Pete Ashton, who occasionally still pops up around these parts and is looking into bringing the CiB Shop back, has announced a couple of notable things.
First up, he’s resurrecting the social media surgeries that he used to run out of Rootys a couple of years ago. £20 will buy you half an hour to pick his brains, which should give you plenty of time to learn a shedload about how the Internet works and how it can work for you (especially, but not only, if you’re on the artsy/creative side of things). There’s some more info about these surgeries here.
To book a session with him, click this link and follow the instructions. Dates are:
- 13 July – MAC cafe
- 14 July – Fazeley Studios
- 15 July – Urban Coffee Co
He’s also doing one of the ‘These are a few of my favourite things’ talks at the Ikon on 11 August.
So that’s it then – the final pitch was in Liverpool yesterday and we’ll have to wait until July (can’t find an exact date) to find out who, out of Birmingham, Derry/Londonderry, Norwich and Sheffield, will have the title of City of Culture 2013 bestowed upon them.
A neat addition yesterday was the chance to send messages of support via CoveritLive that were then relayed to the judges via a screen. You can see those messages here. Apparently the judging panel were impressed by the level of support (I was less impressed by people spamming their stuff on there, but then I’m an idealist like that).
So, just a few more weeks until we find out whether Birmingham’s won a prestigious title or narrowly lost out in an arbitrary box-ticking exercise. Fingers crossed.
Meanwhile, Pete Ashton is selling prints of his image above that was used in the campaign. A bargain at £25.
For me, arts funding is an area that’s shrouded in mystery and confusion. But then I’ve never applied for any, so maybe it’s not such a big deal.
Anyway, two folks who have recently shed some light on the situation are Pete Ashton and Clare Edwards.
Pete went along to the Arts Council yesterday to chat about the Digital Content Development (DCD) fund. In a lovely, comprehensive post he’s found out what the fund’s for, what organisations have been doing wrong in their applications to date and what Anna Douglas and Steve Manthorp (the fund’s administrators) are looking for in applications.
Pete would also like to make it clear he’s available to help organisations (RFO’s only I’m afraid) who are trying to figure out what to use the fund for.
Clare was recently asked for advice on finding funding for a creative project. She was happy to help and thought it’d be useful to put her tips in a blog post, so here are Clare’s tips for finding funding for a creative project.
Hi, it’s Chris Unitt here. In what was rapidly becoming the worst-kept secret of modern times, Pete Ashton and I are taking on Created in Birmingham again.
It’s really good to be back.
Thanks for all the comments after Adrienne’s post, ‘Moving forwards’. We’ve taken some of those on board. There are likely to be a few tweaks and changes over the next few months – nothing too radical, but the site needs to evolve a bit if it’s to sustain itself and stay relevant.
On a related note, we’ve got a couple of new things:
Please do sign up if you’re interested in either.
However, the most important thing is CiB isn’t about whoever’s running it – it’s about all the fantastic and fascinating stuff happening in Birmingham. Which means I need to get on with writing some blog posts.
There is a bit of a debate about Created in Birmingham going on over at Dave Harte’s blog. It has been suggested that CiB has lost a bit of ‘umpf’ of late, that it may have strayed from it’s original purpose, or is lacking that special something that made it what it was. I am keen to get some of the regular readers in on the debate. I would be really interested to hear your feedback, warts and all.
In light of this, I wanted to let you know some things I am working on at the moment. I’m going to be changing the aesthetic of the blog, and changing the template we use. I’ll be using a free, downloadable template just as Pete did when he first created CiB. I will be doing this for several reasons, one simply because I am not a technical person and wouldn’t have a clue how to design or adapt my own, but mostly because I want to encourage others to start blogs by using these free tools that are available to anyone.
I am also working on a great big CiB Google Map of Birmingham. As a reader of CiB one question has always stuck with me: “That gallery / project / meetup / exhibition looks great, but where the hell is it?” When putting this map together and encouraging others to contribute, I am hoping to find lots of exciting stuff happening all over the city; it’s suburbs and back streets, North & South. I have been partly inspired by Nicky Getgood’s: Digbeth is Good Arty Trail.
I don’t think the map should be a comprehensive documentation of creativity in Birmingham, but a rich working document which evolves over time with many contributors adding locations, photographs, video and trails.
…be at Gigbeth tonight, but I’ve got to go to a birthday party the other end of the world instead. Humph.
If I could, I’d be checking out The Destroyers (amusingly described as “Oompah oompah oompah oompah oompah oompah pah, OY! x 1m” by one unconverted soul), the Sugar Hill Gang and the 4Talent stage.
In fact, 4Talent can have an extra plug because not only are they hosting the stage debut of CiB-founder Pete Ashton and friends, including this chap:
but they’re also giving away USB wristbands to the first 100 people through the door. They’ve been preloaded with videos, MP3s and a podcast from the acts they’ll be featuring on the night. If you need to know more, here’s what the 4Talent wristbands contain.
