Day to day blog of Artist Paul Hirst as he creates new work on his art residency at the Bond in Birmingham

Hi8us Midlands will be hosting a series of free workshops for 14-19 year olds in association with the Film Nation: Shorts competition.

The workshops will give young film-makers the chance to meet professional film-makers and acquire new skills in film-making techniques using the latest state-of-the-art Panasonic equipment.

Film Nation: Shorts was launched by eminent film producer Lord David Putnam and actors Nicholas Hoult and Georgia Groome at BAFTA in London and invites 14-25 year olds to create short films that celebrate the values of the Olympic and Paralympic Games: respect, courage, excellence, friendship, equality, determination and inspiration.

The workshops will be held on 11th, 12th, 17th, 18th and 19th August from 10am to 4pm at The Bond and participants should be able to attend all dates.

Workshops for the 19-25’s will be popping up across the country, so check back to the Film Nation site if you’re interested.

Submissions for the first round of the competition are open until 1 October 2010.

Anyone interested in attending should contact Vicki at Hi8us on 0121 753 7700 or email vicki@hi8us.co.uk.

It’s nearly the end of term, and you know what that means… showcases! Birmingham City University are already on the case with Exhibit This by its final year Media and Communication students. And the plan is…

…to display their creative work to industry professionals and the general public while celebrating their achievements throughout their degree.

As you can see from the flyer, you can expect work from a range of media disciplines, from photography to web and new media, so if you want to check out some new talent in the field, it might be worth a poke around.

Exhibit This is at The Bond in Digbeth on 7th and 8th June, between 6pm and 8.30pm.