Capital Theatre Festival have announced the first two productions for their 2013 programme of events:

The Disappearance of Sadie Jones

UGLY DUCK!

From Capital Theatre Festival:

We are very excited to be supporting these plays from two West Midlands-based writers. Keep your eyes peeled for further news in the next couple of weeks

The festival will be taking place between 20th and 24th November at the mac. Like their facebook page / follow their Twitter to read more performing arts/theatre news in the area, as well as to keep an eye on their own festival updates.

Cannon Hill Collective

mac is looking for seven young people (aged 16-24) to be part of its young people’s programme, Cannon Hill Collective.

Starting in October, and running through to April 2014, the Cannon Hill Collective offers young people aged between 16 and 24 the chance to engage and connect with mac: from initiating, producing and delivering their own projects to advising on mac’s wider work with young people.

Over a six-month period, they’ll work alongside arts professionals, be introduced to top-notch creative work, be invited to mac events, and devise original work to share with young people across the region and beyond.

They had a great range of participants last year, and we wrote about it then too. The previous line-up created #nextgenfest, a curated free festival of art, music and performance.

Applications close on 16^th September 2013. For further information/ to apply visit:

http://www.ideastap.com/Opportunities/Brief/Cannon-Hill-Collective-160913

Vanley’s work represents a photographic document of the Caribbean diaspora in post war Britain, detailing the experience of Black people in the UK and their community identity. There’s 100 photographs dating from 1968 to 2011 and is part of the Mac at 50 programme of events and exhibitions celebrating the Mac’s 50th birthday, and the provision of arts for all.

This exhibition is on now until 18th November at the Mac.

A few weeks ago you might remember we posted about the 48 hour musical – ‘From conception to production in 48 hours’ we are really pleased that they reached their crowdfunder target, and are holding their one off performance at the Mac on the 14th October at 7pm.

I reckon that looks really rather good. It’s 2-8 July at AE Harris and MAC and, if memory serves, tickets tend to sell out so don’t hang about too long if you’re thinking of booking.

We are inviting all you crafties, artists and makers to offer up your neglected creations and also join us in creating new pieces from these collected fragments.

So if you’ve got something you’ve not finished you can submit it to the project. There’ll then be workshops at the MAC where these unfinished things will be worked on before an exhibition of some kind.

At the time of writing, the world record for the 100 metres is 9.58 seconds and is held by the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. In March 2012 we will be screening 8 very short films at the Fierce Festival in Birmingham, where each film will be 9.58 seconds long

The screening at the MAC was recorded so you can watch the films all together here.

CULTURE CLOUD is a digital space for artists to upload their artwork onto a web portal where a team of recognised national and international curators and audiences will vote for the works they like. The most popular and intriguing will be exhibited at New Art Exchange in August 2012 in a unique exhibition that will see two of the finalists crowned the winners of CULTURE CLOUD.

There’s something a bit odd about this one but I like the image and the mac are involved so here it is.

There were lots of people involved in this one though – it was produced by Birmingham Rep (with a couple of others) in association with FEED and Birmingham Met College (among others) and performed at the mac.

Photo: Hotdogs by Matt Cattell

A few festive bits and bobs happening around Birmingham…

The Frankfurt Christmas Market closes on Friday 23 December, as does the Festive Pop Up Bazaar on New Street.

It’s the BrumNotes/This Is Tmrw Christmas Party at The Victoria tonight. Click the link or ogle the poster below (sidenote: are Lewes Herriot‘s gig posters the best around town at the moment? Answers on a postcard).

Birmingham Hippodrome have Cinderella on until the end of January and has already picked up some really good reviews from the Birmingham Mail and The Stage. I went along to the press night last night (disclosure: that means they gave me free tickets) and liked the lovely horsey best.

In other theatre-based offerings:

• The Rep have The Snowman at the ICC and Sleeping Beauty at the Crescent Theatre.
• Blue Orange Theatre in the Jewellery Quarter are doing A Christmas Carol
• The MAC have The Lost Happy Endings

In fact, Area Guide’s December issue has a Christmas theatre round-up from page 26 onwards. Ah, and Visit Birmingham have a Christmas round-up too.

Film-wise, Kino 10 are showing The Nightmare Before Christmas plus some short films at St Columba Church on Friday 23 Dec and The Electric have a smattering of festive films too.

Town Hall & Symphony Hall have a bundle of events going on:

• Polar (this afternoon)
• The CBSO’s Great Big Choral Christmas
• Christmas Eve Classics
• Boxing Day Gala

Meanwhile, down in that London, Birmingham Royal Ballet are seeing out the year performing The Nutcracker at the O2, which sounds like a pretty big deal to me.

There’s loads of other stuff too, obviously. If you’ve got any other good suggestions then bung them in the comments.

In response to that, mac have said they might have to close for 6 weeks from January 2013, reduce their operating hours and feature less adventurous work.

The Music Hub organisations (Symphony Hall, the Town Hall, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Ex Cathedra) are apparently being accused of not getting their act together sufficiently and have been told they can just have one year of funding for the time being.

So, yes. Grim. The Post goes so far as to use the phrase ‘plunged into crisis’.

I’d like to quote something I wrote a year ago:

The leaked figures suggested a rather bleak scenario of 2012/13 and 2013/14 – one that’s been described as ‘politically unacceptable’. The idea, as I understand it, is for the figures announced yesterday to hold for the next three years. Funding is to be kept at this level by income generated by (for example) sponsorship secured by the likes of Performances Birmingham (Town Hall/Symphony Hall to you and I)

Is the scenario any less bleak or, for that matter, politically acceptable? The attempts to sell naming rights for the Town Hall and Symphony Hall have apparently fallen through too, by the way – corporate cash being a bit more tricky to come by these days.

One last thing – it’s worth noting that the Birmingham Post article was written by Paul Dale who left the paper yesterday. Over the years he’s done more than his fair share of bothering people in power and I’ve enjoyed reading his work. I was gutted to see him go (I bet there are a few who feel relieved) and wish him all the best in whatever he does next.