Hall Green Arts Forum

Saturday, 2 November 2013

Cleanascene at Ort

I popped in to see cleanascene exhibition at Ort Gallery last week, and had a chat with our very own HGA Ian Edwards, also a photographer, and part of the team of people who helped coordinate the event with cleanascene.

I recorded a quick podcast with ian explaining more about the event on 7th july 2013, where over 1000 people converged on Nelson Mandela/ Spark Green Park (collecting litter the whole way) for a celebratory arts day, the exhibition now on at Ort, and the ambition for Balsall Heath in the future.

listen to ‘Cleanascene exhib’ on Audioboo

Monday, 14 October 2013

Organise for playing out

Tuesday, 17 September 2013

Ride for Hope 21st Sept

The procession down Kings Heath High Street for Hope Fennell was bigger this year, with around 400 cyclists and pedestrians taking to the street.

We were there with all our children, who all understood why. For Jago it reminded him of when he was hit by a bus (minor injuries only), and said he felt people were doing it for all children. Arthur couldn't understand why nothing had changed. Freya is just coming to terms with what 'dead' means.

Nazan Fennell, mother of Hope, led the procession. When we stopped for a few minutes at the crossing Hope died at, she managed to negotiate with the Police officer attempting to clear the road, even after he described it as a 'publicity stunt'. Hope's friends from school gathered by the ghost bike, while we all waited a short while. My children were getting a bit impatient, but no one was prepared to move until Nazan said so. I'm not sure how long we were there for, obstructing the traffic. As we stood there, I think the police expected the crowds to slowly melt away, but there was a sense of solidarity holding us together, mixed with frustration.

Find out more about Hope Fennell and the Livein Hope campaign or contact khresforum@gmail.com - also see http://hallgreenarts.blogspot.co.uk/p/car-culture.html

Other useful links:

Monday, 2 September 2013

Moseley Folk 2013

Another fantastic line-up this year as folk festival seems to ever grow. The fields were re-jigged a bit to compensate for the ever growing numbers - a nice touch to have live music in the beer tent, with the occasional dance routine breaking out across the queues. Extras like children's activities and other stuff has always been good at #mofo, and this year saw the Morris hay-down get a bit wild right though to the evening, as the hay kept flying. All the bands say this is their favourite festival - maybe they would wouldn't they? But I think it'd be hard to top the lovely laidback family atmosphere Moseley Folk does so well.

Here's a few of my photos from the day. Only managed to photo Kate Rusby from the stage - see links below for more and better photos

Useful links:

Thursday, 8 August 2013

Street play spreading across Birmingham

Yesterday was National Playday, and in Kings Heath we celebrated with a day of street closures to bring communities together and encourage people to play on the streets. Goldsmith Road, Woodville Road and Albert Road all closed to cars for the day, and a range of activities were coordinated by the residents of the streets.

It was supported by Hall Green Arts Forum through music activities (provided by Musicshaker Fiona Howe), and also by our pioneering 'Kings Heath Space Explorer' project. Parks4Play (part of Dens of Equality) provided a range of creative activities, the Library service with street stories and Birmingham City Council were instrumental in providing support to close the roads.

We sent out our young reporters to talk to some of the revellers at Goldsmith Road and Woodville Road:

An estimated 600 people in total took part - mainly residents of the streets themselves - all three streets were visited by Sarah Falkland from Midlands today and was reported live at 1:30 and 3 min clip available on Midlands at 6:30 too:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b037xkkk/Midlands_Today_07_08_2013/?t=21m33s

Laura Watts from Parks for Play was also interviewed on WM Radio and ITV central.

Also some great photos of the day:

Street coordinators will meet in September with City Councillors and other partner organisations (like Hall Green Arts Forum) as the newly formed 'Kings Heath and Moseley Playing out group' and will build on success for to discuss which streets and when streets will open again for play in Birmingham. See below a short film made for playday:

Also see fabulous film:

Sunday, 4 August 2013

I Have A Dream Spoken Word Project

Spoken Word Workshop and Performance

We are inviting young people 13-19 years of age from Hall Green, Sparkhill, Balsall Heath, Kings Heath, Moseley, Sparkbrook and Springfield to take part in a series of spoken word workshops leading up to performances at community libraries across the Hall Green district, during Black History Month in October 2013.

"I Have a Dream" is a public speech delivered by African - American civil rights activist The Rev Martin Luther King, Jr. on August 28, 1963, in which he called for an end to racism in the United States. Delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the speech was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement.

Fifty years later King’s speech is pertinent as ever, his words have a global resonance in countries and nations where citizen’s human and civil rights are violated or denied.

Birmingham’s Black History Month theme commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of what has been regarded, as the most iconic American speech of the 20th century.

The workshops will be led by experienced spoken word artists and performers. They will support young people to develop their own interpretation of “I Have a Dream” speech, making it relevant to them, other young people and society today.

If you are interested in taking part or know of any young people who would be interested in taking part in this exciting historical performance project please contact:

Ian Sergeant Arts Development Outreach Manager, The Drum Arts Centre, 144 Potters Lane, Aston, B6 4UU - email: i.sergeant@the-drum.org.uk Tel: 0121 333 2418

This project is supported by the Arts Champions Scheme, a ground breaking arts initiative that gets Birmingham arts organisations working with residents in their local area.

Friday, 2 August 2013

Place Matters Photography Project

A message from Fairbrum:

Do you have a camera or smartphone? Can you use social media or email? Do you know what works well, and what needs changing in your neighbourhood? If so, we want to involve you in shaping Birmingham’s new neighbourhood strategy.

On July 23rd we are launching a photography project to capture images of the city’s diverse neighbourhoods from different perspectives.

The aim of the Birmingham neighborhood photography project, “Place Matters”, is to build a collection of images to show what is distinctive about different neighbourhoods across Birmingham and what local people value in their local environment.

Budding photographers are being asked to go out into their local community and take pictures that answer one of the following questions:

1.What do you like about your area?

2.What makes your area unique or distinctive?

3.What would you change about your area?

The project is being run as part of a summer of engagement activities to help shape a new neighbourhood strategy for the city. The images submitted will be made available via an online archive, as an interactive map and in local exhibitions.

To get involved, all you need is a camera or a cameraphone and the ability to upload a photo via Social Media (such as Flickr, Twitter, Facebook) or email. In short:

1.Take Photo

2.Upload it to any social media (or email it to us – fairbrum@birmingham.gov.uk)

3.Add caption or note where why and when you took the shot

4.Add the tag or hashtag #fairbrum

5.Geotag if possible!

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/place-matters-neighbourhood-photography-project/

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