Reclaim Photography West Midlands 2016

Reclaim is a photography project coming to Birmingham for the first time in 2016.

Reclaim Photography West Midlands will take place on Saturday 16 April 2016, taking over public spaces with displayed photography pieces.

Entries now open! Deadline 26th February 4pm. 

Reclaim Photography started in Sweden during 2011 and is now here in the West Midlands. This first international project aims to:

• offer complete inclusivity, free of competition, for all participants;

• show the very best of art photography from regional and international photographers;

• take photography back to our streets and public spaces at:

• Grand Central, Birmingham;
• Black Country Living Museum, Dudley;
• Light House Media Centre, Mander Centre and University of Wolverhampton Arts Faculty Library, Wolverhampton;

• raise funds for our regional charity Ladies Fighting Breast Cancer.

The events will co-incide with the University of Wolverhampton Arts Festival and the next major Reclaim Photography event in Sweden.

Prints from the events and additional gallery exhibition will be offered to the public in the form of a donation via lottery draw and theatre auction.

For more details on how to participate please view the Reclaim West Midlands web page, follow them on Twitter and join them on Facebook.

To find out more about the University of Wolverhampton 2016 Arts Festival follow them: @wlv_arts/WLV_Arts#wlvartsfestwlv.ac.uk/artsfest.

Get down to Digbeth this weekend for the sale and exhibition of thousands of vintage sneaks and fresh apparel brands all under one roof.

The Sneaks and Peaks event runs from 12pm – 7pm at Boxxed – an amazing venue at the heart of Birmingham’s creative quarter.

There will be street food from the best of Brum’s providers, an exclusive street art exhibit, and a roster of local DJs to set the tone.

As a special treat, Boxxed are hosting the final of the Birmingham series of Secret Walls. Check it out to see the best of Birmingham’s street artists go head to head for the crown.

The iconic building in Bournville was originally a gift to George and Elizabeth Cadbury by employees from Cadbury factories around the world to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary.

BVT would like creative interpretations of the Rest House. It can be anything from a painting, a cake or a photograph. Watch their Craft Competition video for ideas on which craft to use!

The deadline for entries is 7th April 2014 and the winners will be announced at a centenary celebration on 12th April.

To submit your ideas visit the BVT Website to find out more.

In other Bournville related creative news:

Rowheath Drama Workshop have a free production of ‘Pressure Points’ at Rowheath Pavilion on Weds 16th & Thurs 17th April at 7.45pm, here’s the flyer:

The RBSA (Royal Birmingham Society of Artists) is calling for entries for its Birmingham Today Competition. As part of a year of celebration, the subsequent exhibition aims to raise the profile of contemporary Birmingham and its artistic talent.

The exhibition seeks to celebrate Birmingham in all its aspects: topographical, cultural, sporting, culinary, political and social.

Equally there will be a great opportunity for those of us not entering, to head along to the RBSA’s Jewellery Quarter Gallery to soak up the chosen collection of  artworks inspired by the city. The exhibition will be held between 6th February and 1st March 2014.

All artists are invited to enter – for specifics and for an application pack, see the RBSA website.

Deadline for entries 29th January 2014.

Sam from KINO 10 has two tickets to giveaway for his next event, Things That Go Bump in the Night. As part of The Electric Cinema’s Shock and Gore Festival, KINO 10 will be taking over St Columba Church in Moseley for a night of scary and/or hilarious short films.

From 8:30pm, irregular speakeasy psynema perpetrators OUTER SIGHT will be setting the tone by plotting a harrowing set of psychedelic horror clips and soundtrack selections, and then at 9pm, as the sun dies down the short films will come out…Find out more here. 

If you’d like to win yourself two free tickets with two free blood-red cocktails, then all you need to do is email info@kino10.com with ‘Competition Time’ in the subject title before Saturday 13th July. The winner will be picked out at random and emailed on Sunday 14th July.

You can also book tickets to this event here.

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In other independent cinema related news: this Saturday is the monthly Kings Heath Community Cinema.

Throughout 2013, the cinema will normally screen on the second Saturday of each month. The films will be chosen by the local community through an online poll. You can tweet your suggestions to @KHVillageSquare, email them to asca@allsaintscentrekh.co.uk, or leave your suggestion at All Saints Centre reception.

There will also be opportunities for local businesses, individuals and organisations to sponsor screenings, show their own films or talk to the public on anything relevant to the local area. This is an All Saints Community Arts project, kindly supported by Kings Heath Centre Partnership.

This edition of KH Community cinema has been programmed by Espirito Brum, who are in full swing of Espirito Brum 2013 festival. It’s the Intuitive EP Launch with Wanderson Lopez, Mendi Singh and Joelle Barker, with Cinematic visuals from Expurgação  It is suggested you bring cushions, rugs, etc. Tickets are £5(£3) and available on the door.

Earlier in the day as part of the festival they have music in the Village Square from 12-3pm – Flautins Matua present Fua Interactive Brazilian Folk Performance.

Not only this, in the square on Saturday the monthly Brum Yum Yum Kings Heath Streetfood Market is taking place 12-6pm.

If you don’t know much about the Birmingham born project then watch the following video’s below that show the framing process by The Framers based in the Custard Factory, the print process of the Poop Deck Project playing cards and a video showing the exhibition space transformed from an empty gallery to a busy launch night.

Inkygoodness: Framing Beermats from Inkygoodness on Vimeo.

The Poop Deck Project printing process.

Inkygoodness: Beermat Characters + The Poop Deck Project Launch from Inkygoodness on Vimeo.

Fused magazine, as part of Eyecandy Festival, are helping out the Oxjam charity this year by calling for submissions for a 12×12 visual interpretation of your favourite record sleeve.

OxjamBrum operates with zero budget; and so we ask that all artists involved kindly donate their services for free, enabling us to make sure every single penny raised goes to Oxfam. This year’s Takeover Festival is raising funds for, and awareness of Oxfam’s GROW campaign. The OxjamBrum Takeover Festival is a major one-day multi-venue celebration of the best of Birmingham’s independent music scene, curated and delivered by a team of dedicated volunteers who know and love the city.

Entrants have the chance of winning a Lomography camera, a weekend away and to have their work featured in Huck magazine.

Hotel Indigo Birmingham would like to encourage everyone to showcase the sights, sounds and taste of Birmingham through photography. All you have to do is upload your photographs via the facebook page and make sure they are tagged with #seeDiscovery #tasteDiscovery #hearDiscovery. So get involved and showcase Birmingham to the rest of the world!

After successfully taking The Flyover Show to South Africa earlier this year Soweto Kinch brings it back to it’s Hockley roots.

Also tomorrow Six Summer Saturdays continues with NoFit State Circus, If Only I Could… and The Caravan Show.

Today see the deadlines for the Eye Candy visual art commissions & inkygoodness‘ beer mat illustration. The deadline for Open West Midlands is tomorrow.

This competition is the latest project from Inkygoodness. Set up in 2008, and run by Lisa Hassell and Michelle Turton, Inkygoodness aims to provide a platform for new and emerging talent to showcase their work alongside more established artists, offering a unique opportunity to develop professional careers through self-promotion and networking.

Beermat Characters is a design project inviting illustrators, artists & designers to transform a beermat into a character. Since the competition was launched back in March, Inkygoodness have received over 150 entries worldwide – and with still 2 days to go they’re expecting many more to arrive before the end of the week.

Inkygoodness have invited a number of industry heavyweights to join them in judging the competition, including representatives from Digital Arts, Wrap magazine, IdN World, Pictoplasma, ThunderChunky and educator / illustrator / writer Lawrence Zeegen.

“We’ve had a fantastic collection of entries so far, and rather than simply picking the winners ourselves, we thought it would be fun to invite a handful of creative professionals we admire to each pick one of their favorite designs from our online gallery to feature in our exhibition.” Lisa from Inkygoodness.

Just 50 designs will be selected for an exhibition in Birmingham later this year (more details to follow), to feature alongside Beermat Characters created by 22 world renowned artists & illustrators who have been invited to take part, including:

David Shillinglaw

Felt Mistress

Muxxi

Rilla Alexander

Mayumi Haryoto

Ryan Bubnis

& many more.

The entries can be viewed here on the facebook page and will be uploaded to the Flickr gallery by Monday 20th August. The judging will be completed by Tuesday 28th August with an announcement to the public w/c 3rd September.

Below are some of my favourites;

Matthew McGregor

Akinori Oishi

Laura Kiteley

Paul Roberts