Yesterday it was an Invisible City, today it’s a Hidden one:
The Hidden City’s aim is to create a database of stories that have helped shape the community we live and work in today
It’s basically a map with some nicely produced audio slideshows and very nice it is too. You can subscribe to updates via Twitter, the Tumblr or iTunes. Have an explore around. This one’s about The Drum:
In 2010, Birmingham was due to become a leading digital city. I’ve no reason to assume that didn’t happen on schedule, although I’ve been flicking through The Drum’s list of Top 100 Digital Agencies (by fee income) and they don’t seem to have got the memo.
The Midlands (east and west) only have three agencies listed. Those are:
The good news is we beat Wales (one agency listed) and the North East (also one agency, although their fee income easily outstrips the combined Midlands ones). Hurrah, I suppose.
Well done to 383 Project for their mention in the ones to watch for 2012 list.
Over the past few months a group of people have been taking part in MOB:
MOB is a project inspired by the current craze of ‘flash mobbing’ where seemingly unplanned ‘happenings’ take place involving hundreds of children, young people and adults. MOB is about creating new ‘disturbances’ that help share the values of the Olympics & Paralympics.
Among various other things (the full list is actually pretty exhausting), they’ve performed at Prince Albert School, spent a day with First Light Movies, did a photoshoot with Adrian Burrows and rode a red bus around the city doing good deeds.
All of the activity has been collected together on this Tumblr.
The final part of the project is an exhibition that’ll be launched at The Drum on Monday 18 April at 6.30pm.
Dee Patel‘s photographic series ‘Land of Hope & Glory‘, is a non-political piece aiming to remind us that immigration is not a 21st century phenomenon, it’s been occurring for hundreds of years, bringing with it opportunity and diversity.
Behind each immigration statistic lies a story and with it, a human being. Throughout the series, Dee photographed and listened to stories from the people in Handsworth communities, where 170 of the world’s countries are represented.
I sat down with each individual asking questions to get an idea of their roots. I laughed with them and we shared coffee. This opportunity enabled me to look into their lives, into their histories, listen to their hopes and fears and to share a moment at some deeper level.
‘Land of Hope & Glory’ is currently on display at Handsworth Library until 18 March. From there it will join Anna Fields in the Creative Leap Exhibition at The Drum , opening 25 March until 14 April.
Handsworth Library is open Mon/Tues/Sat 9am – 5pm; Thursday 12 noon – 7pm.
If you’re aged 25 or under and you like getting things for free then make haste to A Night Less Ordinary and see what tickets you can snaffle up. This scheme’s getting the chop soon, so take advantage while you still can.
Round these parts The Drum, The Rep and Hippodrome have offers. Looking a little wider there are offers at Warwick Arts Centre, Belgrade Theatre, Playbox Theatre and the RSC.
Desipulp in association with The Drum present a fresh reworking of the 1997 hit Arrange that Marriage.
Throw in a couple of hysterical parents and some confused young people… add a ‘liberal’ helping of emotional blackmail and some good old fashioned cultural pressure… allow to simmer … then sprinkle with music and dance from the Bollywood, Nashville and R&B genres…
What do you get?
The most frivolous and irrelevant theatrical examination of the arranged marriage paradigm!!
Catch this darkly comedic show from 9 – 14 November. To book tickets, call the box office on 0121 333 2444 or visit www.the-drum.org.uk
Tickets are £10, but if you manage to book before 10 October, it’s 2 for £10, and before 5 November you can get tickets for the Wed/ Thu/ Fri performances for £7 each. And as if that’s not a good enough set of deals, The Drum have a limited amount of free tickets for theatre goers under 26 as part of A Night Less Ordinary.
The Drum is looking of 16-25 year olds to create Olympic and Paralympic inspired flash mobs, creating new ‘disturbances’ that share values of the games – Excellence, Respect, Friendship, Courage, Determination, Inspiration and Equality.
Volunteers will have the opportunity to gain and Arts Award, work experience in the arts industry, plus paid expenses whilst you give up as much or as little of your time as you can afford.
To join the MOB and take part in free weekly activities which are open to all, call 0121 333 2422 or email n.galbraith@the-drum.org.uk
Academic Stewart Brown has produced an extensive set of prints in which he adopts and twists the words which constantly surround him, while combining this with his experiences of African buses, Caribbean carnival and postmodern Birmingham.
I live in Letterland, an illuminated Babel, beautiful, unsayable, meaningless, profound.
His current exhibition Babel is on display at The Drum until 30 November, with an Artist’s Talk on 28 October at 6pm, whereby he will present his work and critical studies of famous Jamaican and African literature.
If you are interested in purchasing any of his prints, contact Stewart on 0121 414 5127 or S.Brown@bham.ac.uk
On 6 October at 7.15pm, ARC (Anti Racist Campaign) and Duende Performance Co. will be hosting this event at The Drum.
A panel featuring film and theatre makers Kenan Malik, Colin Prescod (Institute of Race Relations) and Dave Rogers (Banner Theatre) will dicuss why they believe immigration has been, and is, good for Britain.
Brewers’ Troupe Present: Pub Poetry Slam at the Hollybush (Cradley Heath), hosted by performance poets Emma Purshouse and Heather Wastie. This slam poetry sesh is on 19 September, starting at 7.30, and is open to all slam virgins, beginners, novices or maybe even the more experienced slammer keen to try out new material in a friendly local pub environment.
For more information or to book your slam place telephone Emma 07950 165265 or email emmaasif@hotmail.com
The Drum Beat Poetry Workshop starts Tuesday 21 September, and will carry on until 14 December. Meeting Tuesdays at 4 – 6pm, the group will discuss a selected poets work, along with sharing and providing feedback for each other’s work. Poets of all levels are welcome, all you need to join in is a pen, a piece of paper, a poem and £1.
Rhymes on the Roof will be happening 24 September, from the roof of RoguePlay’s new space at The Old Fire Station, Moseley. With the usual poetry goodness and awesome Raffle, this month’s will also host a pretty view and fresh air. Starting at 8pm, bring a brolly and a jumper.
Hiya, still here. I’ve just been off, away and working for a bit. Here’s some stuff:
Rhymes from the Rocks is a showcase for poetry inspired by the geology of the Black Country and its storehouse of unusual and beautiful objects. The poems on this site have been produced by young people from the Dudley area.
Unsolved is a project all about sightings of ghostly, odd and paranormal things around the region. Check the case map.
In case you can’t see the flyer/poster, the Simmer Down Festival is in Handsworth Park on 17 July with the after party at The Drum.
Speakeasy is be a get-together for West Mids theatre folk hosted by The Drum and in association with The Rep. It’s on Monday 7 June.
Alison Gagen from ACE West Mids and Tyrone Huggins who the chairs the Sustained Theatre West Midlands Hub (which I’d not come across before) will be there. The general format will be:
A discussion of the landscape for theatre practitioners in the West Midlands in terms of funding and opportunities, together with a preview of forthcoming work and a chance for local writers, actors, directors, producers and venue managers to network and announce their latest news.
More info via Script Online.
sampad turn 20 this year and have just published their brochure with details of how they’ll be celebrating.
The Sampad Story is an exhibition that will open on 1 May at the mac and run through to 30 August. It’ll be accompanied by a book edited by Tasawar Bashir. From the blurb:
Come and find out how from humble beginnings from its home at mac, sampan has transformed an annual festival into a year round programme. From large scale productions to intimate poetry sessions and participatory activities, sampan has been instrumental in developing and showcasing a wealth of south asian arts from the UK and abroad
They’re also doing some performances as part of IDFB – Utopia, Thresh Dance Company: The Absent Lover and a Kathak Duet – showcasing Urban Jungli at The Drum and there’s the sampad Arts Mela on Sunday 25 July.
There’s loads more too, so here’s the brochure:
I saw Mother India: 21st Century Remix in 2008 and it was honestly one of the best things I saw that year. It’s been off on tour since but will be back in Birmingham on Sunday (11 April) to crown Mother India weekend – a bunch of events happening at the Town Hall and Symphony Hall.
This version of Mother India is:
A reinterpretation of the 1957 Indian cinema classic as a 45 minute silent movie with new musical score will be performed live by DJ Tigerstyle, drummer David Shaw and cellist Matt Constantine with Josh Ford as visual editor.
MI21 is a compact, powerful and sensual take on Mehboob Khan’s Hindi masterpiece – a hugely important film in South Asian cinema, known for its iconic imagery and powerful storyline: the common shorthand is to reference it as India’s ‘Gone with the wind’.
Definitely go and see it. Here – here’s the link to get tickets.
Other things happening as part of the weekend:
The first is in association with Birmingham Jazz, the others with sampad and, in some cases, The Drum.
The Mid-day Mantra thing sounds quite good – a variant on the Rush Hour Blues series, I guess. That’ll be happening once a month from now on and will be a freebie.
