Are you a West Midlands based artist or maker?

If yes, then mac birmingham wants your art.

The Open Project is guaranteeing the regions artists a place in mac birmingham’s prominent first floor gallery to show and sell their work, and all eligible work will also be considered to take part in a series of exhibitions throughout the summer.

So what do you do next? There are eight simple steps to follow that are detailed further here, but in the mean time, as always, please read the terms and conditions and then register online for the Open Day on Saturday 29th June.

There will be a workshop tomorrow, 15th June, to give you all the information you need to know about taking part. You can book your place at the workshop here.

So who are Hive? Hive are a group of Birmingham based artists who began meeting regularly over a year ago to discuss ideas and share their experiences, eventually deciding they should showcase how artists collaborate and how artwork evolves. Chain Reaction, a visual art project, is a range of work including installation, audio-visual pieces, photography and artist books along with artefact’s and documentation exploring how they collaborated.

You can book a place at the free event by calling the Box Office 0121 704 6962 or just turn up on the evening.

8 workshops exploring body image and sexuality will culminate with a group exhibition at Ort. in Balsall Heath from the 19th September until the 2nd October. The project is only possible because of a successful crowdfunding campaign to cover the costs of the workshops. Although the target has just been reached there are still two days left to support the project at the Wefund page.

And the creativity hasn’t been restricted to the classic etch-a-sketch picture, as artists have been actively encouraged to paint and take apart their red framed tablets to create something new.

All of the artworks will be displayed in a public exhibition between 1-16 October and the deadline for submissions is 5pm, 27 September 2011, so there’s still time to get etching. For details on how to get involved, contact learning@macarts.co.uk.

This new collection of work by Birmingham based artist Louis Sidoli, inspired by Andy Warhol, has taken the mugshots of twelve of the most notorious and iconic bad boys from popular culture.

The collection includes the likes of rock legends Mick Jagger and Kurt Kobain, Hollywood stars Frank Sinatra and Al Picino, plus gangster Al Capone.

A homage to 1960’s silkscreen portraits, Sidoli call the collection as “…a bit like Andy Warhol on steroids”.

Decide for yourself, ‘Most Wanted’ can be seen over on Washington Green’s site.

The first Visualise Festival will be held on 21 – 31 October, as a major celebration of young people’s visual creativity. They’re calling for anyone under the age of 24 to submit their artwork as part of the Young People’s Open Visual Art Competition, which will hold a high profile exhibition in Birmingham City centre.

All forms of artwork are accepted (apart from films), and must be no bigger than A3 in size. There are also some prizes up for grabs and will be awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place entries in each of the age brackets, along with an art box for every shortlisted entry.

Deadline for entries is 4th October 2010, and notification of selected entries will be made during the week commencing 18 October.

For more information, visit the Visualise-Birmingham website, or contact the Visualise team at info@visualise-birmingham.org or by calling 07886 367 544 or 07971 824 188

So if you haven’t already heard of this programme, read on, because artists this sounds Amazing (yes, it deserves a capital).

Extra Special People (ESP) is a membership programme run by Eastside Projects, for anyone who would benefit from engaging with a dynamic, ambitious, artist-led environment.

ESP members are offered a range of opportunities to develop their practice and career through critical group discussions, practical support and guidance, exhibition and residency opportunities, networking events and one-to-one support from established arts professionals and ESP staff. Dialogue between members is generated through a weekly programme of informal and formal event including seminars, talks, film screenings and visits to projects, exhibitions and events in other UK cities.

There are a number of opportunities currently available, visit the website to read more and apply, along with a rundown of this months programme of events.

For more information on attending events and joining ESP, contact info@extraspecialpeople.org.

ARC takes place on the last Wednesday of the month, showcasing work selected by guest curators. This months ARC is on 25 August, 6-8PM at The Vaults (Jewellery Quarter), and has been curated by Laura Coult.

an exhibition of artist’s moving image, performance, and sculpture exploring the ways in which we experience sound as light, movement, noise, and colour.

Artists include: Linda Bagnall, Benedict Drew, Laurence Hunt, Juneau Projects, Ben Russell, Alexander Small, Joe Snape.

This fresh faced quarterly magazine has been put together by a small team who have created, produced and printed LABB magazine in Birmingham.

Aiming to harvest and showcase emerging talent in art, fashion and photography, LABB allows readers to explore something new as oppose to the same churned out work seen in fellow coffee table mags.

Fashion, it’s like a science, you always want to push the limits, find something new, but its always based on the existing. Not everyone who works in a lab wears a white jacket… WELCOME TO OUR LABB!

Issue 1, Volume 2 is currently available, with Volume 3 on the way for September. In the meantime they’ve also got a blog, LABB Loves, which is great if, like me, you like flicking through dozens of highly stylised fashion photography.

Notable among the early posts is the gallery’s Summer Exhibition which will run until 7 July. The second part of the exhibition launched on Friday 11 June featuring artists Stuart Free, Cameron Galt, and Stephen Earl Rogers, and the final stage will showcase the sculptures of Laurence Broderick?, the artist responsible for ‘The Birmingham Bull’. who is also making limited edition bronzes of The Bull available for the first time in Birmingham at the gallery.