“Essentially an Artjam is an event where artists come together to produce work based on a theme within a 48 hour time slot. The work has to be completed and exhibited on site. Sound recording and filming can be done off site with editing done in the space if needed to.

The aim is to exhibit a wide range of creative abilities and mediums from different people with a focus on Birmingham’s creatives from those who are in education to those who are established artists already.”

At present he is mainly looking for organisers, admin types and those looking to actually get things off the ground. They’ve already had their first meeting (just yesterday at Saint Caffe), so it is still in its early stages. If you wish to get involved then either head over to the IdeasTap ArtJam Birmingham page or chat with Michael over twitter.

Looks to be a great event and a good chance for lots of Birmingham’s creative types to get together.

The River project is a collaborative animated film based on a bespoke piece of contemporary dance, which has been created to represent and reflect the wider and diverse communities in Birmingham. The participants will consist of five groups of around forty people from different ages ranging from 8-78 years old all working collaboratively with lead-artist and director Babis Alexiadis to create the film.

Here’s a bit more blurb:

The project aims to engage with people from diverse communities in Birmingham; each community represents a river of creative energy; each river embraces its own shape, characteristics, colour and surroundings. As nature commands, the small rivers stream into a bigger river; this culturally and characteristically integrated river is Birmingham.

The project’s completed its first stage of research and development and presented the pilot at the West Midlands Cultural Olympiad launch on 24th July 2009.

There’s a River Project blog here and a website here for more info, and you can also contact Babis Alexiadis via email on alexiadisb@hotmail.com.