They have an open call for artists of all disciplines for the festival, there’s more information about this on their website.

Little Zine Party from 12pm, Saturday 4th August at the Ort Cafe, Balsall Heath. Celebrating zines & DIY culture. There will be Zines for sale, readings & workshops (see below).

Future Poets Festival Saturday 4th, 12pm–6pm at the Mac, Cannon Hill Park. A programme of workshops, exhibitions, installations, screenings, performances and more.

Supersonic Festival taster Saturday 4th 7.30pm, Capsule are bringing “cacophonous, abstract, abrasive and titanic sounds” into the walls of the Eastside Projects space.

The Old Joint Stock Musical Theatre Company are having ‘A Musical Matinee’ a cabaret of musical theatre 2.30pm, at The Old Joint Stock on Sunday 5th August.

Jamaica In The Square is on between 2-6 August, celebrating everything to do with Jamaican culture from traditional Jamaican food and Caribbean punches, to music, dance and entertainment.

Junction Festival of Contemporary Arts is taking place 3–5 August in Wolverhampton. Showing work from over 75 local and regional artists including visual art, performance, projections, interventions, poetry and music.

A new artist-run space, ‘Terrace’ in The Great Western Arcade is displaying Birmingham artist Paul Newman’s show ‘A Short Night in Tableau Yellow‘. From now until 20th August.

Finally, not quite in the postcode region but also worth a mention: Godiva the journey from Coventry to London, a giant puppet made in Coventry reaches London, pulled by 100 cyclists.

For full information and to download the application form, visit the Fierce website. The deadline for applications is 11 February.

Eastside Projects also need volunteers to contribute around the gallery. We posted the flyer on CiB’s tumblr yesterday.

VIVID‘s ‘In Association With…’ scheme for emerging and mid-career artists and producers is currently open for submissions. This is a bit of a late mention, as the deadline’s tomorrow (28 Jan), but still, worth a mention.

And finally, some information on Worcestershire Contemporary Art Show, which is taking place throughout May and June. They’re currently open to submissions for exhibitors;

ARTISTS WANTED TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS EXHIBITION.

I AM LOOKING FOR ARTIST WORKING IN 2D, 3D,FILM & PHOTOGRAPHY TO EXHIBIT WORK THAT REFLECTS THE ISSUES WE DEAL WITH EVERY DAY.

THERE ARE 3 CATEGORIES

ESTABLISHED ARTISTS
ARTISTS THAT GRADUATED UP TO 2 YEARS AGO
ART STUDENTS

INTERESTED? EMAIL ME A BRIEF STATEMENT ABOUT YOU AND YOUR WORK BEFORE 11TH FEBRUARY 2011 – ccdesignuk@yahoo.co.uk

The New Art Gallery Walsall will be hosting their second Artists’ Book and Independent Publishing Fair from 11am – 4pm on 27 November.

On sale will be books, zines, and multiples by artists and independent publishers across the UK and Europe, including: Books Works, Marbled Reams, Dent-De-Leone, EAK Publishing, Four Corners Books, Stephen Fowler, Simon Goode, Jatinder Kaur Bains, Variant, Wild Pansy Press, Carson & Miller, Alex Pritchard, Karoline Rerrie, Books About Nothing, Antepress, Basement Art Projects, Gandt, Trigger Editions, and colleges from around the UK.

They’ll also have a few other activities going on throughout the day, including a drop-in book making and binding adult workshop from 11am to 3pm with Guy Begbie and a talk on an exhibition of artists’ books, The Cover of a Book is the Beginning of a Journey at 2pm.

Artists-in-residence a.a.s. will also be contributing by constructing new ‘performance scores’ from the exhibition material which they will perform with the help of visitors on the day. To get involved, drop into the artist studio or contact mailto:aas@aasgroup.net

The fair is free entry and will be held in the art library.

After his previously well received talk on the use of open source and art, Antonio is back to discuss issues of copyright and his own experiences as an artist in the world of open source.

Freedom in Creativity will be held at Aston Science Park at 7.30pm. If you can’t make it, the talk will also be broadcast online and made available for streaming shortly afterward.

On 16 and 17 October 2010 I’m hosting a weekend session designed to help creative people take control of their online lives. The course will be aimed at online beginners/intermediates and will cover:

• Websites
• Mailing lists
• Social media (YouTube, Flickr, Slideshare, Audioboo and others)
• Social networking (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)
• How to boost your profile
• How to work with others online
• How to approach journalists and bloggers (and what to send them)

Places are limited. Tickets cost £150 plus booking fee. It’ll be more than worth your while. Book now.

There’s also ONE £100 ticket for the first person who books. Be quick – once it’s gone, it’s gone. Wow, that went quickly.

Some context

The Internet has changed how artists can do business. See this recent article in the NY Times for examples of that. The problem is that, when it’s possible to do anything, it can be hard to know where to start. That’s where this course comes in.

We’ll help you get set up with the solid foundations of an online presence. We’ll also show you how to make use of it but the overall takeaway from the course will be this:

If you do nothing else online, at least have these basics in place

What’s more we’ll do all of this using free tools and we’ll put you in control of using them.

Why do this course?

As a result of running Created in Birmingham I’ve seen hundreds of artists and creatives and the ways they portray themselves online. I’ve learnt a few lessons from doing my own projects and running my own business too.

There’s (almost) nothing I haven’t seen, I know what can reasonably be expected of a busy person and I know what works.

Full information on the course and booking details are here.

Can’t make it to this course?

Sorry to hear that. If you’d like to be kept informed of future sessions then please sign-up here:

NB: Meshed Media owns this mailing list and will keep your email address private.

Here’s an outline from Fierce:

If you are an artist and want to have some time and space to figure out how to develop your work, make useful and helpful connections that will forward your career and have fun in the process, then PLATINUM was made for you.

If you’re interested in taking part in the Platinum scheme, I’d suggest you contact Indy Hunjan on indy@wearefierce.org. The deadline for submissions is 12pm Friday 5th March 2010.

For more information and an application for, please visit their site here.