Birmingham City Council has announced the ten outstanding and thought provoking arts projects that have been commissioned to provide a programme of must see events and inspirational entertainment across Birmingham over the next few months, under the Urban Fusion banner.
Val Birchall, Head of Arts, Birmingham City Council said: “These events are a chance to get involved with the city’s most dynamic arts companies. The activities are a fantastic range of architecture, contemporary dance and fireworks to video installations and all genres of music. They embody the variety and breadth of creative talent that exists here, plus Birmingham’s ability to attract leading international artists to perform in the city for everyone’s pleasure.”
The ten successful companies, chosen from over 100 bids are Sozo Collective, Fierce! Festival, Rhubarb Rhubarb, University of Central England, CBSO, Ikon Gallery, Friction Arts, Hold Tight Arts, DanceXchange and Gigbeth.
The selection panel included Urban Fusion funders (Advantage West Midlands & Arts Council England), Birmingham City Council, Marketing Birmingham, Audiences Central and two independent advisers. The criteria used in the shortlisting process were the artistic quality, potential to draw a large audience, potential to attract national and international media attention and financial viability. The panel also had to take into account AWM’s required outputs relating to new sales, learning opportunities, businesses assisted and other specific areas to enable BCC to drawdown funding for 2007.
The majority of proposals were of a very high standard and would have benefited the city had the funding been available to support them all. The panel therefore made the difficult decision of shortlisting 28 projects out of 107 which was further reduced to five large scale projects. It also decided to support a further four projects which had developed out of the first two years of the programme – the Stravinsky Cycle (CBSO/BRB), the Ikon Offsite Programme, the development phase of an international dance festival for the city and New Generation Arts Festival.
After a decade of surprising and provocative experiences, the clock is ticking towards Fierce’s 10th anniversary in May which is going to be something a little bit special this year. Fierce! Festival has three weeks of eye-popping, stop you in your tracks performances and spectacles taking place in theatres, galleries and unusual sites and locations across the city from 18th May to 4th June.
From the 24th – 29th May, photographic agency Rhubarb Rhubarb will bring the White Tent to the Bull Ring between St Martin's Church and Selfridges. ‘The Portrait of Birmingham’ is a study by photographer Barry Lewis which will capture thousands of people on camera in individual portraits.
May also sees the start of a programme from the Ikon Gallery. Three strands of activity including an Ikon annexe in Eastside involving international artists from Mauritius, Italy, Mexico, Turkey, Canada and Japan, publicly sited arts project around Eastside and outreach programme for schools involving community workshops.
On 1st June eye-catching structures will spring up in Eastside courtesy of the Festival of Extreme Buildings. This architectural project is brought to the city by the Sozo Collective, whose approach to architecture is to reclaim, transform and reinvent it with the energy and engagement of the local community.
June continues with a new Stravinsky Project by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Birmingham Royal Ballet. This project forms part of the Stravinsky Cycle/IgorFest, a larger programme of collaboration between Birmingham’s two flagship arts organisations to stage all of Stravinsky's works and will include Dynamic Dance, one Symphony Hall concert of Stravinsky’s “Rake’s Progress”, two Pre-Concert Talks and a Study Day at CBSO Centre.
Last year UCE Birmingham launched the New Generation Arts Festival which took the city by storm and returns again on 14th June to celebrate Birmingham's emerging artistic talent. The festival builds on the success of last year with a broad range of outstanding work by selected artists and explores the theme of identity and diversity. This year's two week festival showcases works from multiple arts disciplines at venues in and around the city and includes architecture, creative writing, acting, fashion, fine art, jewellery, multimedia design, music and visual communication.
Blast is opening the city’s popular free festival, Artsfest in September at Curzon Park, behind the old Curzon Street Station, Eastside. Blast is the creation of a brand new work by a team of national and international artists with a long track record of staging unique large scale art events. Drawing on Birmingham’s industrial heritage and in celebration of the modern city and its future, we will create two unforgettable evenings using sound, light and fire to evoke a powerful, visceral echo of the area’s history inspired by the old Curzon Street station.
Friction Arts will launch their Reality Estate event in October involving internationally renowned artists alongside the people of Birmingham, performing specially created music to ‘sing the city’s truths’. Choirs will sing to each other from the balconies of tower blocks, the roofs of buildings, from the street and on the city’s waterways in Ladywood, Five Ways, Lee Bank and Atwood Green. These will be complemented by a series of large-scale video projections and live performances by local artists.
Contemporary dance fans will not be disappointed when DanceXchange (dx) unveils its season of intercultural dialogue, celebrating the work of two international companies and inspiring audiences and artists in the West Midlands. dx is a dance house dedicated to the production and distribution of high quality dance, creating exciting opportunities for people to engage in dance either as a participant, performer or audience member. This is delivered through a series of events that includes performances, masterclasses, improvisation jams, meet-the-artist sessions and an exciting new international commission.
Last year the first Gigbeth conference and concerts took over Digbeth and was hailed as “the new Glastonbury” by a national newspaper. This year its back from 1st – 3rd November even bigger than before. Managed by the Learning Skills Council, the event showcases the quality and diversity of music in the West Midlands and will coincide with Music Live - the national music exhibition at the NEC that attracts 25,000 visitors to Birmingham.
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