That up there is a photo of the electricity bill I received a few weeks back. It relates to the three months when we ran the Created in Birmingham shop and, in case it’s not clear, the number at the end is £17,552.56.

£17,552.56.

That ruined a morning.

As I’ve said before, the CiB Shop lost me a bit of money. I’m fine with that because it was a heck of an experience and a Good Thing to do. However, an extra five-figure sum was another matter entirely. ‘Surely’, everyone said ‘there’s been some mistake’. Maybe so, but when there’s a bill like that in your name it’s still a scary mistake.

Anyway, long story short, it was a mistake. Day and night rates had got twisted and the actual amount payable is £433. Which sounds a lot better. Big thanks to the helpful lady at British Gas Business who worked out what had gone wrong.

Back in January, The REP hosted Writing On The Wall which featured:

world famous aerosol artist, Mohammed ‘Aerosol Arabic’ Ali for a one-off evening of live graffiti-art and poetry in The REP’s due-to-be-demolished workshop

The workshop was painted from floor to ceiling – here’s a work in progress pic:

In fact there’s a whole website dedicated to the Writing on the Wall project.

The finished piece was photographed by SalShan Photography and reproduced on a canvas 2.5m wide and 50cm high. It’s beautiful and drew many an admiring look hanging in the CiB Shop just behind our till (not least from me – it’d look great in my house).

Anyway, it didn’t sell in the end and it’s currently sat in the office, which seems a shame. This should be taking pride of place somewhere.

Here’s Pete holding it up (in a somewhat Angel of the Midlands-type pose):

You’ll notice it’s still partly in it’s protective wrapper – we’re taking care of it. Here’s a detail (in case you didn’t get the scale of the original work from the first picture, that’s a door in the bottom right-hand corner):

And here’s the signature on the back – no. 1 of 50:

If you fancy owning this thing then get in touch. The price is £850. You’re welcome to come in and inspect the goods before buying.

Ah there’s a video too. Seriously, someone should snap this up.

Incidentally, we’re out of their now, so if you’re interested in leasing it the details are on the sign there.

The shutters are down and the windows have been papered up. It’s as if we were never there.

A big thanks to everyone who’s been involved – to all the staff (Aaron, Dennis, Matt, Aaron, Charlotte, Frankie, Ian, Dan, Ruth and Jess) and all those who stepped in to volunteer their time when they were needed (Mark, Ellie, Jo, Karen, Laura, Nick, Louis, Leonardo… dammit, I’m going to start leaving people out now, sorry! You know who you are though).

Thank you to everyone who hired a stall, performed, exhibited, hung out, attended something, told your friends, written/blogged about us or otherwise documented what we’ve been up to and (most of all) bought something from us over the three months we were open.

HUGE thanks to everyone at Bullring – especially Louise, Rachel, Emma and Holly – who’ve supported us more than anyone could reasonably expect.

And, above all, thanks to Pete for everything he’s managed to accomplish over the past few months.

We’re taking a break for a bit now. Pete’s going to be looking at how to build on what we’ve done over the past 12 weeks (with me helping in the background), so watch this space.

In the meantime, thanks again to everyone who played a part in something that turned out to be even better than we hoped. There’s a bit of a get-together/send-off on Saturday 29 May if you’re about.

The nice folk from I Am Birmingham came down and filmed us over the weekend. Here’s the video, with contributions from Matt Murtagh and myself:

What nice, polite boys.

• The Created in Birmingham Bullring shop will cease trading on Sunday May 23rd.
• The market stalls at the front will continue until Saturday 29th.
• Volunteers needed to empty the shop.
• We will have a closing party of some sort on Saturday 29th.
• We’ll take a couple of months off over the summer to regroup and then maybe re-open in the Autumn.

The Details

The CiB Shop has, it seems, been a rather successful thing. So far we’ve sold about £30,000 worth of art by local people of which £22,500 has gone into their pockets.

The shop started as a fun idea but very quickly turned into something more serious and complex. It’d become apparent that this has the potential to be a viable business and and important service for the city.

We’ve let the shop evolve, reacting to what people give us to sell and what people buy, which was a good thing. But in doing so the systems we put in place to run the shop have struggled to cope with the increased volume.

On the whole we’ve been playing catchup with a shop that has taken on a life of its own. This is exciting and wonderful to watch unfold but it’s also exhausting and not sustainable in the long term.

Our current shop unit in the Bullring will be going to a paying tenant soon so we have to move out. This was always part of the deal and we’re grateful we were able to have such a fantastic spot for three months, so please don’t blame Bullring for the shop ending. Their support, not to mention incredibly hands-off approach letting us do pretty much whatever we wanted, has been invaluable.

Once we’re closed and out of the Bullring we’re going to take a few months to relax, reflect and regroup. It’s clear there’s a need for a shop in the city centre run on the CiB model, but it’s also clear it can’t be run in the way we’ve been running it. We need to figure out a long term strategy and we need some time and space to do that. Many many people have offered help and advice but we haven’t been able to act on any of it because of the shop itself. (Hell, in order to write this I’ve had to hide upstairs at the back of the stock room.)

If, and only if, we can learn from this experience and figure out a plan that prevents insanity, we’ll open another Created in Birmingham shop somewhere in the city centre in the autumn.

The next few weeks

We will continue trading as normal until Sunday May 23rd. If you’re already supplying us with stuff you’re welcome to restock for those two weeks. If you’re not then I’m sorry but we can’t take anything else. And if you’ve emailed in the last couple of weeks I’m doubly sorry I haven’t been able to get back to you. Our inability to keep on top of emails is one of the main reasons for closing for the summer.

On Monday 24th we will block off 3/4 of the shop leaving the front open for market stalls. These will be trading from Monday through Saturday 29th. Details on how to rent those stalls will follow soon.

In the rear of the shop we’ll be doing a stocktake of everything. For this we will need volunteers! Yes, I’ve finally got something for all those who want to help out to do. If you’d like to help please email createdinbirmingham@gmail.com with ‘Volunteer’ in the subject so we know you’re coming and turn up at the shop on Monday 24th from 11am.

During that week artists need to pick up any unsold work and cash for sold work. We’ll be contacting the artists with more information but I’m hoping we’ll be able to start this process by Tuesday.

And then, on Saturday 29th, we’ll have a little party. Probably starting in the shop and then moving elsewhere.

That’s everything I think. Any questions?

The Story Exchange is the visually enchanting invention of Birmingham-based Needle & Thread Theatre, and will be captivating story-lovers, story-tellers, and strays over four days in the Created in Birmingham shop at Bullring from Thursday 13 May until 16 May.

Here’s the blurb (pun intended) for you:

You are invited to browse, peruse and explore the leafy pages of the sumptuous second-hand books. Once you’ve found a treasure to take away we won’t require your pounds or pennies as payment, all we ask in return is a story of your own – fairy-tales; folk-tales; fond memories and funny stories from everyday life are all welcome.

Artistic director Natalie Wilson can be contacted for more info at needleandthreadtheatre@yahoo.co.uk or on 07530 939 380.

Undiscovered waste is a unique idea based on reusing waste. An Innovative collection where waste meets Indian traditional craft, fused together in such a unique manner which brings out an experience like never before to all its art and craft lovers. To have this experience, step into created in Birmingham anytime till the 3rd of may and have a look at this exclusive collection”

Not My Type: An Out of Character Experiment is a typographical exploration of 26 letters (and a few sneaky characters) by 35 different Birmingham based illustrators, designers and artists, all displayed as one alphabet

There’s an interview with one of the curators, Charlotte Audrey Owen-Meehan, on This Is Happening. More info on CMYKern and a full list of participants (a veritable who’s who of Brum talent) on the Facebook group.

The exhibition will be in the CiB shop from 6 May.