Animation Forum WM have teamed up with Dice Productions and Flip Festival to bring three separate programmes of screenings of the best UK animated films of 2010 and 2011 to Birmingham. The shorts will be screened on Thursday 9th, Friday 10th, and Saturday 11th February from 7pm each night at The Custard Factory Theatre and you can vote to help determine the Public Choice winners.
The Big Give Christmas Challenge kicked off this morning (after a false start yesterday when their servers crashed). It’s a big fundraising drive, with the bonus that donations are matched by a combination of Big Givers, so any money you give is doubled.
I thought I’d post my response to an email I received from someone the other day. The emailer said (and these are a couple of extracts):
I am currently looking for creative projects to get involved with in the Birmingham area, specifically film or media based projects. I have lots of transferable skills through studying film on my course and I am looking for possible work experience (unpaid) in TV, film or any kind of production, as a runner, film grip and/or any position where the skills I have may come in useful.
My biggest focus is finding opportunities, getting out there and getting involved in anything I can, from possible collaborations to arts events, workshops, anything to keep me busy and anything that allows me to be creative and continues the type of work I was doing on my course.
I couldn’t think of anything specific but gave a few starting places. I operate on the assumption that CiB readers know much more than I do, so if anyone can add anything then please do in the comments. My reply:
Hey
I can’t think of any specific opportunities at the moment. It’s a bit of a funny time for that kind of thing at the moment, what with Screen WM (who used to put on events and so on) closing down a few months back and Creative England (the body taking their place) only just getting up and running. In the meantime it might be worth looking at http://www.bsin.co.uk/ and seeing what they’re up to.
Also, have a look at these events, get yourself along and see who you meet:
This is an open letter from John Dolan, former Head of Libraries at Birmingham City Council, to Cllr. Mike Whitby, Leader of Birmingham City Council and Cabinet Member, Culture, copied to Randal Brew Cabinet Member, Finance and Ian Ward, opposition member for Culture.
Instagram is a social photo-sharing thing. I’ve been using searchinstagram.com to check out a few pics taken around Birmingham. Some of them are of the other Birmingham but it’s easy enough to spot the difference, by and large.
So I went to the previously-mentionedBirmingham 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).
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’
I hadn’t been paying much attention, but there’s now a website for the Birmingham Ballroom and a growing line-up of events. It seems, and I don’t know whether it’s just because it’s early days, that a few people are taking the chance to delve into the venue’s history. A case in point being Hummingbird Reunion:
If you can’t read it, the flyer says:
For many people in Birmingham and the Midlance, The Hummingbird was their first taste of House clubbing. The memories (or lack of) have stayed with them to this very day.
Beginning in the summer of 88, a night called hipnosiz had the city rocking in hte small room of the venue every week, to the sound of house music. Following on in 89, The Snapper Club started in that same room with 100 clubbers, that by the end year moved to the main concert room and turned into 3000+ clubbers every single week as house music exploded nationwide!
Interactive/film and video artists wanted – The Public
The Public are currently inviting interactive artists and artists working in film and video to submit work to two unique open exhibitions, taking place early 2012.
Play More
“This is the temporary page for the newly created Birmingham based arts collective Play More; a group of artists who aim to promote play one ridiculous event at a time.”
All together now – AMA Commons
I thing I wrote for the Arts Marketing Association about online collaboration and mentioning a few Birmingham-based case studies
I’m interested in finding the resident DJs at club nights around Birmingham who put out mixtapes – either via Mixcloud, SoundCloud, podcasts, their own websites or whatever. Let me know:
DJ’s name
The nights they play at
Links to their mixes
Put the info in the comments and I’ll add it to this post.
Hello Culture is a one day conference with a series of keynotes, panels and workshops exploring how those in the cultural sector can work with digital technology to improve their audience development, organisational operating process, raise their profile and collaborate across the digital sector and with new partners to develop and innovate new cultural product and practice..
Reflection: Let us not forget those whom we have lost to AIDS.
Education: Saving Lives “Get Tested” “22,000 people in the UK do not know they are infected with HIV”. Being tested and an early diagnosis can save your life.
Celebration: Rejoice for the lives of those living with HIV & AIDS.
The deadline for entries is 1 November.
Incidentally, the site itself is oddly silent on the fact, but World Aids Day is 1 December.
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?)
The film was commissioned by THSH, with the support of the DMC McDonald Foundation, and was created by animator Chris Randall at Second Home Studios to a poem by Symphony Hall’s poet-in-residence Julie Boden.
