Author Archive

El Ghost Fest IV

When: Saturday 4th May, 19:30
Where: Muthers Recording Studio, 14 Rea Street, Digbeth, B5 6LB
Tickets: £5 (available online here)

The next El Ghost Fest takes place on Saturday 4th May at Muthers Studios, featuring local bands:

The bands will be followed by a DJ set from Andy Black Forest (Radio Black Forest) playing krautrock, post-punk to disco, electronica and all manner in between.

For more information, visit the Facebook Event page; click here to buy tickets online.

International Recognition for Opera in Digbeth

Image: Birmingham Mail

Birmingham Opera Company’s production of Mittwoch Aus Licht, has been shortlisted for two top awards in the world of opera. The company’s innovative staging in a disused warehouse in Digbeth last summer attracted hundreds of international Stockhausen devotees from as far afield as Japan and the USA.

This was the first ever performance of the six-hour epic, which featured a string quartet live-streamed from a helicopter, a camel, and a chorus of around 130 people from the local community. The mammoth proportions of the production have earned Birmingham Opera Company a nomination in the Opera and Music Theatre category of the Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) Awards, and in the World Première category of the International Opera Awards, taking place later today.

Here’s wishing Birmingham Opera Company the best of luck for this evening, and for the RPS Awards next month! We hope the pioneering company continues to push boundaries, and of course use Digbeth, in future performances.

Secret Walls at The Rainbow

When: Today Sunday 21st April, 19:00 onwards
Where: The Rainbow, Digbeth, B12 0LD
Tickets: £3

Today sees the next edition of Secret Walls take place at The Rainbow.

Birmingham street artists will go head-to-head with representatives from Nottingham in a creative battle. For more information, see the poster below or visit the Facebook page.

PROVIDE Paper

Boutique shop PROVIDE opened in the Custard Factory back in September 2012, with a limited edition run of their own free newspaper. Perhaps not surprisingly, the paper ‘sold out’ quite quickly, but if you missed out, it’s now available to view online:

One of the reasons PROVIDE began was to buck the trend of creative people having the inspiration and enthusiasm sucked out of them by corporate jobs. There’s a decent chance that at some point in your life someone has tried to disuade you from following your dreams, because whatever it is that you love to do is not a sensible career option. PROVIDE is here to offer an alternative opinion, encouragement to do what makes you feel alive, and opportunities to share your passions with others.

We publish a newspaper semi-regularly with the sole aim of providing a platform for creative people to share their work. Our hope is that even if you’re currently in a job you hate, you’ll enjoy creating something truly ‘you’ for the paper. Who knows, maybe seeing your work in print will plant thoughts in your mind about what might happen if you paid more attention to what your soul wants to do.

MSFAC’s IZ-B12

Unit 1, The Edge, 79-81 Cheapside, Digbeth, B12 9LJ
When: Thursday 25th April – Sunday 7th July

The Margaret Street Free Arts Council (MSFAC) are proud to announce the dates for our forthcoming programme of events entitled Iz-B12 at The Edge.

IZ-B12 is an investigation into political radicalism; through critical theory and practice as protest within the sphere of contemporary arts.

MSFAC is a platform for ethical collaboration. Please feel free to get involved with what we do and be a part of our history.

MSFAC can be contacted via Twitter (@msfreeac) and Facebook (msfac.radicalarts). Click here to visit their website. Further details of their programme of events at The Edge can be found on the poster below.

Level Up

When: Friday 26th April, doors open 17:30
Where: The Fusion Centre (South and City College), High Street Deritend, B5 6DY
Free Entry

Next Friday will see the second installment of Level Up, a spoken word poetry event for young people.

Taking place at South and City College’s Fusion Centre on the High Street, Level Up offers an open mic section along with guest performances from internationally renowned artists.

For more information about the event and details for the next two episodes, please see the poster below:

Eastside Projects Exhibition Launch – Karl Nawrot’s Mind Walk

Fierce Start Party 2013

When: Saturday 27th April 2013, 13:00-17:00
Where: Minerva Works, 158 Fazeley Street, Digbeth, B5 5RS
Free Entry

You are invited to the Fierce Start Party 2013 – a pop-up exhibition with contributions from Fierce Festival 2013 artists:

We hope you’ll join us over a barbecue, music and beer to hear about our plans for the future: the next Fierce Festival (October 4 – 6th 2013 and October 2014), Fierce FWD (our new artist development scheme) and other projects we’re developing beyond the festival.

At 4pm, the festival’s artistic directors will show a Fierce Festival Slide Show.

For more information about this event and Fierce Festival 2013, click here to visit the website. Of course, there are other ways of keeping in touch with the festival, namely Facebook and Twitter.

The Fancy at Project Pigeon

When: Saturday 27th April 2013, from 12:00
Where: Project Pigeon, 9-12 Floodgate Street, Digbeth, B5 5ST

Project Pigeon presents The Fancy, possibly the first ever play set at a pigeon loft, written by Mandy Ross and directed by Kim Charnock from RoguePlay Theatre. The Fancy is based on material in the Birmingham Pigeon Archive and explores the lives, relationships and experiences of pigeon fanciers.

Project Pigeon’s site will be open from noon for a full day’s worth of activities; all sessions are free, with the exception of the performance of the play:

  • 12:00 – 17:00
    The Birmingham Pigeon Archive, comprising of videos, photographs and documents, will be viewable in one of Project Pigeon’s sheds.
  • 14:00 – 16:00
    Mandy Ross will run a drop-in writing workshop, open to both writers and non-writers.
  • 17:00 – 18:00
    Launch of Pigeon Talk: Tales from The Fancy – a book which brings together some of the research, documents and photographs from The Birmingham Pigeon Archive project.
  • 18:30 – 19:30
    Performance of The Fancy
    Tickets £5 on the door, or available in advance from the Project Pigeon website or below

    Buy one ticket for The Fancy       Buy two tickets for The Fancy

Digbeth Neighbourhood Watch Update

Nechells Neighbourhood Tasking Group

Please find below the minutes from the last Nechells Neighbourhood Tasking Group (NTG) meeting. The next meeting will be held at Highgate Fire Station on Tuesday 23rd April at 2pm.

We will ensure send out further details nearer the time, but if you would like to be included on future mailings, please contact Sgt Dave Bates of West Midlands Police:

Tel: 101 ext 7868 6961
Email: d.bates@west-midlands.pnn.police.uk

 

National Stalking Awareness Day

National Stalking Awareness Day exists to raise awareness about the crime of stalking, and will take place on 18th April 2013. Each year there is a different ‘theme’ and because of the recent stalking law changes, this year’s focus is ‘Know the Law, Use the Law’. Currently the law is slightly different in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland but importantly stalking behaviour is against the law across the UK.

More information about National Stalking Awareness Day 2013 can be found here.

 

Nechells Neighbourhood Tasking Minutes 19th March 2013