Created in Birmingham

As of this month Created in Birmingham is no longer funded by Creative Republic, this is because the blog has achieved its original objectives, and along the way become a great resource for the creative and cultural sector in Birmingham.

This now means that CiB needs to become self sustainable, and to do this needs to call upon all of those organisations, companies, galleries, theatres, festivals and individuals who have benefited from CiB in the past to invest in the future of the website by advertising.

So, why advertise?

Created in Birmingham reaches approx. 20,0000 visitors a month, which means you could reach that amount of people, letting them know about your services, exhibition, event or anything you want to tell people about.

Unlike most other websites, CiB is dedicated to a particular sector – creative and cultural, which means the audience or potential customers you are trying to reach are right here. It is also dedicated to a particular place – Birmingham, but is not only read by people from the West Midlands, but worldwide.

How much does it cost?

2 week advertising spot: £75.00
4 week advertising spot: £140.00

2 week advertising spot for charities or companies under 6 months old: £50.00
4 week advertising spot for charities or companies under 6 months old: £90.00

Adverts will be a 125pxl x 125pxl image, which will link to your website. At the end of your advertising period I can give you the number of times your advert was clicked on.

Payment options:

Pay via Paypal – to email address: Createdinbirmingham [at] gmail.com
Pay via invoice – please provide full details via email and you will be invoiced on the first day of advertising.

Advertising rates are negotiable.

Email – Createdinbirmingham [at] gmail.com

• BCMG
  December newsletter for the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group
• ACE Dance Mapping Survey – West Midlands Dance
  The Arts Council are planning to pull together as much info as possible about all aspects of dance in the country. There’s a lot going on in the West Mids so if you’re involved in dance then I guess it might be worth chipping in
• Punch Update – December 2008
  Punch’s monthly update of what they’re up to
• Film Forum West Midlands – Linking up filmmakers in the Midlands…
  The Film Forum WM now has one of those roll-your-own social networks that are all the rage
• CMYKern – D8
  “Birmingham based D8 has some nice print work in their portfolio”

• Prime Objective Blog :: Victor Man Documentary
  For the Ikon’s latest show Chris Keenan spent a few days “filming the installation down at Ikon and discussing Victor’s work with curator Nigel Prince. The edited video is now live on the Ikon site to aid a greater understanding of the work” I like this sort of stuff
• Folk Monthly from the Traditional Arts Team
  I didn’t know about this. “It covers folk and related events across the Midlands, featuring adverts for clubs, festivals, sessions, bands etc, central diary pages, articles, news and reviews” and costs £12 for 11 issues a year
• Artfall – Birmingham University Exhibition
  “Members of Birmingham Print Makers have put up an exhibition in Staff House at the University of Birmingham which runs until December 23rd”
• début
  début was going to be a paid-to-submit-content magazine. I’m not sure if that’s still happening but for now at least it’s in a blog format. There’s plenty being posted up too. Definitely worth checking regularly

• Podcasts | Friends of the Stars
  “Semi-regular podcasts created by Birmingham country/folk band Friends of the Stars. The podcasts, which also feature music, revolve around disucssions held between band members and ‘Executive Producer Robson’, a friend of the band with a tenuous, undefined role in the creation of the band’s musical output. The podcasts contain swearing” I listened to the last two ‘casts on the way back from London the other day and would recommend em
• Airy Fairy blog
  Katie, who runs Airy Fairy in the Oasis shopping centre, has a blog. I’m hoping the Birmingham Alt Fashion Icons feature carries on
• Brum Live Christmas Cracker!
  With party season warming up, here’s a lil plug for the Birmingham Live! party upstairs at Island Bar on Wed 17 Dec. Everyone’s welcome
• Would appointing a creative director solve Birmingham’s image problems? – Design Week
  A feature with input from Michael Wolff and Stef Lewandowski and comparison with Manchester who have Peter Saville as creative director
• Brumcast 112 ‘I May not be Jimi Hendrix but at least I’m not dead’
  Little Chris’s latest musical offering (features Munchbreak – hoorah!)
• D’log :: blogging since 2000 » Roads Ahead
  Competition time – “the Roads Ahead short story competition for authors from the English regions. Deadline: 14th December 08″
• Alternative Birmingham
  Not sure who started this blog and it seems to have only lasted a couple of days last month but I’m hoping someone picks it up again

• shameless self promotion (for a good cause) « graphiquillan
  Please go and vote for Shona’s beautiful design. It’s so quick to do and you’ll be supporting Birmingham’s creativeness. Please. Go on
• 4Talent Central Film Weekender
  As part of the Hello Digital festival the local 4Talent folk have put together some film events at the Electric Cinema. On Friday there are 5 films from the annual Horrorfest competition. Saturday sees Pixar’s Michal Makarewicz introducing WALL-E (in high def). Sunday returns to horror with 28 Days Later, followed by a debate on the future of digital film
• YouTube – ArtsFest2008′s Channel
  ArtsFest has a YouTube channel for the 2008 events
• Punch – News – MOBO 2008 nomination for Punch!!!
  Ammo from Punch was nominated for a BeMOBO award which honours an individual or organisation making a difference in the community. He was pipped to the post by Ricky McCalla in the end but a round of applause is due nonetheless
• Twitter / punchrecords
  Punch have joined Twitter, by the way
• Big Cat Group on Hello Digital
  Big Cat give an overview of the events happening next weekend (Thurs – Sun) at Hello Digital
• Digbeth is Good- Sunday Xpress this Sunday at the Adam & Eve
  Promising not only “singers, poets, comedians, strange music-makers and rattlesnakes” but “free roast potatoes and good cheer” too. Sounds splendid
• Animation Forum WM – Eight Eyed Sea Bass in Profile
  Interesting interview with Paul and Dom from Eight Eyed Sea Bass. Covering topics like the London/regions divide, funding/support for animators and current/future projects. Having seen it, I can also confirm that they have a “bloody nice studio”
• D’log – 10th Birmingham Tolkien Fest
  Pencil in 16-17 May 09 if the thought of a Tolkein Fest makes you go weak at the knees. If not, don’t

• Bits of Britain
  John Dale is a “trade plate driver, collecting and delivering vehicles around the UK” but is based in Birmingham. His blog is a collection of his travel writing. In his email he adds “I’ve previously had writing published in the Moseley based magazine Birmingham 13 and in Raw Edge. I’ve also had stories short-listed for the Fish International Short Story Prize and the Writers’ Forum monthly fiction prize”
• YouTube – BirminghamRepTheatre’s Channel
  The REP have been on YouTube for a couple of months by the look of it. Will be interesting to see what they do with it (anyone want to throw a suggetion in the comments?)
• Digbeth is Good – Scary decisions
  Nicky Getgood rounds up the Halloween options in Digbeth – Ikon Eastside closing party, 24 Hour Psycho at VIVID, Bill Drummond at Eastside Projects, Outersight’s Halloween Horrorshow and Capsule/ATP’s Release The Bats at the Custard Factory. Decisions, decisions
• ClustaSpace
  Clusta have launched ClustaSpace which “provides 3D visualisation for marketing, planning and advertising” which looks very clever indeed
• Iron Man Records on Posterous
  Nice to see someone jumping on the ‘forward your mailouts to Posterous and get them published on the internet’ thing.

• Gigbeth – What’s On
  The schedule for Gigbeth is coming together. Young Knives, Guillemots, The Destroyers, Sugarhill Gang and Einstellung are down so far with more to come
• Light House October Highlights
  Featuring independent film releases and new photography exhibition ‘Imagined Lines’cib by Matthew Hammond
• Curates Egg Autumn Programme
  Here’s the Curates Eggs’ latest mailout. All sorts of things going on including some stuff for the Birmingham Comedy Festival. There’s also some recommendations for other peoples events, which is always good to see
• The Bad One review
  Whatsonstage Midlands reviews Women & Theatre’s latest play… and they like it
• Clusta Brand Cool Brands
  “CoolBrands, the annual survey of the UK’s coolest brands, appointed Clusta to overhaul the brand identity for its 2008/09 programme”
• Another Byte Of Banality: Turn It up Sonny…
  Looking for used Soundsystems, PAs, Speakers, Amps, Microphones and other audio miscellany? Mark 19 October in your diary as the date of ‘Urban Village’ Dave’s Used Pro Audio Fair at the Custard Factory
• Homer Creative
  “a creative communications agency” who seem to do any number of related things including graphic design, web design, writing, editing, art direction, photography, etc and so on. They designed the cover for Gaynor Arnold’s Booker longlisted ‘Girl In A Blue Dress’ too

• Architectiv – Steve Brockerton’s new architectural stock photo library (Birmingham gallery)
  “Birmingham architecture gallery. Creative contemporary achitectural stock image library featuring commercial, corporate, retail, leisure, residential and industrial buildings and structures in the uk”
• Buy One Get One Free Book Offer
  “The Birmingham Book Festival takes place from 1st to 24th October and the Festival team have arranged a special buy one get one free ticket offer for Creative Republic members for 3 of their events”
• Call for Artists and Makers for Festive Flair 2008
  “Flair aims to bring together the very best of the region’s creative talent in one place and showcase high quality work”. Held at the Chubb Buildings in Wolverhampton on 6 Dec. If you want a stall then get your application in
• Birmingham has 2 of Britain’s 10 most endangered Victorian buildings
  Moseley Road Baths in Balsall Heath and the Red Lion Pub in Handsworth have made into a list of the Victorian Society’s top 10 endangered buildings in the UK
• NU Century Arts
  Loads of stuff coming up at The Drum from NU Century Arts. I really wish they’d put their newsletters somewhere I could link to though
• Myspace.com Blogs – Amanda Palmer @ MBC! – ForeRunner Records MySpace Blog
  Forerunner Records and FEED are hosting a seminar by Amanda Palmer (of The Dresden Dolls) at Matthew Boulton College on Friday 3 Oct before she performs at the Custard Factory that evening. Tickets are limited so contact forerunnerrecords@hotmail.com to enquire.
• Kebablog
  Steve Cooper writes this blog and takes some nice photos

• Digbeth is Good – Sunday Xpress open mic and dangling
  Quoting the organisers – “open mic session this Sunday at the Adam & Eve, Bradford Street, Digbeth. Free entry, free roast potatoes, free arts & crafts, free junk stall, free entertainment, we’ll even give you some free advice if you ask for it. We are great. Kicks off at 3pm, goes on however long we want but definitely til 7pm”. I’m not sure what the dangling involves, mind
• mama feel good this October!
  Ah, my musical bias is showing.  I like me some funk/soul/northern soul/afrobeat and latin so on Sat 25 Oct the Bulls Head will be the place to be
• Rosie Kay kicks off the DanceXchange autumn season
  On 24 Sept “DanceXchange Associate Artist Rosie Kay presents the premiere of new piece Supernova, plus the welcome return of her International Dance Festival Birmingham hit Double Points: K”
• About this blog…. « Jamie Perry
  Jamie Perry, Comms Manager at Audiences Central has started his own personal blog
• Craig Holmes Photographer – Journal
  Craig Holmes has moved his Crowded Gallery blog here
• Capsule Blog » Have your portrait taken for Home Of Metal archive
  An “opportunity for fans of Judas Priest, Napalm Death, Godflesh, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin to be photographed wearing their prized band t-shirts” At Scruffy Murphys in Birmingham on Friday 26 Sept 9pm – 11pm. Steve Gerrard will be doing the snapping
• D’log – Mac call for artists
  “There’s a call out for five new commissions for the new mac arts centre in Birmingham, which is currently being rebuilt”

• Call and Return : ludogeography
  Nikki Pugh’s new project looks like being the Emergent Game writ large, although I’m wary about second-guessing this – one of the strategies is ‘take nothing for granted’, after all. Missions will be announced on 19 September but the time to sign up is now. Workshops will be taking place in Japan soon (told you it was writ large)
• Craftspace shortlisted for a national award – Audiences Central
  “Craftspace have been shortlisted for this award in recognition of their work with ‘The Project Group’ (an arts social enterprise) and the Quilters’ Guild of Great Britain”. I can’t find a mention on the Craftspace website but congrats to them all the same
• New First Light Movies Studio Award Deadlines Announced
  “With the First Light Movies Studio Award organisations with experience in collaborative filmmaking with young people can apply for up to £30,000 to fund the production of between two and four short films”. Deadline for applics is 14 October
• New book from Tindal Street Press
  Spaghetti Gazetti report that “Tindal Street Press is delighted to launch their latest book ‘Never Never’ by David Gaffney”

• Graphiquillan – tea break painting | process
  The joy of artists’ blogs – I like seeing the process behind/around the finished work. This is “the journey from sketch to almost finished study for a future painting”
• stitches and hos have a blog
  “For now here’s a picture of a knitted fish blanket that I love”.  A blog for the Birmingham chapter of the alt/nu/anti/un-knitting phenom. Ok, so ‘un-knitting’ doesn’t work as a descriptor.
• 7 Inch Cinema – Knitflicks
  More knitting-related action with photos from the weekend’s event in this gallery
• Supersonic 07 live recording – Oxbow Duo perform ‘Loves Holiday’
  After the success that was Supersonic 08, Capsule have released their first piece of vinyl on a limited run of 1000. I thought they were meant to be putting their feet up…

• BBC on The Flyover Show
  Is there a more essential, free event happening in the city this weekend? Don’t miss out.
• Lots Of Things To See And Do In The West Midlands
  Russ L picks out June’s interestingness so I don’t have to.
• WOIB rounds up Birmingham Gay Pride 08
  The folks on the Whats On In Brum blog had fun and have pics

• Live Box Special at The Drum
  This season of the Soweto Kinch-hosted Live Box draws to a close with Yusa, a young Cuban singer and multi-instrumentalist.
• Volunteer Placement with The Big Picture
  The Big Picture are after someone to spend two weeks scanning photos submitted by the general public to contribute to their world record total.
• University to Showcase £150m Eastside Plans
  The city centre campus will look after the Birmingham Institute of Art & Design, and the faculty of Media and Performance Arts. The plans will be on show on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning at Millenium Point.
• Cast of 17
  There’s excitement over on BiNS with the news that Bill Drummond will be up to larks in Birmingham on 21 June.
• Miscellaneous crew roles available
  Jobs going on a no-budget independent feature film being shot in Birmingham, entitled “Wasters”.

• Birmingham: England’s 2nd largest city is a true musical melting point
  Short vid about Birmingham’s musical heritage from Guardian.co.uk/02 Wireless “whatever your favoured musical genre, you’re sure to find it in the midlands”. Spotted by Simon Howes.
• Birmingham International Film Society (B.I.F.S) Facebook Group
  BIFS has a Facebook group. Next step, a blog with film times, some info about the society, future plans, etc? Pretty please?
• Colour have a blog
  Colour is a West Midlands-based promotions group, founded in 2006. “Our focus is bringing leftfield folk, electronica, ‘indie’ and other mainstream-eschewing artists to the area through our live events and DJ sets”.
• Birmingham Daily Photo
  Daily photos of Birmingham, as you might expect. Spotted by BiNS.

• ArtsFest – Short Cuts submissions to be in by 30 May
  As blogged previously but I’ve just been told the submission date is 30 May. Contact Kate Sullivan (kate.sullivan[at]birmingham.gov.uk) at ArtsFest for details/submission forms.
• Rhubarb Rhubarb
  News of “what is now known as Europe’s premiere review of the image, bringing to Birmingham 60 of the worlds most renowned international gallerists, curators, agents, photo publishers and picture editors”.
• Flip 08 – animation festival calls for entries
  Flip will run over 3 days between 6 – 8 November 2008 at Light House and other venues across Wolverhampton and Birmingham. The closing date for festival submissions is 8 August 2008.
• D’log – Mysterious monsters
  D’log ties in the ‘Mysterious Monsters’ exhibition at the Barber Institute (free, 22 May – 14 Sept) with BMAG’s ‘Myths and Monsters: Unravelling the Truth’ show (£4, 24 May to 31 August).
• O2 Undiscovered workshops at Academy 2, 24 May
  Late notice but maybe worth a look if you’re an aspiring musician or if you’ve ever had a thing for Dave Stewart (I haven’t, I hasten to add).