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:

• http://birminghamlives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/playday-2013.html
• http://www.itv.com/news/central/update/2013-08-07/streets-closed-for-national-play-day-initiative/

Also see fabulous film:

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.

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/