The University of Wolverhampton opened its doors last weekend to friends, family and the general public to celebrate the work of their students. This has been a tradition in their building since 1969 with over 8,000 students taking part to date. The degree show is on until Saturday 14th June.

The Birmingham Institute of Art and Design Graduate shows are also on until Saturday 14th June with dates and activities varying across location and subject areas, please check the website to find out more. With the main subject areas spanning art, visual communication, fashion & textiles, 3D design, architecture and jewellery – there is a lot to go and see.

Staffordshire University’s annual Art and Design show opens Friday 13th June and will be open to everyone until Saturday 21st June. The show is a celebration of a range of work across their Art & Design courses. To find out more about ‘Show & Tell’ please visit their website.

We hope that the graduate shows for University of Worcester and Coventry University went well and wish all the Art & Design students the best of luck! We look forward to seeing your work.

Are you a West Midlands based artist or maker?

If yes, then mac birmingham wants your art.

The Open Project is guaranteeing the regions artists a place in mac birmingham’s prominent first floor gallery to show and sell their work, and all eligible work will also be considered to take part in a series of exhibitions throughout the summer.

So what do you do next? There are eight simple steps to follow that are detailed further here, but in the mean time, as always, please read the terms and conditions and then register online for the Open Day on Saturday 29th June.

There will be a workshop tomorrow, 15th June, to give you all the information you need to know about taking part. You can book your place at the workshop here.

If you don’t know much about the Birmingham born project then watch the following video’s below that show the framing process by The Framers based in the Custard Factory, the print process of the Poop Deck Project playing cards and a video showing the exhibition space transformed from an empty gallery to a busy launch night.

Inkygoodness: Framing Beermats from Inkygoodness on Vimeo.

The Poop Deck Project printing process.

Inkygoodness: Beermat Characters + The Poop Deck Project Launch from Inkygoodness on Vimeo.

Animation Forum WM have teamed up with Dice Productions and Flip Festival to bring three separate programmes of screenings of the best UK animated films of 2010 and 2011 to Birmingham. The shorts will be screened on Thursday 9th, Friday 10th, and Saturday 11th February from 7pm each night at The Custard Factory Theatre and you can vote to help determine the Public Choice winners.

Buy tickets and get more information on the Animation Forum WM website.

If you’re after something local:

• This link will take you to a list of West Mids culture/sport charities
• This link will take you to a search of charities that mention the keyword ‘Birmingham’
• Audiences Central has a list

In case a bit of background’s useful, over the past few years, the Arts Council funds organisations in two ways – by giving cash on a project-by-project basis (that’s called Grants for the Arts) and through what’s called ‘regular funding’. In the latter you’d be given an amount of money over a period of time.

The regular funding part is changing – as from this time next year, there will be a number of organisations that will be known as National Portfolio Organisations. Today we’re finding out which those will be.

Headline figures:

Nationally, 695 organisations have National Portfolio status (down from around 880 that had regular funding previously). 206 organisations that were regularly funded didn’t make it into the portfolio. 110 organisations that weren’t regularly funded have got in.

In the West Midlands (and according to my rather iffy maths) we’ve gone from 66 regularly funded organisations to 50 National Portfolio Organisations.

National Portfolio Organisations in the West Midlands

As my first boss always told me – always work from first sources. The official Arts Council info is here. Of course, there’s only so much you can tell from a spreadsheet so the following won’t reveal much detail and may be slightly misleading in places (doesn’t take account of mergers or name changes). Still, this what I’ve made of it, and if I’ve made any mistakes, then please let me know (links are to statements put out by the orgs):

Funding increased from current position:

• Ace Dance And Music
• Arena
• Birmingham City University
• Black Country Touring
• Dancefest
• DanceXchange
• Fierce! Festival Limited
• Geese Theatre Company
• Live & Local Ltd
• Punch
• Stan’s Cafe
• Wolverhampton Arts and Museums Service

It seems that some of these increases reflect mergers with other organisations, while others (Stan’s Cafe for one) have requested funding for money that would previously have come via applications to Grants For The Arts Awards.

Funding decreased:

• Arts Alive
• Belgrade Theatre
• Big Brum
• Birmingham Contemporary Music Group
• Birmingham Opera Company
• Birmingham Repertory Theatre Limited
• Birmingham Royal Ballet
• C&T
• City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
• Craftspace
• Dance Touring Consortium Limited
• Dash
• Ex Cathedra
• Ikon Gallery Limited
• Ixia
• Ledbury Poetry Festival
• Midlands Arts Centre (MAC)
• Motionhouse Dance Theatre
• Multistory
• New Art Gallery Walsall
• New Vic Theatre
• Pentabus Theatre
• Rhubarb Rhubarb
• Royal Shakespeare Company
• SAMPAD
• Talking Birds Theatre Company Ltd
• The Courtyard Centre for the Arts
• The Drum
• Tindal Street Press
• Warwick Arts Centre
• Welsh National Opera

As a side note, most of the reductions in funding here are relatively small. In a few cases they’re  a little more significant – check the spreadsheet for full info.

New to the portfolio:

• 2 FaCeD DaNcE Company Ltd
• Imagineer Productions
• Meadow Arts
• Nofit State Community Circus
• Performances Birmingham
• Sonia Sabri Dance Company
• Writing West Midlands

Current RFOs that won’t be in the National Portfolio

Please be aware that a lack of inclusion in the National Portfolio doesn’t mean these are just going to shut up shop. There’s also a couple of orgs here (flagged up where they’ve alerted me) who’s funding will come from one of those who are in the portfolio. Of course, some of these might well have not made an application, preferring to stick to project funding.

• Audiences Central
• B Arts
• Bilston Craft Gallery (although they’re part of Wolverhampton Arts and Museums Service)
• Black Voices
• Blue Eyed Soul Dance Company
• Chitraleka Dance Company
• Contemporary Glass Society
• Designer Maker West Midlands
• Foursight Theatre
• Hereford Photography Festival
• Ludlow Assembly Rooms
• Made
• Malvern Theatres Trust
• Open Theatre Company
• Rideout (Creative Arts For Rehabilitation)
• Shindig (which is now covered by Live & Local, so they’re fine)
• Sound It Out
• Theatre Absolute
• Vivid
• Writers in Prison Network

Links elsewhere:

• Arts Council England’s official info page
• Statement from DCMS/Jeremy Hunt
• A Google Doc showing all National Portfolio Organisations
• Before the official announcement was made there was plenty coming through on Twitter
• Clare Edwards is looking to gather feedback about Sound It Out “from those who have been involved or been touched by the work of SIO. Even if it doesn’t help their cause it might be useful to gather a bit of feedback for the company in these circumstances”.
• Birmingham Jazz – Joint Birmingham Bid Secures Arts Council Funding
• The British Journal of Photography reports that Rhubarb Rhubarb’s funding won’t quite cover their existing activities. Fundraising and new ways of working required
• D’log’s round-up
• Catherine Edwards has blogged about the status of various writing and theatre organisations
• Katy Raines at Indigo has blogged about the position regarding audience development organisations
• The Guardian have been doing a good rolling news update thing, covering the whole of the country. They’ve been doing some visualisations too.
• The Birmingham Post’s article is here

I’ll keep on updating this post as and when I can. If I’ve made any errors (which isn’t unlikely) then please let me know and I’ll correct them.

The Campaign for Drawing is running throughout October, with events taking place all over the world encouraging people of all ages to get creative with a pencil and paper.

There are plenty of events happening around the West Midlands, take a look at this list on the Campaign for Drawing website to find out what’s happening where and when.

mac also have a range of activities going on for The Big Draw, with a series of drawing stations positioned around the city, all ready for you to be inspired by Birmingham and start drawing. Plus there will be plenty of family events over October half term, with mono-printing, trails and inks.

In the meantime, if the idea of doodling has got you inspired, take a look at Draw and Fold Over. Feel free to share finished creations!