Created in Birmingham

• Smash Bro’z win at UK Hip Hop championships
  Next stop, Las Vegas for the World Finals
• CAN <UK>
  Based in Ladywood – “We are a design, media and communication company working with people of all ages and abilities to devise engaging cross media projects that enable participants to express ideas about themselves, their communities and environment”
• Arlene Burnett
  Birmingham based artist and curator. Currently to be found at the Rea garden on Floodgate Street in Digbeth
• Eat My Shorts: Haiti Fundraiser Saturday 13th March
  Over at The Edge on 13 March from 8pm. The plan is – “two hours of all sorts of shorts followed by a disco”
• Birmingham based 104 films score a double whammy at the BAFTAs
  They did Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
• An Endless Supply « More Canals than Venice
  Interview with the zine folks
• Digbeth is Good » Boxxed opens its doors
  Excited about this
• Creative Networks: Women’s Short Film Festival
  “Screening a selection of films from the ‘A Corto di Donne’ Film Festival held in Naples Italy 2009 with the organisers and some of the filmmakers as our Guest Speakers” 25 Feb
• The Highlight
  Looks like this has replaced Jongleurs on Broad St. It’s a comedy club. I didn’t recognise many of the upcoming acts, but then I don’t know comedy that well so fair enough. Actually, Roger Monkhouse (no relation) makes me laugh and he’ll be there in the next month or so
• Facebook | Secret Birmingham
  After the kerfuffle around the Secret London Facebook group there’s been a rash of others set up in other places around the country. Here’s the Birmingham one – some good stuff in there
• Jewellery Quarter Lobby launches | Birmingham Conservation Trust
  What happens when an Initiative, a Forum, an Association and a Group get angry? They get start a Lobby, natch.

• New ‘Creative’ guide launched for West Midlands entrepreneurs
  I can’t find a copy but it looks like it could be a blimmin interesting/useful document to get your mitts on. Can anyone find this online?
• Young People Arts Project: New Project Opportunity – Audiences Central
  “Audiences Central, with arts consultant Kerry Endsor, is looking to develop and deliver a high-profile, public-facing, arts project that will encourage and inspire young people in the West Midlands to engage with the arts and culture”. If you’re interested in getting involved then register your interest on the Audiences Central site before 19 Dec
• Welcome to BYPY
  Nominations for the Birmingham Young Professional of the Year are open
• heavy handbag
  Ramjeena Aujla is a “split-second-stealing snapper” and she blogs at Heavy Handbag
• Screen WM – The year that was… 2008
  Suzie Norton wraps up what they’ve been up to over at Screen WM this year
• B(l)og
  A couple of the Audiences Central peeps have started their own blogs recently, with this one from Fiona likely to be the most, um, quirky. She has/had a secret obsession – rating the city’s (and likely other cities’) toilets. So far pubs and restaurants feature highly
• Birmingham Jazz News – Birmingham Jazz gigs in Guardian’s top gigs of 2008!
  Congrats to Mary and co for gaining “recognition from respected Guardian Jazz critic John Fordham on the Dave Liebman tour and the Django Bates StoRMChaser project amongst others as highlights of the year”
• Make and Do at The Edge
  Antonio Roberts went to “the first Make and Do Party over at The Edge, which was hosted by Friction Arts. There were about 20 artists present and there was a strong emphasis on just having fun creating art!”. He has a quick write-up and some pics

The next instalment from the peope behind the speak-easy cinema takes place on Sat 6 December and this month they promise:

science fiction treats culled from the Outer Spaceways. Our Prime Directive will be, as ever, Lost Movies, Cult Obscurities and Films You Probably Shouldn’t Be Watching!

and

SubAtomic Sounds by TWIGGY AND THE K-MESONS and MICRONORMOUS, and 99.9% probability (and rising…) of an improvised Theremin set!

To get upfront info and money-saving invites ask them nicely be sending a text 07887 956297 or an email to outersight@live.com

Here’s the flyer:

I’ve just had an email from a journalist writing an article on art in Birmingham.  She says:

While I will be looking at galleries such as RBSA and Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery I would also like to look at something less conventional such as street art and something with a more independent edge

The first few things that sprung to mind (thinking mainly of galleries) were:

• Ikon Gallery
• Eastside Projects
• The Edge
• Urban Art Bar
• Gallery of Owls (although I’ve not visited and am struggling to find out much about this place)
• Purple Gallery
• Hedz (for street art stuff)

What have I missed?

Halloween might not be my bag but at least it’s an excuse to put some interesting events on.

Aside from the Ikon Eastside closing party there are a fair number of Halloween-themed things going on.  These are they (all happening on Friday 31 October, except the last two):

• The National Trust are putting on events in the back to back buildings (50-54 Inge Street/55–63 Hurst Street, Birmingham).  From 11.30am – 4pm they’ve got some nice events for the kiddies, then from 7pm to 9.30pm they’re “offering visitors a unique opportunity to linger for a while in our shadow-laden rooms, and silently reflect on the atmosphere of the back houses lit by candles, fires and oil lamps”
• The Town Hall are showing Nosferatu with an organ accompaniment by Nigel Ogden
• The Light House are showing Dracula, the Hammer version with Christopher Lee
• The Local Shorts Film Club are running a Halloween special at the Library Theatre
• Vivid are showing a slowed-down version of Psycho that will last a full 24 hours.  It starts at 9pm on Friday 31st and ends at 9pm the next day.  Entry is free
• At the Old Joint Stock Theatre, “Gemini present an evening of ghostly tales around the history of the Old Joint Stock followed by readings from a Medium”.  The night’s called Ghostly Histories and perhaps the scariest part is that the blurb mentions “clairvoyants with solid reputations”
• And on 1 November the Outer Edge’s next event at The Edge features “some obscure 3D horror and live horror sound effects from DJ FreakBeat”. Email outersight@live.com or text 07887 956297 for info.
• Also on 1 November, Capsule/ATP are putting on a Halloween show.

Thanks to the West Mids Life blog for a leg up compiling this.  Is there anything good I’ve missed?

Bad news from Friction Arts – with the builders due to arrive in a fortnight to start work on the refurb of The Edge Lee, their operations coordinator, has trapped a nerve in his back.  With prep work to do that’s a bit of a disaster so they’re asking for a hand:

We need some volunteers to come along this Thursday 25th September to help clear the space. If you can’t make it then but have some other time over the next couple of weeks we still need your help. We will provide beer, tea coffee and snacks for all who can help, as well as our eternal gratitude and one in the favour bank. Get in touch if you can help – it’s bound to be a laugh – and wear old clothes!

If you wish to contact us try the Edge telephone number: +44(0)121 772 6160 or +44(0)121 772 5185 or in absolute emergencies on the mobile 07970 221708 or alternatively, alternatively you can email us at info@livearts.co.uk

If anyone can help them out then give them a shout.

via Spaghetti Gazetti

The Metro’s West Midlands Life blog (fresh from giving Artsfest a rather unnecessary shoeing) have reminded me of the Outer Sight film nights at The Edge that I mentioned a while back and completely forgot to follow up on.

The next one is apparently on Saturday and:

the very vague theme is ‘French Fancies & Freaky Kids Flicks’. Expect weird film from psychedelic animator Vince Collins and even weirder music.  Entry is £2.50 with invite or £3.50 without; for more information, text OUTERSIGHT to 07887 956297, or e-mail outersight@live.com to join the mailing list

So if you’re not listening politely to another quite pleasant acoustic act at Moseley Folk Festival then perhaps pop down to this.  Speaking of the Mofo Festival (as no-one is calling it, thankfully) it kicks off today and I hear that kids’ tickets have gone.  When I bought a ticket the other day (pay in cash at Polar Bear and avoid a hefty booking fee from some other outlets) they were going quick – apparently it looks like Saturday might sell out but there should be tickets on the door if you get down in time.

Having promised to mention this before, I nearly forgot.  This summer:

Friction Arts will be collaborating with their US partners, Touchable Stories on a unique, living history arts project, attempting to reveal the true voice of Digbeth, Birmingham

There’ll be an exhibition and a series of other events including meetings, talks and dinners.  The first such event will be ‘Mining For Gold – a master class in oral history and community engagement’ from 3pm to 8pm on 25 July.  Shannon Flattery (Touchable Stories) will talk about work in some of the ‘third world’ communities in the US and Sandra Hall (Friction Arts and recently consultant to the Dutch culture dept) will present her own approaches to working, and making art.

There’s more general info on the Friction Arts site and here’s the flyer for this particular event:

Also coming up at The Edge, although I’ve not seen any info anywhere yet, Scott from Film Ficciones and Matt from Pram will be hosting some underground film nights.  I think that’ll be on Saturday 26 July but if anyone has any further info then let me know.

Some good news from the Edge has dropped into my inbox.  Having secured a ten-year lease for their premises they’ve now secured funding for a big refurb:

The wonderful SITA trust have blessed us with the resources to install a new heating system, disabled loos, insulation and a new kitchen!  This will be stage one of our ongoing plans to develop the place as the (informal) venue for experimental arts in the city and operate year-round.

There’s good news and bad(-ish) news: the bad(-ish) news is that public activity will be suspended until late summer while things are sorted out.  The good news is that they’d like people to help out with, in their words:

mainly smashing stuff and chucking it away/recycling, quite therapeutic, actually

So if you’d like to get involved drop them a line.

There are still a few events happening at the Edge in the meantime – the Strange Ways Cheapside Show is there until 12 July and there are some talks on 25 July which I’ll blog about later.

Strange Ways is a Birmingham-based artists’ collective and from 1 to 12 July they’ll be putting on their first major event – an art project at The Edge in response to the Cheapside area in Digbeth:

Demolition of the industrial landscape and its replacement with modern residential apartment blocks has begun. An ever-decreasing number of small industrial businesses remain. This is a crucial moment, the final stage of change from industrial to residential. Strange Ways’ intention was to witness, respond to and document this moment, but also to act as a focus for the new residential community and the existing working community to interact.

There’s more info and profiles of the artists involved on the Strange Ways website and there’s a Facebook group too.

The number of good things happening this evening is nuts:

• Fierce’s Platinum Programme is at The Edge, some of it you can drop into, some you have to book.
• Behind Closed Doors are holding the launch of The Secret Garden – an installation round the back of the Custard Factory from 6pm to 8pm.
• Fierce, again, are having a preview screening of Helen, a film entered for the Edinburgh and Sydney film festivals. That’s at 6pm (for drinks with the film at 6.30pm) at the AMC Broadway Plaza cinema. You’ll have to book yourself in on 0121 244 8080 though, no turning up unannounced.
• Creative Networks are holding their regular event at Millennium Point with a talk on how to Power Your Business With Web 2.0 from the CiB-affiliated Pete Ashton and Stef Lewandowski.

There’ll be more too, but those are just the ones I’d have hoped to make it down to. It’s a shame to miss out on things but on the other hand is great to see so much going on around town.

Paper clipping from here.

The Edge, “Birmingham’s first dedicated live and time-based arts venue”, wants to put the joy back into making art:

Saturday Sesh is not networking, it’s not a series of seminars, it’s just a place for artists to meet, to share ideas and resources and to make things happen.

All of which is highly laudable, so more power to their collective elbow. Anyone interested should feel free to drop in from 3pm on Saturday 3 May and every Saturday after for drinks, nibbles and a chat. Admission is free.

The Edge can be found at 79-81 Cheapside, Digbeth, Birmingham B12 0QH, or roughly where the green arrow is on this map.