Birmingham City Council has launched a Public Consultation on its Budget Plans from April 2012. Please support the cultural life of the city by taking part in this. The official deadline for responses is 8 January, however we urge responses by the end of November, as they can then feed in to the Council Cabinet’s decisions on arts spending in early December

A public consultation might not be very exciting, but if you want this city to support culture and creativity then it wouldn’t hurt to mention that to the people who make the decisions – they’re not psychic, y’know.

a four-day celebration of Birmingham’s creative life showcasing the city’s artists, filmmakers and musicians. Ikon’s gallery spaces will exclusively exhibit works created in Birmingham, also hosting some of our best-known music festivals and organisations in a programme of live performances

The list of people involved includes Oliver Beer, Stephen Earl Rogers (below is a painting from his What To Do In An Emergency series of paintings), 7 Inch Cinema, Moseley Folk Festival (presenting Treetop Flyers), Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Capsule and others. There’s a PDF press release with more info here.

We mentioned Birmingham Contemporary Music Group’s new 2010/11 season the other day, and have since picked up this paper which they’ve produced for the new season. Adds a nice touch, we thought.

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group launch their 2010/11 season on 10 October with a double focus. The concert will feature new work by composer Simon Holt, along with the talents of pianist Rolf Hind and soprano Sarah Leonard, plus work by hugely influential German composer Helmut Lachenmann.

Simon Holt’s complex, dramatic music was first performed by BCMG in 1990 and it has rarely been out of the ensemble’s repertoire. Twenty years on, BCMG presents another Holt premiere.  A Knot of Time, conducted by Richard Baker, is the composer’s setting of five poems by Federico García Lorca – the Andalucian poet whose dark, passionate and enigmatic texts have much in common with Holt’s own sound world.

Following the Season Launch Concert, there are whole string of concerts filling the BCMG diary through until Summer 2011. The programme until the end of 2010 looks like this;

BEAST: States of Play – 16 & 17 October. Presenting another weekend of electro-acoustic sound, using this spectacular multichannel diffusion system.

Feel the Buzz – 24 & 31 October. A free composing workshops for 14 to 18 year olds held at mac.

Families@5 conducted by Oliver Knussen – 14 November. A bite-sized interactive concert for young people and families, exploring energetic and jazz-influenced music.

Mark-Anthony Turnage 50th Birthday Concert – 14 November. A celebration of the composer’s work, with pre-concert talk Mark-Anthony Turnage and Charlotte Bray, open to all ticket holders.

BCMG conducted by Peter Rundel – 5 December. This high-octane mid-afternoon concert features works from two established younger composers – Tansy Davies and Enno Poppe.

Tickets for all of the above can be bought online or by calling the box office on 0121 767 4050

It’ll start at 6.30pm with a ‘Spotlight on Matthew Sergeant’ and is followed at 7.30pm by a programme featuring premieres of a couple of BCMG’s ‘Sound Investment‘ commissions.

Matthew Sergeant is/was Apprentice Composer-in-Residence at BCMG and there’s a couple of interviews with him – one from the start of his residency and another at the halfway stage.

There’s a ticket offer for the Friday night too – just quote ‘Welcome’ when booking online or over the phone on 0121 767 4050.