POKEMON GO FOR GOOD – Ampersand Projects

Thursday 25 August, 6-8pm at Eastside Projects

Pokemon Go is a free-to-play, location-based augmented reality game which has quickly become a global phenomenon. It has been downloaded by more than 100 million people worldwide and has been credited with popularising augmented reality gaming, as well as for promoting physical activity.

This event aims to gather cultural and community organisations together to discuss the benefit of games, and how we might use digital technology and offline elements of them to motivate people to collaborate and make change locally and globally.

Ampersand Projects, a Birmingham based organisation are interested in how we can use games to explore and solve some of the world’s social problems. Their recent project ‘The Gamification Lab’ at mac Birmingham linked up young participants with arts organisations to create gamified engagement campaigns and build skills.

Please note that this event is not a ‘how to’ so we won’t be showing you how to use existing technology but is an opportunity to explore how the technology could be used in the future. No digital expertise needed.  Free event – pre-booking essential.

More info about the event on Ampersand Projects’ website here.

POKEMON GO HOME

The event is scheduled for Saturday 10th September 2016, and will be presented in partnership with Still Walking Festival.

Bit late in the publicising of this one, but Tim Hodgson’s just achieved a successfully funded Kickstarter campaign:

Pokemon Go Home is a free post-Brexit vote Pokemon hunt aimed at promoting community cohesion in Birmingham, UK. Many businesses have used lure micropayments in mobile AR game Pokemon GO to entice visitors, this event uses the same premise to encourage the general public to visit a variety of minority and culturally specific organisations, societies and places of worship in a single day.

We will work with twenty minority venues in central Birmingham with adjacent Pokestops, from mosques to Polish cultural centres to Ethiopian cafes. We will pay for a full day’s worth of continuous lures at their venue to draw Pokemon towards the site, will help the organisations to create an open-door engagement offer for the day and will provide onsite volunteer staffing support at each venue.

All info is on their kickstarter campaign here.

Craftspace in partnership with mac birmingham present a unique one hour performance by the Torcher Chamber Arkestra, seen live for the first time in England, led by glass artist Carrie Fertig and featuring composer Alistair MacDonald  and percussionist Stu Brown.

In this unusual collaboration Carrie Fertig creates a series of glass instruments, live, using the process of flameworking. These new instruments and others made from recycled glass, are played by her and the musicians and combined with electronic and digital sound.

After each performance the audience will have the opportunity to handle and play the instruments. On Saturday evening there will also be a Q&A with the artists.

More info & booking details on Craftspace’s website.

Adrienne from We are Frilly alerted us to these events happening in the Jewellery Quarter this weekend:

Jewellery Quarter Festival Friday 22 – Sunday 24 July

Starting Friday 22 July at 4pm with an after work party, this three-day festival celebrates the unique blend of heritage and thriving creative innovation in this quirky corner of Birmingham. The weekend will see a host of activities, music, live acts and performances hosted on the Quarter’s newest public space, the Golden Square; also on St Paul’s Square, the last Georgian square in Birmingham and home to the Grade I listed St Paul’s Church.

Open Studios Saturday 23 & Sunday 24 July

Open Studios is your chance to discover what today’s Jewellery Quarter is really about. For this weekend only you will be welcomed inside the world of designer-makers, be given the opportunity to meet and chat with the people behind the businesses, see demonstrations and maybe even try your hand at what they do.

More information over on the Jewellery Quarter’s website.

Antonio Roberts sent us this info about an upcoming workshop at Black Hole Club:

Navigating the world of copyright and intellectual property can be daunting, but it’s important to know your rights and how protecting them can be central to your success. Come find out everything you need to know about copyright, the law and your rights as an artist.

Established by artists for artists, DACS is a not-for-profit visual artists’ rights management organisation. Passionate about transforming the financial landscape for visual artists through innovative new products and services, DACS act as a trusted broker for 90,000 artists worldwide.

In this workshop, Reema Selhi (Legal and Policy Manager) and Abby Yolda (Head of Communications) will explain how you can protect your rights, earn from licensing your work, and will answer your questions about copyright.

Came across this today…

The Old Print Works has been active in Balsall Heath now for over 4 years hosting events, letting spaces to designer makers and holding classes and open workshops for the community.

The charity that runs the space (Make It Sustainable Ltd) wants to do more with the space by applying for funding to improve it and increase its community impact and so is in the process of attempting to buy the freehold.

We are in discussions with potential financiers, the council and other partners about our future with an investment proposition based on a clear trading record.

We however face a deadline of June 30th 2016 by which time we need to have our funding package in place (or well on track) or we may need to vacate the premises. we are still hopeful of being able to buy the building – and therefore there are THREE ways you can help us:

Small Investment: We would welcome investment enquiries from individuals who know us or who would like to get to know us and our objectives and who want to see an economic and social return on that investment. More information about that HERE.

Large Investment:If you want to make a large investment please email info@oldprintworks.org

A one off donation: via this link HERE.

For more information about The Old Print Works, visit their website.

Spectra: Seek/Find
Fri 17 Jun, 7pm | Sat 18 Jun, 12:30pm and 4pm | Tickets £8 (£6) | Cannon Hill Park & Outdoor Arena | All ages | Tickets: https://macbirmingham.co.uk/event/spectra-seek-find

Come along on a beautiful beast of a multi-sensory promenade, immersive performance experience made by a mixed community and professional cast.
Taste, feel, see, smell and hear your way on a daring quest through Cannon Hill Park. With the help of Spectra’s intrepid guides, delve into adventure to seek your treasure and marvel at the delights that await you when you reach the Arena.

Spectra is a performance project for people with learning disabilities that has been developed through a partnership between mac birmingham’s Next Generation programme, independent artist Kate DeRight, and Queen Alexandra College. The project aims to empower participants and develop them as creative leaders while making compelling performance experiences.

This project is supported by QAC, Arts Council England and mac birmingham.

For more information please visit: https://macbirmingham.co.uk/event/spectra-seek-find

On Saturday 11 June, Birmingham-based Czech artist Tereza Buskova will revitalise a very old English tradition and bring it back to the city. Working with the local community, she will reinterpret the custom of ‘Clipping the Church’ in an event which will explore motherhood and investigate British identity through its traditions.

Derived from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘clyp-pan’ meaning ‘embrace’ or ‘clasp’, the ceremony is believed to have originated in the 16^th Century. Clipping the Church took place once a year when young apprentices and women in service were allowed to visit their families. During the ceremony, the reunited families and local faithful would link hands to form an unbroken chain around the entire church. Facing out towards the world, members of this living circle would often sing hymns as they slowly moved around the symbol of their faith and belonging. Although there is evidence ceremonies took place in Birmingham, it is unknown where.

On 11 June this custom will be recreated with over one hundred locals at St Barnabas’ Church in Erdington. Buskova will explore motherhood through live performance, music and ornate baked goods, which will be paraded and affixed to the church as decorations.

Just a few days before the EU referendum, this event will also invite reflection on how the meaning of ‘community’ has changed from the days when Clipping the Church involved the people of a single village.

Full details and times of the performance can be found here. The finished film Clipping the Church (2016) will be debuted at Eastside Projects at an event exploring ‘Motherhood, maternal and art‘ on Thursday 21 July 2016

On the Road to Belonging, created by Work in Progress (WiP) and funded by Arts Council England, is a multi-art form event supporting young people and children in exploring themes of belonging taking place on Wednesday 1 June, 12noon – 8pm at mac birmingham.

As part of the event WiP will present a brand new piece of theatre, Belonging. Aimed at audiences aged 14years+ Belonging introduces two groups of characters desperately trying to find a place to belong as their lives hang in the balance.

We hear the stories of five people brought together by circumstance. Sleeping in a cardboard city of secrets, fears and anxieties which fuel the unquenchable fire they encamp around at night. As reality hits they discover that the fire is not the only thing awake at night. In the meantime a band of space travellers desperately search for a place to land. They are passed from pillar to post between inflexible regimes, changing opening times, unwilling citizens and a government in chaos.

FREE to attend however book your place via eventbrite.

More info on Work in Progress’ website & mac’s website.

Amy Martin got in touch with us to tell us about Birmingham Soup:

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What is SOUP?

SOUP is a democratic experiment in micro-funding.

Each month we hold a Birmingham SOUP event at Impact Hub Birmingham, you bring a dish to share (if you want) and pay a suggested donation of £5 or more on the door.

Audiences hear pitches from four pre-selected proposals working on projects that benefit communities in Birmingham. Over a potluck/picnic-style SOUP dinner, attendees cast their vote for the project they want to help fund.

The project with the most votes goes home with all of the money raised from the door. Winners come back to a future SOUP to tell the audience how their project went, how they used the money and what impact the project had on the community.

SOUP is a powerful tool to start conversations, practise democracy and fund new projects/people/ideas in our city. There are many models on how to do it but we follow the Detroit SOUP method which means that all the events are run by a team of volunteers.

I started Birmingham SOUP as an antidote to austerity. Birmingham has been hugely affected by the cuts to local services.  This is a small but powerful way for a community to directly support one and other and a super accessible way for people to access money for projects with social impact.

So far we’ve raised £2200 for 7 creative projects in Birmingham, previous winners have included Elliot Lord who engineered and constructed special cardboard beds for the homeless that raises them from the floor to give them a better night’s sleep. Artist Mohammed Ali who was fundraising for a new arts centre in Sparkbrook. Second Pedals who re-commission second hand cycles, a creative project in response to the refugee crisis called Beyond Borders. The Danny Campaign who helps homeless people keep in touch with their loved ones and Tasty Waste a campaign and workshops about unnecessary food waste and healthy eating.

We are really excited about the potential of Birmingham SOUP and would like to expand our reach to more people, we are currently seeking pitch proposals for our event on June 9th: https://birminghamsoup.co.uk/

Deadline for pitch proposals is 2nd June. The application process is really simple – just 5 questions on an online form here: https://birminghamsoup.co.uk/submit-a-proposal/

Thank you for taking the time to read this email, please check out the website for more information: https://birminghamsoup.co.uk

Next week as part of International Dance Festival Birmingham, PechaKucha Birmingham present vol.14 of their events series.

There’s been four speakers announced, of a dance and movement theme:

• Iris Bertz, an interpreter and visual arts producer, says “somehow dance has always been part of my life, but only recently I have discovered how important it is.” Her talk is titled Dance is Happiness.
• Jaivant Patel is a dance artist, cultural producer and choreographer from Wolverhampton who’s be talking about his success engaging communities in South Asian dance in parallel with my own journey as an independent dance artist.
• Richard Battye has worked as a photographer in Birmingham for 26 years and has carved a niche photographing dancers. He’ll talk about his technique and his landmark exhibition Still Dancing.
• Julia Gilbert is a big fan of dance and music and will talk about the inextricable links between them, along with exciting examples of emerging technology that is enabling the creation of music through movement.

Tickets are available via tito.