Created in Birmingham

Tony Graffiti presents Keep Graffiti Real, Smoke Crack, Sign On… a graffiti exhibition at Green Street Arts. The exhibition launches on 14 October and will run through to 23 October.

Digbeth is Good says there’ll be…

…a house band, DJ Boogie Dave, Drop Beats Not Bombs along side DJ Rosko, as well as Emjay Ladie, DJ Punk N Ska with Justin Bond from Boogie Down Brum playing early rave and britpop.

…and I’m inclined to believe them.

Nearly five years ago, a group of friends and I decided to take some initiative and create for ourselves the kind of organisation and event that we would most want to be a part of. The result is Project X Presents – a Birmingham based creative network producing events once or twice a year which aim to fuse many different strands of creative endeavour into one cohesive whole.

So what is a network anyway? In our case, a free association of individuals bonded by two essential qualities – an interest in creativity and a friendly, open minded attitude. We realised that between ourselves and our immediate friends we have between us a tremendous variety of interests and an urge to be together and be creative. Weekly meetings began and continue still, the network steadily grew. Our fifth event – Xhibition, comes up this Saturday in Moseley.

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• Festibull 2008: Battle of the Unsigned Bands
  “Compete against other unsigned bands for the chance to support ‘Cage The Elephant’ at the gig of a lifetime”. That’s right, you can stop dreaming of Wembley and start thinking bigger – the mighty Bullring awaits
• Stereographic – The New Art Gallery Walsall
  Stereographic have been working on a “brand and communications refresh” for the New Art Gallery Walsall and here’s some of what they’ve been producing
• Birmingham Bach Choir – Now Recruiting – Audiences Central
  “Regular performances in Symphony Hall are accompanied by international orchestras like the English Chamber Orchestra, often with world-class soloists… You don’t have to be an expert or a great singer to join the Birmingham Bach Choir but you should be able to read music and to enjoy working hard with everyone else to achieve the high standards we look to maintain”
• Facebook | Drop Beats Not Bombs Crew wanted
  I don’t think they’re after people at the moment but if you wanted to get involved at some point then joining this Facebook group might be a good place to start

You’ll have to excuse some slightly hectic posting this week and next while I get my head round 300ish new RSS feeds and an inbox stuffed with interesting (and hopefully not yet out of date) emails.

I’ll also introduce myself properly later but for now, here’s a round-up:

• “aCtiVe arts is a steering group, made up of committed residents and local professionals, dedicated to providing quality arts experiences and opportunities for the Castle Vale community of North-East Birmingham”. They have a blog and you are advised to see what they’re doing.

• The next Drop Beats Not Bombs runs from Friday 2 to Monday 5 May (the bank holiday) and tickets are available. That’s at The Rainbow (and the warehouse and arches) in Digbeth. There should be more info on their website but it was having bandwidth issues last I checked.

• The people at the People shop in Kings Heath are having a party with drinks and canapés at their store on Saturday 26th April from 10am until 5:30pm. It’s in aid of Macmillan, there’s a raffle for a luxury goodie bag and visitors can have their photo taken by Emily Quinton. Get all the info here.  **UPDATE** It was a big success with £430 raised on the day.  More events will follow.

• Simon has started a blog called Birmingham Central. He says he’s “been inspired by the recent blogging epidemic sweeping Birmingham and the value of a good blog to share news and information”.

• Speaking of bloggers, the next Birmingham Bloggers meet-up will be on Tuesday 29 April at Rooty Frooty in the Custard Factory. Nick Booth has more info but I refer you also to the Facebook event and the Upcoming page.