Join Warwick Bar this Saturday for a free day of family fun, films, art installations, open studios, activity workshops, a craft market, live music, street food and drinks!

• Grand Union’s studio artists will be opening their doors to the public, offering a rare opportunity to see behind the scenes.
• Edible Eastside will open their doors for the last time. They will be selling-off plants, tools, fridges, polytunnels, compost and even their pizza oven!
• Beautiful ceramics exhibition.
• Off the Scale will be selling an amazing selection of vintage clothes and accessories by the kilo.

…and much more.

Warwick Bar is located on Fazeley Street, Digbeth. For more information, see the Facebook event page.

Longbridge Public Art Project (LPAP) is offering recent graduates in art, design or media related subjects (such as Art & Design, Fine Art, Performance, Music, Visual Communication and Architecture) the opportunity to further their artistic practice and career.

During a two month long Summer School, participants will have opportunities to learn new skills, attend talks by LPAP artists-in-residence, national & international artists, develop site specific work that responds to Longbridge independently or collaboratively, support the LPAP programme of activities, manage the project space and work closely with the WERK team.

The LPAP Summer School will start week beginning 20 June and run until the end of August 2016 with activities scheduled to take place on a weekly basis, with some evenings and weekends.

More information can be found here.

Deadline: 5pm, Friday 10 June 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

Events in Birmingham include:

• Twilight Tours of Winterbourne House and Garden.
• A torch lit tour of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.
• A tour of Newman Brothers’ Factory at the Coffin works, as well as a talk from Gemma Freeman from William H Painter Funeral Directors who will help dispel the myths and misconceptions surrounding death, dying and funerals.

The full programme can be found here.

WHAT IS THE ‘MINERVALA MARKET’?

The Minervala Market is a nomadic trading post where artists and makers can trade materials and tools that are cluttering up studio spaces. It is set up during a time when finances are low and spaces to create work may becoming rarer.

A follow on from ‘CARAVAN’, ’MINERVALA MARKET’ is an unashamedly self-centred yet imaginative look at how artists will survive as a community come the apocalypse by Jonny Graney and Dale Hipkiss.

WHAT CAN YOU TRADE?

Is your studio space cluttered with materials you bought/ found but no longer have a use for because of a change in practice? Your relationship to that object may have changed but there are other artists whom may place great value upon it!

So bring it along and see what other people have- you may find something you really need too!

Bring along any unneeded studio paraphernalia or even inhabit a stall and run your own business. but remember the market place works as a non-monetary bartering system.

The show takes place on every Saturday Night in August at The Wig: that’s 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th of August.

If you’d like to book a stall for that entire duration or just one night, then get in touch via:

jonathancharlesgraney@hotmail.co.uk or dalehip@hotmail.co.uk

There’s a facebook event for more info.

This year’s festival kicks off slightly later than usual (19-24 April) and is a little shorter than previous editions. However, it will feature the same cinematic fun and games that is known and loved for.

A couple of this year’s highlights:

Vampyr – One of cinema’s landmarks, Carl Theodor Dreyer’s mesmerising horror Vampyr (1932), accompanied live by four-piece multi-instrumentalists Minima and film pianist Stephen Horne.

Oh Dear Diary – Brace yourself for an evening of angst-ridden, cringe-inducing, revealing and often unintentionally hysterical real life stories, as a group of volunteers read aloud from their teenage diaries.

Pierre Bastien – Textured looping soundscapes made from Meccano parts, motors, fans, and rattles + trumpet.A treat for the eyes and ears.

Sound and Vision – A mesmerising live AV triple-bill using lamps, lenses, modified record players, looping records and found objects. Those taking an analogue approach to their craft on the night include Amsterdam-based duo Optical Machines, sound artist Graham Dunning and Berlin-based artist collective Transforma with musician/composer PC NAKT.

The full programme will be online in the next few weeks.

Trident Housing Association have been successful in securing a Heritage Lottery Fund Start up Grant to assess the viability of Edgbaston’s Perrott’s Folly opening up as a heritage and culture hub.

There will be a public meeting from 6-7pm Thursday 21 January at the Deaf Cultural Centre where you can find out about the building’s condition and get involved in its future development. More information can be found at www.follyproject.org

The Shortest Days Polish Wave is a show of the five most interesting Polish short films presented in the five European cities. This unofficial celebration of short movies will take place in the shortest days of a year. For the second time, the best of Polish short films will travel all over Europe. The international audience will have a chance to familiarize itself with movies reflecting current trends in the Polish short film industry, as well as its diversity of genres and themes.

The Shortest Days will visit Berlin, Birmingham, Ghent, Madrid and Vilnius. From the 19th to the 21st of December, nights will be longer than days! A great opportunity to go to the cinema and celebrate a great feast of short movies.

The Birmingham screening is on Sunday 20th December at 6pm: Centrala, Unit 4 Minerva Works, 158 Fazeley Street. Birmingham B5 5RT GB

This weekend, an alternative Christmas market comes to town.  A Winter Less Ordinary takes place at 119 Floodgate Street, Digbeth from 11am-1am on Saturday and Sunday. As well as independent art, music, fashion, crafts, performance and food, expect installations, live music, DJs, spoken word, immersive theatre, pop-up ballet, a flashmob choir, buskers, vintage, vinyl, and even a mistletoe photo booth!

Entry costs £2-3 in advance.