Around Birmingham there are a couple of projects to back:

• The MAC are looking for just over £15m to cover building costs
• Birmingham Royal Ballet are after £800,000 for their staging of Cinderella

Actually, neither of these are very clear. Cinderella opened a few days back and is on until 12 December. The MAC seem to be after twice as much as The Big Give made as a whole last year, although you can’t fault the ambition.

Just to widen the net a little to the rest of the West Mids, Ironbridge, The Courtyard and Pentabus all have appeals. Of those with a national focus, Dance Umbrella and The Campaign for Drawing are looking for donations.

UPDATE

The MAC’s own website says they’re after £6k, not £15m.

Pilot is a platform for testing new theatre work from the West Midlands and beyond. Deadline for submissions Monday 1st March, 12pm

RELEASE THE BEAST

Had an idea laying dormant for a while that you almost daren’t wake up? Not sure if it’s mad or genius?
Kindle invite performers/practitioners/fools to submit ideas for performance which frighten them. Whether in form, content or style it must push you beyond your comfort zone into unknown territory.

Challenge yourself in a lively, supportive atmosphere and get honest feedback from peers and audience. All fools will be applauded.

AE Harris is an industrial warehouse in Birmingham’s Jewelry Quarter. It’s big, blank and open to you, with four huge spaces and lots of corners, nooks and crannies to test your idea in. Site-specific ideas are most welcome.

We can offer you a small bursary, documentation of your performance, and rehearsal space in the venue from Monday 29th March.

Kindle will also be hosting an unusual meal for all the artists involved on the Wednesday night, in the venue.

In other news, on 6 March you should definitely go to Warwick Arts Centre for The Bite Size Festival 2010:

a whirlwind tour of the region’s theatre, offering you the one-off opportunity to sample a range of great work in one place on the same day.

This year’s lineup includes Stans Cafe, Pentabus, Foursight, Kindle, Jane Packman Productions, Spanner, New Macho, Needle and Thread and Vanessa Oakes. PLUS the first opportunity to see two shows we’ve commissioned especially with Warwick Arts Centre and mac following the First Bite Festival back in November: Caroline Horton’s You’re Not Like The Other Girls Chrissy and Untied Artists’ Al Bowlly’s Croon Manifesto.

Grab a day ticket and wallow in some entertainingness. Kindle Theatre will be doing 30 mins of Eat Your Heart Out, which I saw last year and thought was really very good indeed.

Deborah Mingham is a freelance artist and costume designer/maker.

She graduated from UCE Fine Arts degree course and has gone on to work with Shoi Productions, Friction Arts, the Godiva Carnival (see pic above), Pentabus and Kindle Theatre.

These Punch & Judy costumes, produced for Imagineer Productions and inspired by Rab C Nesbitt and Tony Clifton, are particularly good: