro that was featured at BRB’s Royal Gala Performance back in March, in front of a packed Hippodrome audience which included Prince Charles. I was there, and it was odd to see little old CiB up on all of those screens in front of all those people.

The point of all of this (in case you were wondering) is that I’ve just been told that the video’s now up online:

Printer Jam feature from Rob Lindsay on Vimeo.

Kit Holder is the man behind the piece and I’ve got a quote from him about it too:

I’m really happy about how successful it’s been. When I made the piece I didn’t think it would have such longevity, so I’m chuffed to bits that it’s being performed again. It’s a real testament to the dancers and the technical department, to be honest. I jokingly asked all these different things of them and they ran with the ideas and made it all into a real piece!

You can see the piece as part of Artsfest this weekend, with a few other things being performed from 3-4.15pm on the Centenary Square stage.

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the people's archive, parade

The People’s Archive is a new collaboration between the Library of Birmingham and local digital company In Cahoots, which is set to be piloted this month at ArtsFest, running from 10 – 12 September.

This interactive project invites members of the public both young and old to share their knowledge and help shape Birmingham’s past into a new online resource for the city’s collective memory.

For the very first time one of the Library’s most popular photographic collections, the Warwickshire Photographic Survey, will be made available online, offering a unique treasure trove of buildings, street scenes and events in the city between the 1880s and the late 20th century.

If you’d like to have a look at old Birmingham or think you might be able to recognise a face, or confirm a date, make sure you drop by the Library of Birmingham stand at Artsfest.

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ArtsFest-2010So the programme for this year’s Artsfest is now up online, complete with a nice little selection of search options so you can filter through the events that you’re interested in.

The festival runs this weekend, from Fri – Sun, and is the biggest free arts and culture festival in the UK, with around 600 performing, visual and digital artists at events taking place all across the city.

I would give you a run down of everything happening, but there are heaps of events, performances, screenings, workshops and all sorts of goings-on, so I’m not even going to attempt it. Chris did, however, mention a few things to look out for the other week.

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Artsfest 2010

21st
Aug
2010

ArtsFest 2010

Artsfest, the annual free arts festival is on 10-12 September this year, so not long now.

Most of the details are yet to escape but there’s a few bits and bobs to be found. The general theme will be ‘Landscape and Heritage’ and the latest copy of Forward has some info about some of the bigger items:

  • Folk Dance Fest – Birmingham Royal Ballet will be going for a ballet dancing world record as part of their 20th anniversary celebrations
  • Classical Fantasia – CBSO doing their thing (populist classical music and film scores, I’ll wager)
  • The Land of Fairytales – street theatre happenings from the Hippodrome
  • Kerrangfest – with The Twang, The Young Guns and Elliot Minor confirmed so far
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photospace

Birmingham’s People comes from the folks at Birmingham Photospace and is a continuation of the portrait project they carried out over the Artsfest weekend in September.

The website has been featuring the portraits taken, including the latest of ‘Radway’ (below) who, unless I’m mistaken, is none other than Violet Attack from the Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames.

The project will be exhibited at The Drum from 7 December 2009 to 29 January 2010. You can also sign up to attend the (free) private view and artists talk on 9 December.

radway

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