Created in Birmingham

• Birmingham Post – BBC confirms plans to axe radio stations Asian Network
  The Beeb are closing the Birmingham-based Asian Network, which is a shame. Although more people seem peeved at them shutting down that London-based station that plays Elbow all the time
• Why The BBC Asian Network Still Scratches My Niche
  Defence of the Asian Network via Punch Records, asking folks to sign a petition to stop the BBC cuts
• 38 Degrees | Stand up for the BBC – Stop the cuts
  “To the BBC Trust: Please don’t slash the BBC’s website, radio, and TV programme” Here’s the petition
• Some link for February 21st through to March 2nd | Birmingham Conservation Trust
  I’m linking to a round-up of links here. Good ones though, with stuff about MADE’s lecture series, the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter and a website based on digitised material about the development of the Industrial Revolution in the West Mids
• Happy Birthday ANLO!
  “A Night Less Ordinary, The Arts Council’s FREE tickets for young people scheme, celebrates its first Birthday this month. To help celebrate, The REP is offering an entire week of FREE theatre for people aged 14 to 26 in addition to our usual FREE Friday offer”
• New Studio Facility for Rare
  Rare are opening a big studio in Digbeth. They make games for Microsoft and are soon to start making them directly under the CiB office! Expect the number of posts here to dwindle from April onwards…

The REP have a new section for families on their website. It’s got vids and such on it, like this one showing how to make a toy theatre:

Sounds like the Writing on the Wall event at The Rep the other night went well – it even created some amusing fuss on the event page’s comments thread.

There’s more Aerosol Arabic action at Bullring this weekend, with Mohammed Ali creating a big mural in the shopping centre.

There’s an online interactive element to this one – he’ll be taking suggestions from Twitter users for words, phrases, thoughts or whatever to influence his piece. Just tweet @lifefeelsbetter during the day.

After a fair amount of globetrotting, Mohammed Ali seems to be doing a fair bit more in his home city at the moment – there’s a snippet of him doing a bus tour of Birmingham mural’s from Midlands Today here too.

• West Midlands Cultural Sector Economic Survey
  “The aim of this survey is to find out how the West Midlands cultural sector is performing during the recession”. Courtesy of the West Midlands Regional Observatory. Please help out by filling it in
• Images 33 « More Canals than Venice
  “The prestigious Association of Illustrators (AOI) Images 33 touring exhibition showcases the best British work in illustration, advertising, literature, children’s books, new media and editorial and is now coming to Birmingham”. 11 Jan to 4 Feb at BIAD
• Facebook | alternative night clubs in birmingham-1980′s and 1990′s
  In turn, Midge has pointed out the discussion in this Facebook group
• Birmingham History Forum
  Not come across this forum before. Ta to Fiona Cullinan for the link. She spotted the ‘Birmingham Nightclubs of the Past – Memories’ thread
• Birmingham Repertory Theatre: In The Dark
  “Imagine waking up in a prison cell with absolutely no recollection of how you got there?”
• A Decade At The REP In Pictures
  “Having enjoyed various reviews of the decade in the media over the festive season, we’ve ventured into our archives to pick out a selection of photographs from the last ten years to share with you”
• Commercially Inviable Records » World of Fox has 2010 covered
  “throughout 2010, i will be releasing one new song a month. each one will be a cover of a song from the 1980s which has a special significance for me, so it will be quite a personal selection. some of them will be recognisable, some less so, but they’ll all be pure fox…”
• Best of 2009 — Steve Gerrard Photography
  Steve’s made a slideshow of his fave pics from last year and there’s some absolute belters
• 2010 Workshops Programme – Creative Open Workshops
  Fun with paper craft, textiles and crochet. Workshops cost £15 which gets you materials, equipment, warm drinks and cake

An odd one this, but a goody. I daresay we’ll see more interesting fundraising efforts in this vein over the next little while. See also the CBSO’s recent Street Maestros thing.

More info than what I’ve pasted below on The Rep’s website.

There are some spooky goings on at The REP this festive season as A Christmas Carol brings its ghosts to our Main House.

We’re offering would be ghost hunters a chance to spend the night with us and find out more about the theatre ghosts and what happens when the auditorium empties.

A once in a lifetime experience for brave souls only!

Pledge to raise a minimum of £250 to support the work of The REP and get the chance to sleep over on the theatre’s Main Stage and await the things that go bump in the night…

For one night only on Friday 8th January 2010

• Top 10 Birmingham Bands of The Decade? « The Blue Whale Blog
  Ah, finally! Some opinionated Birmingham-centric music writing, I knew it’d be out there somewhere. The Blue Whale Blog is worth a subscribe. This is their hack at a top 10 Brum bands but many others have had their say since
• iain armstrong • sound artist
  “Iain Armstrong is a Scottish composer/sound artist who has been based in Birmingham, UK since 1998″ He was involved with BEAST, has presented work with Project X Presents and done much more besides
• Kate Green Photography
  Kate does commercial, portrait, wedding and fine art photography. She exhibits too
• Fierce: Female Performers wanted for site-specific performance in Birmingham
  “Mem Morrison Company and The REP are looking for up to thirty female volunteers* to perform in its current production, Ringside. This opportunity is open to all women over the age of 18 who wish to be involved in a site-specific performance”

Mohammed Ali is holding an evening of live graffiti-art and poetry in The REP’s soon-to-be-demolished workshop (Kate Beatty’s photos of which you can see here) on 21 January 2010. Tickets available from The Rep.

Jonzi D is directing the event with Dreadlock Alien, (the superb) Zena Edwards and Amir Sulaiman performing new poetry.

After the performance itself you can pop into the workshop to see the graffiti on:

• Fri 22 Jan 4.30pm – 6.30pm
• Sat 23 Jan 12.00 – 2.00pm
• Tue 26 Jan 4.30 – 6.30pm

Apparently there are a few things happening in the workshop area before it’s knocked down. At this stage I have no more info than that. I’d go and investigate but right now there’s a cinnamon bun calling to me.

With big changes happening at The Rep over the next few years, Kate Beatty‘s been asked to use her photographing prowess to document life behind the scenes at the theatre:

I have been shooting the interiors, back stage, workshop, wardrobe, wigs, props and the people behind the scenes….and there sure are some characters!

Photos will be going up on her blog every so often. Here’s the first:

• Guest Blog: The Pharaoh of Film – Khaled El Hagar – profiled by Professor Roger Shannon
  “Acknowledged in his home country Egypt as the most controversial movie maker of his generation, Khaled lives quietly for half of the year in Kings Heath, in Birmingham, where he has established himself as the city’s leading auteur”
• Rhubarb and Apple — two new ways to listen « Rhubarb Radio in progress
  Rhubarb Radio is now listed in Apple’s Internet Radio directory
• 4am Project at the Bodies Revealed Exhibition | Karen Strunks Photographer
  I’m a bit late on this, but Karen’s organising another 4am Project – this one will be this weekend and the focus of the Birmingham activity will be at the Bodies Revealed exhibition. As I type this there are just 22 free tickets left
• Digbeth is Good » The funeral of The Site
  I had an invite to this but couldn’t make it (and, in a fortunate sense now that I think of it, lacked the mourning attire). Nice little write-up by Nicky and there’s still time to go see this before it closes on 13 Dec
• The Endless Descent « More Canals than Venice
  “The Endless Descent brings together artists from Birmingham, Bristol and London to exhibit in the distinctive 1930’s Modernist stairwell, lobby, lift and entrance area of Rea Studios”. Ah, this launched last night – I walked past and wondered what was going on
• Birmingham-based female performers wanted for site-specific show
  “Mem Morrison Company and The REP are looking for up to thirty female volunteers to perform in their current production, Ringside”
• D’log :: blogging since 2000 » Arts attendance has not increased since 2005
  Not only that but… “It now looks as though the same trend is continuing into 2008/9.”
• 100 years of The Electric Cinema – Birmingham: It’s Not Shit
  From the other night – “A cosy evening at The Electric with a ‘This Is Your Life’ of Britain’s oldest working picture house in the company of owner Tom Lawes to celebrate its 100th birthday” Happy birthday Electric Cinema!
• Middlemash
  “This blog, in conjunction with the Mashed Library wiki & Mashed Library Ning, will be used to provide information on the 3rd mashed library event, Middlemash at Birmingham City University on Monday 30th November”. Missed this, but there’s plenty to go rooting through
• Smash Bro’z In San Francisco! Part1 :) « Dancegeek’s Blog
  “we are proud to announce that we have just returned back from the prestigious San Francisco HipHop Dancefest event in San Francisco and successful in repping the UNITED KINGDOM and BIRMINGHAM with honours!!!!”

• Graft « More Canals than Venice
  “Graft are a curatorial collective based in the Midlands who are looking to find a space for up and coming and newly established artists. On 9th December they launch ARC, a new night at The Vaults… For the launch they are seeking proposals from newly estabished artists working in experimental performance, sound and video in response to The Vaults”
• D’log :: blogging since 2000 » Rea Garden
  An opportunity to take up a residency lasting up to 10 weeks at the Rea Garden from Jan 2010. Applications need to be in by 17 Dec
• Art Deco Buildings in Birmingham | Birmingham Conservation Trust
  The BCT goes in search of the city’s Art Deco buildings
• Digbeth is Good – YouTube – The Event Talks: Digbeth
  “Caroline Beavon of Hashbrum talks to Gavin Wade of Eastside Projects about The Event and Digbeth creative stuff in general”
• Art at Studio Five
  Bryn Tranter has a studio and gallery at the Custard Factory – “At StudioFive, we make art accessible to everyone. Whether you want to buy original pieces, you’re looking to learn or you need art to enliven your office or workplace, StudioFive is the place to start”
• Facebook | Birmingham Irish Film Festival
  Plans for “A film festival devoted to film from or about Ireland or with an identifiable Irish interest/connection” to possibly be expanded into a week-long celebration of Irish culture
• An Early Christmas Present for 14 to 26 Year Olds
  The Rep have just extended their A Night Less Ordinary ticket availability for A Christmas Carol to all evening performances from 19 December to 2 January, which is nice of em
• Brummie of the Year 2009 – Nominations Open
  Early nominees are Chris the handyman at the Barber Institute, Paul Hadley, Justice Williams, the Capsule grannies, the Jibbering crew, Alison Smith, Mr Ralph,Gurcharan Mall and Glyn Purnell

• Best Believe – Promoting Tolerance Through Arts
  I’m a bit slow to link to this, but Amy has a guest post from Ulfah Arts’ artistic director Naz Koser
• KateGoes Sock Crazy
  KateGoes would like you to make sock puppet monkeys to star in the video to their first single. Film Ficciones seem to be involved in this too. 31 Jan 2010 is the deadline
• something I said : Look Here!
  Nice idea this – thinking about those huge banners used to cover up scaffolding – “So what happens a lot of times is that the banner is just a huge photo of the building – which is pretty cool. But what if the banner were more like experimental art? Or a photo of something else?”
• Interview: David Massingham
  DanceXchange’s artistic director talks about the International Dance Festival Birmingham
• Tom Bellamy EP Launch Party | Hare and Hounds
  I’ve never heard Tom Bellamy’s music. Really I’m linking to this because I like the artwork (by Jonathan Farr from Mexico City)
• Anna Minton: ‘Ground Control’ Talk
  “Acclaimed journalist Anna Minton presents her book Ground Control” at The Public on Wednesday 18 Nov. I mean to pick up a copy of this a while back but plain forgot. As The Guardian summarised it “This timely and powerful study argues that a flawed urban-planning strategy has turned our cities into unfriendly, suspicious places”
• An Introduction to Creative Theatre Producing, Birmingham Rep
  This course “will look at everything needed to put on a show or start a production or theatre company, from the local pub, to a national tour, to the West End of London. It will also touch on film and TV opportunities”
• Analogue Out in the Open: Unguided Tours
  “For the final part of the Analogue project you can book your place on an ‘unguided tour’ of Taking Time: Craft and the Slow Revolution”
• Unlimited – Invitation to Advice Session
  Arts Council West Midlands will be holding an advice session for Unlimited, the UK’s largest ever disability arts programme, on Friday 20th November 2-4pm at their offices. Click the link for details

The Rep have just announced their spring/summer season. They single out the following highlights:

• David Edgar’s staging of Arthur & George
• Alan Bennett’s latest – The Habit of Art
• Brian Friel’s Olivier Award-winning play Dancing At Lughnasa; and
• A major new production of Michael Frayn’s comic romp Noises Off

There’s also “a series of plays inspired by the issues facing young people today” and quite a lot of dance, including some shows forming part of British Dance Edition 2010.

Next year will see the start of a period of upheaval for the Rep, what with the work on the new library that’ll be taking place. As a spokesperson said to the Birmingham Post:

The first work on The Rep building will start in early 2010 with the demolition of current workshops, rehearsal rooms and hospitality suites. These functions will move to another location.

We will continue to produce shows in the theatre during 2010 and we don’t imagine we will have to leave the building until 2011

• Best of the West Awards 2010 – Art Commission Brief
  A new awards programme for all museums, galleries and heritage groups in the West Midlands is after someone to design them a trophy for one of their categories. Details here.
• Made in the Black Country
  It’s “a site for the Black Country Museums to tell stories and showcase objects from our industrial past”
• Chris Keenan at the Centre for Fine Art Photography
  “Chris Keenan’s portrait of Tom, a Prefab home owner in Moseley, Birmingham, will be exhibited in the prestigious Portraits Exhibition at the Centre for Fine Art Photography, Colorado, USA”
• What’s happening around The REP and Centenary Square currently?
  Centenary Square’s a bit of a mess
• Birmingham Hippodrome :: A Night Less Ordinary
  The Hippodrome have free tickets available for U26′s for Alistair McGowan and a couple of Welsh National Opera shows
• Creative Communities | TAK!
  “This month Creative Review features a piece on Creative Communities. I was asked to offer my thoughts on the creative community we belong to, that is of Digbeth and the Custard Factory” Here’s Dom’s unedited thoughts
• Media Stars Shine at RTS Midlands Awards
  Congrats to all the big winners. Incidentally, what exactly are they putting in the water at the University of Lincoln?

• stitches and hos October 09
  The ‘little knitting hootenanny’ is back at the Hare & Hounds on Tues 27 October. Wool and needles provided, everyone’s welcome and they insist you don’t even have to be any good
• Snowman Colouring Competition winners
  Congratulations to the winners of The Rep’s competition
• 7 Inch Cinema » Living and listings
  The film folks’ latest round-up of good stuff happening around Birmingham/the West Mids in the next few weeks
• Birmingham Library tender reignites free pitching debate | News | Design Week
  “Birmingham City Council is the latest public-sector client to come under fire for asking for unpaid creative work in a tender”
• Fused Magazine – SXSW MUSIC MISSION DELEGATES WANTED
  “Fused Magazine along with UKTI are organising a mission to SXSW Music 2010. The visit is being organised by UK Trade & Investment and FUSED”
• Birmingham Post – News – 60th anniversary of Cluedo, a worldwide hit invented in Birmingham
  “Anthony Pratt, a clerk from Kings Heath, Birmingham, devised the game which was originally called Murder and designed for eight players”
• claire hartley
  “Hello. I’m Claire Hartley, a graphic designer and illustrator”. Claire has a new portfolio
• National Restaurant Awards 2009
  Birmingham did well in the NRA’s top 100 UK restaurants. Congrats to Simpsons (24), Purnell’s (34) and Turners (85)
• West Midlands Open 2010: Artists wanted
  “Artists can submit up to three original works, made since January 2007, in the form of 2D (any medium), 3D (sculpture or construction, but not furniture or crafts), or time-based and digital work. First Prize is £1,000, Second Prize £500 and Third Prize £250″
• Peter Watkins Photography – americana
  Peter Watkins has been taking photos around the West Midlands that evoke the idea of Americana (via http://brokenbottleboy.tumblr.com/)

In the Birmingham Post yesterday Punch Records‘ Ammo Talwar spoke his mind on what he sees as Birmingham’s neglect of this year’s Black History Month, especially in comparison to the enthusiasm shown over the Staffordshire Hoard:

When do we start pleasing the really big crowds – the ones who aren’t there, the ones who want to see something different? Do we have to get a metal detector down to Handsworth to unearth Apache Indian’s first gold tooth, or lock on to Steel Pulse’s forgotten cymbal set?

It’s Black History Month and there should be real effort and real funding to promote the treasures left to us by Birmingham’s black achievers.

Can’t argue with that.

The Black History Month website has a full run-down of everything happening over October (click the link and scroll down the page). It’s a little tricky to pick things out, although I’ve heard good things of East is East which is on at The Rep and Eric Roberson will be at The Drum on 10 Oct.

In the Birmingham Post piece Ammo mentions a showing of the controversial documentary, Deen Tight:

Filmed on location with Muslim rappers, DJs, slam poets, breakdancers and a graffiti artist in concerts, recording studios, at homes and in the streets. Our story focuses on the perceived conflict between traditional religious ideals and modernity, as well as both the positives and negatives of Western Pop culture on todays’ Muslim youth

That’s at The Drum on 13 October.