Picnic in Calthorpe Park, Fri 22nd June

Please come, invite your friends.

Building community spirit in Hall Green

Guest Blog by Majid Salim
 
My name is Majid and I'm a blogger. I live in Hall Green. 
 
Traditionally the areas of South Birmingham that have been of most interest to bloggers and twitter users are Kings Heath, Moseley and Stirchley. These are areas that have a strong community ethos backed with solid support from local twitter users and hyperlocal bloggers, creating a strong sense of community and place. It is a shame that Hall Green has lagged behind these other areas in not having the same local pride, spirit and ethos, because the area has so much to offer. Not only does it have some amazing green belt spaces and areas of local history that are beautiful, but it was the home of some very famous people, including Tolkein, Tony Hancock and Nigel Mansell. But the real wealth in Hall Green is the inhabitants, many of whom are professionals such as lawyers, stockbrokers and journalists. Going for a walk around Hall Green you really feel the sense of it as an aspirational area for many, especially Asians from Sparkhill who view living in the area as a symbol of having made a success of your life. 

I'd like to make a contribution to the debate about the arts in Hall Green. I think one of the reasons why Hall Green lags behind in the arts as compared to other areas is because there is no real focal point for the area to build a community ethos. Obviously you have Hall Green Parade and Robin Hood Island, but the area is crying out for the equivalent of Kings Heath's Poplar Rd/York Rd, or Moseley's side streets where three or four arts/crafts businesses might prosper and create a sense of place. If only Hall Green had  a nice arts cafe, like Ort in Balsall Heath, or arts hub! It probably wouldn't be used by run of the mill people, but there is a subset of society that I believe many people are members of, who might see the potential of such a development and start utilising it. Believe it or not, I think there are many people in Hall Green who are like this, and who would love their area transformed into something vibrant and living, which reflects their identities. 

 It might be worth trying to promote a venue such as Highfield Hall as a place for bohemian, clued up people to congregate and collaborate, to see if a sense of community can be germinated that way. The other possibility is for business people to see Hall Green an an attractive place to start local community businesses. Either way, an ethos would flourish, and soon Hall Green would become another major focal point for arts activity in South Birmingham.
 
:-)
 
majidsalim.wordpress.com
twitter.com/majid_salim

Wings, Middle Earth and Martineau Gardens

It's been a busy weekend, if a little rainy.  If, like us, you got to see half of Wings of Desire in the rain on Friday night, you'll be pleased to know those who made it on saturday had a treat.

The every popular Middle Earth Weekend celebrated 75 years of the publication of the Hobbit at Sarehole Mill, and Martineau Gardens had their Spring Fair including live performances from Black Adder Morris, Carlo Mahalo and the G-Strings Ukulele band,  wildlife activities and drop-in pottery sessions organised for children.


Hall Green Arts and Artists were there, of course - here is photo gallery:
Martineaus:

Middle Earth:

First Surgery at Ort

Ort Cafe is a great venue opposite Balsall Heath Library, ideal for our first surgery.  We had a decent turnout, and was commented the 'Surgery' type approach relaxed and made meetings more approachable and inviting to new people.  The Cafe was set up by artists, and not surprisingly is great for meeting artists, but as one attendee commented:


'I liked the Ort venue meeting, and the relaxed table mix, but not sure we're reaching the school and neighbourhood communities yet'

This one, I think is a bit of a priority, so first off, the surgeries will be at a range of different settings.  I'm also hoping the people from that venue will help us attract a range of people they already know from their communities.  So the next one will be Kitchen Garden Cafe (early July, date to be confirmed) and I'm looking into having a picnic on Cannon Hill Park and meeting in a school or two - Robin Hood Primary and Kings Heath Primary are more obvious choices, as we already know people there.

We are looking for more venues for this year, but the only (and most effective) way to do this is to find people with a venue willing to help organise surgeries.  Please contact me if you think you can help.

I'll be placing some of the comments on our facebook page to encourage people to write responses, to develop conversations.  Last, but not least, we need actions, art stuff to come from the surgeries. Only one surgery so far so early days, but from the conversations I was a part of, it's clear we are already bringing people together who are setting up workshops, events, other things.

• Notes from meeting
• Map updated
• Field for the Olympics

HGA in Birmingham News! p.4 April 26

Wild about play at Easter

Fungital

First meeting with Pete, Roxy, me and Tony went well.  Long chat about what went well last year and what we can do in the future.

Not this sort

My analysis is that we have some great community activists, some great artists, organisations but lack any effective kind of meeting (real or hyper-real).  When we do meet either the stronger voices can drown out the others, or the group is so divergent in its interests, its hard to have an effective, inclusive discussion, people loose interest and go their separate ways.

We all agreed HGA meetings had not worked last year, and questioned whether the more formal meeting structure really worked.

More like this

What to do? - Fungital!  No, not the spanish athletes foot treatment, but a series of 'surgeries' for funding, digital stuff and networking across our huge and divergent region bringing people who share a vision for their community, artistically and culturally, together - develop existing invisible networks, through meetings and digital means, to support existing and new arts events with advice and funding opportunities, workshops, activities across our region.  We want to be transparent - what this blog is a part of - info people can dip into, contribute to, find what you want.

We want to put artists and community activists/leaders in touch with each other and with funding opportunities.  I want to develop  effective communication between Hall Green artists and Hall Green communities.

I think this is something we (as a playgroup and community centre), me (a community art worker), Drum (our arts champion), Pete and Roxy (representing our Council) are in a good position to support.  We will, of course, be at events too,  but it'll be about supporting people running their own events, not running them ourselves.

Venues for surgeries can happen can vary from arty cafes, community centres, libraries, schools, and representation at the many arts events across our region.  Part of the work of the surgery will be to map activity, groups, individuals, developing a living resource which will be updated by the activists and artists in our region, rather than centrally administered.  It's a big ask, from a small budget, but with a little help from our friends...