In the last few years Breakin’ Convention has been increasing their commitment to the development of hip hop theatre as a genre and in particular the support of UK-based companies. Through their education and professional development strands they aim to offer a range of opportunities and platforms as well as connecting companies with Arts Council England, other funding bodies and arts organisations.

One of our courses is Open Art Surgery, a unique intensive masterminded by Breakin’ Convention Artistic Director and hip hop theatre pioneer, Jonzi D for professional hip hop artists to engage and understand hip hop theatre better. Open to dancers, DJs, beatboxers, emcees, musicians and graffiti artists, participants receive training, mentorship and studio space to experiment and create new works in progress.  This culminates in the Open Art Surgery performance at the end of the week where the results are shared to a live audience who are then invited to critique, question and feedback to the artists.

Birmingham Hippodrome continues their dedication to supporting hip hop by partnering Breakin’ Convention to deliver Birmingham’s first ever Open Art Surgery in July. Jonzi will be joined by co-mentor Soweto Kinch and will feature local artists including Mad Flow, Marso Riviere, NeneTaps (MDK), Marius and Andrei (MDK), DJ Psykhomantus, RTKAL and Sticky Toffee.

The live event will be hosted by Jonzi D alongside Birmingham’s award winning jazz musician Soweto Kinch as they introduce the fresh new work developed during the week. Expect to see the very best in breaking, popping, locking, rapping and turntablism chewed up and given a theatrical overhaul.  Birmingham Hippodrome and Breakin’ Convention’s commitment to offering high quality theatre at an affordable price is evident in the £5 ticket price.

The Open Art Surgery performance takes place on Saturday 20 July 2013, 7.45pm at Patrick Centre, Hurst Street, Birmingham, B5, 4TB. 

Tickets are available from the Hippodrome’s website.

Forgive me for not regurgetating this copy from Breakin Convention. 

Phill Blake is an artist, designer and an illustrator from middle England who refuses to be tied down to one specific genre preferring to spread his talents over multiple art forms and retain an ever evolving style that is all terrain and knows no boundaries. His influences lie in street art, comics, hip hop or urban culture and the different sub cultures that emerge around the world.

His site’s also packed full of lots of lovely examples of his work like this one:

BASS stands for British Art and Street Sounds and the festival is a Punch Records production in partnership with 2Funky Arts, Hella Music and Baby J Studios. This year the festival revolves around the theme of ‘The Elements of Hip Hop’, usually broken down into MCing, DJing, graffiti, breakdancing and beat-boxing.

Go to BASS Festival for the full line-up, but here’s a few of the events in Birmingham:

• Hedz Interative Aerosol Mural, 31 May to 1 June – creating a 50ft bespoke aerosol mural in the city centre
• Urban Disturbance v MyBass ft Mary Anne Hobbs, 31 May at The Rainbow – drum n bass and dubstep heaviness
• Faith 47 – The Restless Debt of Third World Beauty, 3 to 10 June at Womb Gallery – this looks very good
• BASS West Mids Launch – 3 June
• The New Mastersounds, 14 June at The Yardbird – a band at the forefront of the retro-funk sound
• My Love for Hip Hop, 19 June at The Drum – powerful spoken word with 3 poets, 3 hip hop artists and a turntablist

Actually, this is daft, there’s loads of good stuff so please go and have a look at the listings and maybe flag up anything you think looks really interesting in the comments.

Don’t forget that Jessica is currently doing a work placement at Punch and blogging about her experiences.

Punch’s director, Ammo Talwar, was at Buckingham Palace the other week to pick up his MBE for “outstanding achievement and service right across the industry”. He’s emailed to say that his dad was annoyed at not having tea with the Queen! Ammo’s sent over a pic of his dad with some beefeaters though – nice shoes.