Plans for a new art space at Custard Factory have been dug up by the Simon Howes and posted on his wonderful Eastside Blog. At this stage it’s still a proposal but should it go ahead it’ll be up and running by December this year.
Here’s the side view. (Click for legible)
Here’s the full architectural drawing of the site. (Click for legible)
The basic notion is to turn the yard and arches between Scott House and Space2 (aka Rojac) into an art space guarded by a giant spider. A gallery where the dance studio is currently will open up the the front of Scott House and connect it to the lake.. The arches would be heated spaces covered in a web-like material which could be used for installations, markets and a whole range of events. You’ll be delighted to learn that the plans also involve renovating the toilets.
There’s not much to add at this stage as boxes need to be ticked and so on but D’log has spotted a pattern. So far we’ve got a dragon, a tree-man and now a spider. I’m informed the Tolkien connection is purely coincidental.
Ikon Eastside comes back to Digbeth on May 27th taking up residence in the chapel on Fazeley Street (same place as 2006) but before the official launch the space is being used by the International Dance Festival for an intriguing event tonight which I just noticed.
Glass Fragments of Time sees Japanese choreographer Teshigawara performing on a massive square made of countless pieces of broken glass. That’s all the information I can find but I think that’s more that sufficient!
The 2008 Integra Festival closes in Birmingham from 5th - 7th June and one of the events takes place at the Custard Factory’s SPACE2 venue. Capsule are promoting a most intriguing event featuring BIT20 Ensemble and The Bays “blurring the boundaries between the sound worlds of contemporary classical and electronica music” on Friday June 6th.
BIT20 sound intriguing (”A musician-led ensemble from Bergen Norway will premier a new mixed-media work by Michele Tadini, commissioned specially for the festival, plus works by Schaathun and Hellstenius.”) but The Bays look to be out of this world:
The Bays incorporate a classical ensemble into their improvisd electronic performance, using a unique system of real-time music scoring devised by The Bays and projected for the audience to see as well as hear.
The Bays do not believe in rules. The Bays do not make records. They do not rehearse or prepare their entirely improvised live performances. The style of their music ranges from ambient electronica to thundering Drum and Bass, touching all points in between. The four-piece group have taken this project all across the world, performing on massive international stages, in crowded and cramped club rooms, at outdoor festivals, in theatres and even boats. Each performance is new, each idea unprecedented, each appearance a particular adjustment to fit the demands of venue and crowd.
Now, in keeping with this philosophy of uncompromising evolution, for the Integra festival in Birmingham, The Bays have devised a unique system combining computer software and old-fashioned human communication to incorporate an orchestral ensemble. With a classical ensemble, and a team of guest composers led by John Metcalfe, The Bays will combine live electronica and classical ensemble playing in an entirely improvised performance.
Here’s a video of them performing the piece (or at least a similar piece, maybe) in Liverpool:
The bank holiday shindig at the Custard Factory on May 25th is getting a bit of attention around the web with the press release churning up on Beatfactor, I Like Music and iBeats.
Bacardi B-Live in association with sultans of diversity, Eclectricity are bringing a hot bed of contemporary music that will light the clubbing masses of Birmingham to a plethora of beats and sounds set to leave the factory rocking! The Custard Factory, one of the Midland’s legendary clubs will take over Gibb Street to create a mini-festival and absorb fans into the unique space created by the industrial surroundings of Digbeth.
Annie Mac, The Plump DJs, The Count and Sinden (live), The Whip (live) and Pete Jordan are just some of the eclectic mix of pioneering DJs preparing to create a B-LIVE party spirit experience in Birmingham on the May Bank Holiday. BACARDI B-Live is synonymous with outstanding dance parties, blending an exceptional mix of renowned international DJs, acclaimed percussionists and unique Bacardi Rum cocktails.
Genre defining Drum & Bass legends, Roni Size (Reprazent) hit the headlines in 1997 when his Mercury Music Award-winning album, New Forms, threw him into the spotlight crowning him as one of the UK’s jungle sound pioneers. With the beats that defined a generation, Roni Size and Reprazent’s live bass lines will leave the midlands shaking to jungle until the early hours with their full 7 piece live band!
From Sophie Sinclair at WMEN whose office is in Unit 314:
In response to a number of requests from people involved in youth work around the region, West Midlands European Network will now provide advice and guidance to people wishing to submit applications to the Youth Exchange priority of the EU Youth Programme. In the UK this programme is managed by the British Council and the ConnectYouth Programme Team is supporting WMEN to provide advice to applicants in the West Midlands.
WMEN are running seminars to explore the programme in more depth from 10am - 12.30pm on Tuesday 17 June and Wednesday 9 July at the Custard Factory in Birmingham. The cost will be £20 for voluntary sector orgs and youth groups and £40 for public sector orgs. WMENs seminars are not open to representatives of private sector organisations. Should you wish to book please complete the booking form attached and return it asap as places are limited and we expect demand to be high.
For more info check their website or email sophie [at] wmeuronet.org for an application form.
Another blog from a Custard Factory resident, Midge from DVD emporium Diabolik on Gibb St has started Another Byte of Banality. Four posts so far and looking good!
I’ve been really impressed with how the Droplet launch has been spread over the internets from blogs promoting it to photos and this quite wonderful short film.
Here’s a letter from Richard Willacy, Associate Artistic Director of Birmingham Opera who are holding their open day this Sunday coinciding with the all-new Sunday Flea.
You are invited to an Open Day on Sunday, 18th May from 12.00pm - 4.00pm at The Gallery, Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Birmingham, B9 4AA. We would like you to come along and please bring as many of your friends as you like. It would be great if you could spend some time with us between 2-4pm but if that’s not convenient then please feel free to come at any time you can. If you have any questions please call us on 0121 246 6644.
As well as welcoming individuals, if you are part of a group then we can arrange a time to welcome your group, find out about you and tell you about our work. Just call the office on 0121 246 6644 and we’ll sort out a time together.
There will be a rolling programme of short ‘taster sessions’ with introductory talks and discussions on Opera and the Company from Graham Vick, Artistic Director and international opera director; Stuart Nunn, designer, will be speaking about the design process. Jacopo Spirei, Assistant Director and I will also be there. There will be short informal singing workshops led by Genevieve Sylva and Ben Kennedy and short movement workshops led by international choreographer Ron Howell which you can join in with - though not compulsory!! - and short performances from soprano, Donna Bateman. So if you can spare just 10 minutes to say hello or 90 minutes to have a go at everything then just turn up and join in! Or if you wish, pop in and ask the creative team questions on our forthcoming production of Mozart’s Idomeneo which will be staged in August 2008. And if you fancy a bit of bargain browsing then the Custard Factory Flea Market will also be in full flow from 11am to 4pm. So do come along.
We have just uploaded a new web site for St George’s School in Edgbaston. It was a great pleasure to work with the school and both parties are very pleased with the final result. The site runs a full content management system and has brought the school into the digital age with the likes of RSS feeds and an online calendar that allows the school staff to input and organise all events within the school calendar.
If you’ve got an office in Scott House overlooking the river you might have noticed the above appearing in a small plot over previously overgrown land. Yesterday I discovered exactly what’s going on. It’s an art installation called The Secret Garden by Leon Trimble, Arlene Burnett and Paul Newman, collectively known as Behind Closed Doors.
The show is based around five shipping containers shown above four of which will contain installations with the top one holding a back-projected screen showing photos and video from the project all night. You can follow the progress of the project on their blog.
The private view is on 29th May at 6pm with the exhibition running until June 15th.
Posted by Pete Ashton on May 08, 2008 | 3 Comments →
Last week Custard Factory marketing director Dave Peebles was in Ottawa for the Creative Construct Symposium “bringing together participants from around the world to exchange the latest ideas and practices on the development of cultural and creative spaces; cultural planning and investment strategies for cultural infrastructure and cultural districts; and collaborative approaches to enhancing the cultural vitality, creative potential, and competitiveness of cities and communities.” This article in the Ottawa Citizen examines what Ottawa could learn from the event with some nice quotes from Dave and a potted history of the Custard Factory itself.
In Birmingham in 1989, with the decline of manufacturing and widespread unemployment “they were wondering, ‘What’s the future of our city?’” recalls Mr. Peebles.
Entrepreneur-developer Bennie Gray proposed creative industries. He knew artists, musicians and theatres were looking for space. He bought the five-acre custard factory site cheaply for about $1 million, and renovated the buildings.
“It was perseverance, seeing an opportunity and reacting to market demand,” says Mr. Peebles.
The first building was for young artists and offered cheap rent. The second was aimed at young entrepreneurs and provided free broadband.
“The idea of private industry leading regeneration is very awkward for most municipalities,” says Mr. Peebles. “But I don’t think the city of Birmingham could have delivered it. Municipalities can sometimes get too wrapped up in the feasibility of the feasibility.”
However, without 25-per-cent public investment over the years, the facility would not have been possible, he says.
Today, it features studio-workshops, cafés, theatres, dance studios, galleries and a nightclub. Tenants include TV and digital media companies and graphic designers.
“The city sees us as a vehicle for attracting creative business to Birmingham,” says Mr. Peebles. “They get the business taxes and improve the image of the city. Tenants say they get hope and a sense of community. It’s money well spent.”
If you work in the area then this is open invite to you to come along. We’ve got a small group of men and women with a wide range of abilities and all we do is go up the canal through Bordesely Green and turn back about 15 minutes in.
They’re starting on Great Barr St (see map at the link) and running for 30-40 minutes.
Nicky Getgood recounts a week in Digbeth nicely illustrating some of the stuff going on in and around the Custard Factory site that you might not have heard of.
However, it does make some sense and there is precedent here as the Jewellery Quarter station has only been there since 1995 and was built not on the site of a previous disused station but was created specifically to serve that creative quarter. The same could happen at Custard Factory. Imagine a direct connection from CF to JQ - a truly well connected, joined up Brum. It might even open up the Custard Factory to more visitors and before long we’d have more than two cafés and the newspaper shop would open before 9am and have some ice-creams in its freezer.
Posted by Pete Ashton on May 07, 2008 | 3 Comments →
Artistic Director Graham Vick, Designer Stuart Nunn, Choreographer Ron Howell and the rest of the Birmingham Opera Team are looking forward to seeing you all there.
Activities start at 12 and end at 4pm. You can take part in singing, acting and movement exercises, learn about the company’s work and our next production Mozart’s Idomeneo or simply pop in to say hello.
Since 2001 we have presented Berg’s Votzek in a dilapidated warehouse on the edge of the Ladywood housing estate, Beethoven’s Fidelio in a big top pitched in Aston Park beside Aston Villa FC and Bernstein’s Candide in an old car parts factory in Digbeth. We explored the work of Monteverdi through a series of projects during 2004 in Cannon Hill Park, Oozells Square, Brindley Place, the Cathedral Precinct, The Bull Ring, The Fazeley Canal leading to a large-scale production of Ulysses Comes Home in Planet Ice in Spring 2005. In 2006 we presented Strauss’s Ariadne Sells Out at The Que Club and in Spring 2007 Mozart’s He Had It Coming in The Old Birmingham Municipal Bank on Broad Street. In October 2007, 300 Birmingham people and the CBSO joined us to present Verdi’s La Traviata (an international co-production with Arena di Verona) to almost 10,000 people in The National Indoor Arena, Birmingham.
More highlights from the Flea over the next couple of weeks.
According to International Clubber, DJMag has ranked the Custard Factory as the 66th best club in the world, as voted for by “the world’s biggest DJs”.
Factory Club is Birmingham’s most reliably varied club largely thanks to a family of resident promotions that stands unrivalled in the Midlands. Techno goliath Atomic Jam, breaks sessions Spectrum and house party Ultra+ are just some of the nights that have given it such a good name over the past year.
“Part shopping centre, part arts centre, it has to be one of the strangest spaces I have seen for a club,” reckons underground techno veteran Aaron Liberator. “But it’s one of those places that has you scratching your head on the way in but smiling as you leave.”
70 of the 128 limited edition Droplets sold on the night and the customs (some of which are shown above) will be on display until the end of the month.
This weblog the first stage of the new Custard Factory website which, in time, will attempt to reflect and complement one of Europe's largest concentrations of creativity online. Plans for this site are big but to get there we must take small steps, one at a time. Do join us on this journey.
