Birmingham summer festivals round-up

Festival season is starting with all manner of events happening between now and the end of August. Here’s what I know about, if I’ve missed anything then perhaps you could mention it in the comments.

In chronological order:

International Dance Festival Birmingham
Now – 25 May. Various venues in Birmingham.
A month of world class live performance from every corner of the globe with performers from Taiwan, Australia, South Africa, Cuba and Russia.

Fierce Festival
21 May to 1 June. Various venues in Birmingham and West Mids.
In it’s 11th year, the award-winning contemporary performing arts festival has let the audience curate a sizeable chunk of the line-up.

Birmingham Pride 2008
24 – 25 May. Hurst Street and surrounding roads.
The roads will be closed to traffic for street performers and dancers, market stalls and a fairground. The main stage will feature Samantha Mumba and Gabrielle among many others.

The Flyover Show
31 May. Hockley flyover.
A free event to celebrate the very best from the city’s urban communities and reclaim derelict spaces taking place in a ‘forgotten corner of Birmingham’. Line-up includes Soweto Kinch, Bashy and Ty.

BASS Festival 2008
31 May – 29 June. Various venues Birmingham and West Mids.
Short for British Art and Street Sounds, the BASS Festival is a month-long festival celebrating the best of the streets around this year’s theme ‘the elements of hip hop’.

New Generation Arts Festival
5 – 20 June. Various venues in Birmingham.
Focusing on developing and showcasing up and coming graduates alongside rising artistic stars who have studied or live in Birmingham.

Integra
5 – 7 June. Various venues in Birmingham.
The goal of the festival is “to create a software-based open source environment for composing and performing music with live electronics, and test it in real life thanks to new commissions and a big modernisation effort of existing repertoire using obsolete technology.”

Pritchattsbury Free Music Festival 2008
7 June, Pritchatts Park, Edgbaston.
A free student festival held to celebrate the end of exams and is open for anyone. Line-up includes The Holloways, Plan B, Envy & Other Sins, The Anomalies.

Flux
25 June – 13 July. Various venues in Birmingham.
A season of events celebrating the spirit of Fluxus, featuring rare films, publications, music, performances and Fluxus miscellany. Presented by VIVID.

Birmingham Jazz Festival
4 – 13 July. Various venues in Birmingham.
Information to come…

Supersonic
11 – 13 July. Custard Factory, Digbeth.
A musical melting pot described as ‘the nexus where metal, folk and noise meet’. Last year it was also described as ‘Festival of the year’ by Plan B magazine. The line-up includes Battles, Harmonia, Efterklang and Julian Cope. Presented by Capsule.

Moseley Folk Festival
29 – 31 August. Moseley Park.
Featuring a selection of the finest in traditional and contemporary folk, the headliners this year are Morcheeba, Jose Gonzalez and Seth Lakeman.