Media office

Fun Facts 

Birmingham Arts and Culture

 

  • Birmingham has more than 5,000 works of art in one square mile.
  • Around 500 people a week enjoy dance classes at DanceXchange.
  •  6,000,000 grains of rice were used by Birmingham based theatre company Stan’s Café in their installation All The People in The World.

 

  • Birmingham born micro-miniaturist Willard Wigan sold a collection of his works for £11 million in 2007.

 

  • There are 16,000 coins in the Barber Institute of Fine Arts collection.

 

  • The Birmingham Institute of Art & Design is one of only nine universities in the UK to offer a degree course in animation.

 

  • The Electric in Station Street is the UK’s oldest working art deco cinema and will be 100 years old in 2009.

 

  • Birmingham Hippodrome is the UK’s busiest theatre outside of London’s West End, welcoming audiences averaging almost 500,000 per year.

 

  • The first interactive trans-Atlantic play was created by pupils from St Alban's School in Birmingham and Kelly High School in Chicago using video conferencing. The drama, Navy Pier, was premiered at Birmingham Repertory Theatre on July 6th 2007.

 

  • There are over 47,000 seats available every day for performances in the city - that’s an incredible 17 million seats a year.

 

  • The Drum in Aston is Europe's first arts centre dedicated to developing and promoting African, Caribbean and Asian arts and culture.

 

  • The music library at Birmingham Conservatoire houses 95,000 individual scores and 10,000 sound recordings.

 

  • Since its foundation, mac has introduced over 10 million people to the arts, and is now used by over 10% of Birmingham’s population every year. It will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2012.

 

  • Live music venue The Jamhouse, in the Jewellery Quarter, opened in 1999 with support from pianist and TV presenter Jools Holland.

 

  • The world’s largest collection of rock album covers can be found at St Paul’s Gallery in the Jewellery Quarter, which celebrates the 40th anniversary of psychedelia in September 2007.

 

  • Birmingham is home to its own symphony orchestra, ballet company, opera company and school of acting.
European Regional Development Fund