Happy and Sad

So a very busy and emotional weekend here at the Edge, with serious highs and one massive low:

First up, we held our inaugral ‘Happy Artist’ social club on Friday.  Happy Artist is our attempt to create a place for artists and their friends to meet and have fun -without any art in the mix!  We liken it to the working men’s clubs of old – but obviously in our own way.  A place to hang out, to socialise with other people who ‘get it’ and just to let your hair down with no agenda.  We realised that a lot of the socialising we were doing with other artists happened at art launches or ‘private views’ (hate that term, so old fashioned), and we thought, would it not be nice just to meet up and hang out, without ignoring someone’s artwork in the process – so Happy Artist was born.

Hanging out with happy artists

Well, we had a scream!  Highlights included Harry Palmer’s electropop disco (it’s always ‘Hammertime’), impromptu semaphore dancing workshops, Lee losing his mind (and trousers), Justin from the Culture Corporation awarding Ben Waddington his Happiest Artist Award (a hastily improvised Anthony Gormless sculpture), Harry’s Michael Jackson moonwalking tribute, and the sheer joy of a roomful of rictus-like grins plastered on everyone’s face. It really was ‘like it used to be’ (and can be again!).  Next Happy Artist Social Club is Friday 28th August – see you there.

And so to the low.  As we hope you are aware, the Edge is situated on Cheapside, an industrial street in deepest Digbeth.  For hundreds of years the area has been home to artisans, makers and engineers, creating a host of objects to go from the ‘Toyshop of the world’ out to the rest of the planet.  The area has been a hotbed of manufacturing and creativity, giving the world a host of new inventions and products from the felt tip pen to eggless custard.  Many of these inventions, and the creativity behind them, have been nurtured, not in large factories with corporate backing, but from small workshops, little two or three-man operations, working in tandem and sharing IPR – all stuff our inward-looking creative industries could learn from.

On Saturday, our neighbours, RW Cresswells, closed their doors for the final time after thirty years in the unit, and several generations of engineers working in Digbeth.  Victims of the recession, they were unable to continue in the current financial climate.  This is a tragedy, for us (they were great neighbours), but also for Birmingham, its heritage and history – their like will never be seen again.  This opens up all kinds of questions about the future – who will retain those engineering skills, what will Birmingham’s economy actually produce in the future, what happens when all the stuff we have breaks down and there is nobody left to fix it?

We’re extremely sad to see them leave, but have organised regular meetings where we will meet and record some of the myriad stories they have about the city and it’s engineering industries.  We’ve also agreed to take on John’s task of feeding the feral cats in the area! John and Terry, we’re sad to see you go and wish you all the best in the future.