I was going to start this post with the word ‘busy’ – until I remembered that we’ve banned the use of the word – i.e. ‘How are you?’, answer ‘Busy’.  I think we should all take that as read and then we can get on with the rest of the conversation.

So, there’s a lot going on right now, last weekend FizzPOP hackspace group held a whole weekend of workshops at the Edge, we popped in to meet Mitch Altman on Sunday and the place was literally buzzing. And whizzing, and bleeping and making all kinds of electronic sounds – I’ve never seen so many soldering irons in one place before.  I had a go on one of the brain machines which was like a good acupuncture session, I felt well relaxed after, Nikki told me of the joy of walking through the Bullring with Mitch, randomly turning off TVs in the shops with a TV-B-Gone, loads of fun.

This Saturday, West Midlands Film Makers for Haiti are holding a fundraising night at the Edge for Haiti (and possibly Chile as well).  There’s a couple of hours of great short films to enjoy(on our super big screen), followed by a disco and cake!  Sounds like a good night out to me.

And next week, a reminder that we are hosting Jonathan Kay and the Nomadic Academy of Fools.  They’ll be around right up until the Flatpack Festival weekend, hosting workshops in the art of fooling during the day and performances during the evenings including scratch cabarets, performances of Richard II (not like the RSC, one bit – well worth a look) and some solo performances by Jonathan Kay – if you’ve ever been to one of his amazing Glastonbury shows, you’ll know this is absolutely not to be missed.  I remember five hundred of us, led by Mr Kay, surrounding an unsuspecting sleeper and gently waking him up by singing Bohemian Rhapsody to him, before using lines of portaloos as the starting gates for a very muddy, human version of the Grand National – so its not exactly theatre.  saw him perform at the MAC once and the whole audience ended up invading the cinema and treating the film audience to a performance of middle eastern dancing.  So not like normal theatre, then.  I reiterate – DO NOT MISS THIS!

We always struggle with articulating what we do.  We know what it isn’t – community art, participatory art, socially-engaged practice are all terms used for the kind of work we make.  But these terms are sadly inadequate and don’t really tell the story of the work we make.  Our Bulgarian colleagues recognised the same problem and we discussed it at length.  This kind of work has developed, and is developing all across the world – we realise we’re not the only people who are doing it, but like any relatively new development, the language hasn’t developed in pace with the thing itself.  We make art, first and foremost (the old question about whether it is art or social work being safely put to bed, we hope), contemporary, conceptual work, but in a ‘real world’ context, alongside people who are not artists.  It is very much not traditional ‘community art’ (but owes a great debt to those pioneers from the 70s and before), it does not necessarily live in an ‘art context’ – like a gallery or arts centre, so it can’t be ‘proper art’ either.  So what do we call it?  Any suggestions?  I’ve played around with various ideas, but haven’t been able to come to any conclusions, yet.  It’s context-specific and responds to the ideas and concerns of its ‘audience’ – responsive art?  It blurs the boundaries between audience, artist and participant – boundary art?  It serves to bring people together and create a dialogue between them – dialogue art? There are all kinds of impacts that the work makes, direct effects in the real world – legacy art?

As you can  see, I’ve come to no conclusions as yet, but it’s a perennial problem, this naming what we do thing.  We want to advocate for this work, we know how powerful it is, but without having the language to explain it easily, it makes it hard to spread the word.  If we take someone through a project, and explain the whole thing they get it, but this is very time intensive for everyone.  Finding new ways of explaining it would save a lot of time and energy, better used elsewhere.  But perhaps it is for others to define us, perhaps we should stop worrying about that and just get on with doing what we do best, making the work.  I’ll let you know when I come up with a solution.

On saturday we had a visit by Bulgarian-based artists Diana Ivanova and Babak Salari, accompanied by their publisher, Manno,from publishers Janet 45,  to launch their new book about their ‘My Street’ project in Cuba.  They talked about the project, and how they had travelled around Cuba, collecting stories from people about their street, and asking them to take photographs with cameras they provided.  The resultant book contains some very beautiful and moving stories, accompanied by some great pictures (and available from the Edge, price £9).  A fantastic project, by some great people – after the seminar Brendan Jackson had kindly provided huge pots of great chilli, so we all sat around the table and ate together, ending the night round the Edge piano, singing Bulgarian folk songs.  Edge seminars aren’t just boring talks, they’re an experience in themselves, see you at the next one?

This weekend at the Edge, the wonderful Fizzpop are holding two days of workshops and circuit-mashing mayhem.  On Saturday, Nikki Pugh is hosting a day of Useless Machine construction – no matter what level of hacking, from beginners up, this looks like a fun workshop. Bring a soldering iron if you have one. On Sunday there’s a visit by US hacking guru, Mitch Altman – inventor of the TV-B-Gone, brain machines, etc – who’ll be disseminating his hacking wisdom in a hands-on way – essential for all with even a slightly well-developed geek gland.  Much more info available, here at Fizzpop.

And on Friday we had our first Happy Artist social club of the year.  As usual it was a hoot, with a great mix of tunes from DJ Soesmix Edan and Mr Lord Reverend Dj Ipod, and an appearance by Mollie Dean, singing some of her own songs (she’s still at school!).  Happy Artist is a joyous celebration, a place where you can really let your hair down and a place where the concept of ‘cool’ is completely banned.  My face always hurts the next day from smiling too much (and my legs, my back, my arms – and sometimes my head – but it’s worth it).  Happy Artist is on the last Friday of every month (barring clashes with other events).

Finally, we’d like to remind you that we are always open to hosting new events and projects here at the Edge.  So if you have a project, or an idea that needs a home, get in touch and we’ll see what we can do.  We are particularly interested in work in the fields of hybrid arts, time-based and performance, participation and intervention.  Whether it is a funded or supported project or totally DIY, if it works for us, we can usually find a way to make it work for you.  If you think you have anything suitable, get in contact.

Finally, finally, we’ve hooked up with the ‘We Are Eastside’ group – even though I don’t think we’re quite in Eastside, does anyone know for sure?  Anyways, the idea is to provide a bit more connectivity between ‘cultural operators’ in the Digbeth area, which would be no bad thing.  So for a one-stop shop about what’s going on generally in the Digbeth area go to the We Are Digbeth (my preferred title) site for more information.  Of course, we also recommend Nicky Getgood’s Digbeth is Good website for a resident’s eye view of the culture of Digbeth.

As promised, I’ve uploaded the film of the seminar. It’s a bit rough around the edges, and a little dark, but its the content that counts. I didn’t add the Q+A, so if you have any questions of your own after watching, or comments, please do so in the usual way and we will endeavour to answer as soon as possible. If you have any trouble playing it, click here. The film is about 45 minutes long, so sit back and enjoy…

And don’t forget that next Saturday 27th, we have another talk at the Edge with Babak Salari and Diana Ivanova, talking about another great International project - ‘My Street’, in Cuba.

We held our seminar about our South African residency on Thursday, and it went pretty well, I think.  Despite an unexpected snowfall and a few consequent last minute cancellations (part-timers ), it was standing room only.  We really enjoyed delivering the seminar and the audience seemed to as well – nobody walked out at least (actually I’m being a bit too humble, we had lots of ‘inspiring’ and ‘amazing’-type comments).  I’m going to try and post a video of the whole thing over the weekend – all being well.  It’s an hour long, though, so be warned!

We mentioned joy a lot, as it is so inherent in our work – as well as looking at the issues, thoughts and stories of the people we work with, we are always keen to have moments of joy in our work.  For us, joy is what art is all about – the joy of discovery, the joy of thinking about things differently, the joy in making the work and on and on – joy is omniportant.  We tend to choose time-based approaches to what we do, interventions, performances, interactions because joy only happens in the moment – it can only be experienced right here, right now, not in the future, and not in the past, it’s a celebration of life, of just being here (this applies to all other artforms, we just like the instant gratification of being in it).   Too often we get caught up in the systems we have created to make sense of the world, religion, politics, social systems, heirarchies, those systems give us a sense of safety, because there’s nothing scarier than letting go of all that.  Just being in the moment, where you are right now, experiencing what’s real, what’s authentic. We always ask ourselves the question, what’s really going on here, interrogating the moment, to try and tease out the authenticity of a situation, to find the joy within it.

It makes life much more bearable -trust us.

So take some time to find your moments of joy today, try and experience reality for a moment and forget those systems and constructs you normally distract yourself with.  Reality can be scary – but don’t be scared,  just feel it – you’ll feel better, promise.

Well, despite all the doom and gloom, the cold and the tupperware sky (it’s getting me down, the relentless grey), things are brightening up at the Edge right now.  We’ve got lots of logo-free action coming up, with events almost every week from now until the end of March.  We’re in the process of putting a new website together, dedicated to all the activities going on and planned for the Edge – we want you to feed in to what goes on, too.  That’s a few weeks away, so I’ll be putting an events page up here soon, where you can find find out what’s on now and what’s coming up.  In brief:

18th Feb, 4.30 – 6pm Postcards from South Africa – a seminar about our recent residency in Johannesburg, that’s next Thursday, please let us know if you want to come as we’re running out of chairs. There’s a launch, or possibly a dive, on at Moseley Swimming Baths in Ballsall Heath straight after – we’re just off the 50 route, so you could make it a double bill!

26th Feb- Happy Artist Social Club – a place to hang out with other artists without ignoring someone else’s art in the process, with dancing and having fun and lots of smiling and stuff – artists and their mates only (if you don’t have an artist mate, we’ll find you one)

27th Feb – Artists seminar by Diana Ivanova (Bulgaria) and Babak Salari (Iran/Canada/ Wetherspoon’s) launching their new book documenting their My Street project in Cuba – another great cross-cultural project from some great people – recommended

6/7th March – Hacking wonderousnesses from Fizzpop with a whole weekend of circuit torturing and a visit by US hacking guru Mitch Altman, ooooh yes, melt my solder, baby  – fuller details here at Fizzpop

13th March   West Midlands Filmmakers for Haiti are putting on an evening of short films and a disco in aid of the disaster fund, cleverly realising that most people will have forgotten about it by then – more info here.

And last – until we announce the next cavalcade of fun -  and certainly by no means least – from 19th until 28th of March we are hosting a residency by Jonathan Kay and the Nomadic Academy of Fools.  I cnnot stress how foolish you will be to miss some, or indeed any of the workshops and performances, and bad foolish, not good foolish. I’ll be posting more fully soon, but until then, go here and get NAF

All these events are what we know as ‘Off the Edge’ events – this means that they are not curated by the Edge, we are merely their humble hosts.  Of course, however, we endorse all those brave souls who venture to step off into the abyss, happily holding their hands (we have been known to let go on the way down;-) .  Currently all events presented at the Edge are supported by Friction Arts, by donation and your generosity and by volunteer labour throughout the process.  Genuine volunteers always appreciated, massive bequests by eccentric millionaires with an interest in peripheral culture also.

I was sitting on our roof this lunchtime, having a quiet moment to myself.  It’s a little sanctuary up there, you can’t see a lot of activity, it’s just you, the boids, the city and the sky, a great place for contemplation, all we need now is a nice, comfy toilet up there

Anyway, I was looking out at the city and reflecting on how the skyline has changed in the, almost, three years we’ve been resident here.  There’s a load of new buildings, like Masshouse, Matthew Boulton, the Shower Curtain (Radisson),  and now the Cube (or the ‘cardboard box with bits of plastic bag stuck to it’, as we are calling it until we come up with a better name).   There’s also a lot of gaps, the tower blocks in Highgate currently under demolition being a case in point.  I did notice that there are far fewer cranes on the horizon, than in times past (I only counted two).

There’s an old joke that goes something like ‘what do you think of Birmingham’ answer ‘it’ll be nice when it’s finished’.  Not particularly hilarious, but it always gets a smile of recognition from Brummies.  So I thought, what would we do, if the city was finished?  Perhaps we could get on with releasing its potential in some way?  In my heart, Birmingham is a wonderful utopia, where rainbow nations mix freely, whilst frolicking under the palm trees to the sound of beautiful birdsong.  The reality is somewhat different, of course, and we have invested the last twenty years of our lives to add to the cultural life of a whole range of the city’s communities, in order to bring us closer to the place where we want to live, as opposed to the place in which we find ourselves.  I’m beginning to think that perhaps we have invested unwisely – what do you think?

Anyway – penguins!

that’s better!

Sort of.  And second post of the day, weeee!

If you’re from the cultural industries or the public sector and you’re interested in projects that focus on particpation and engagement, intercultural dialogue or legacy, or an artist interested in international work or how interventions can work in differing cultures, then this is an event you should not miss.  As usual, the event is free (and unfunded, feel free to donate), refreshments will be available, and there’ll be a big, fat Q+A at the end which will go on for as long as the audience require, then retiring to the annexe (the Anchor public house and real ale emporium), for a ‘debrief’.

RSVP if you would like to attend, there’s a limited capacity and a lot of interest, first come, first served!

See you there.

Edit: We’ve just confirmed a visit by Diana Ivanova (Bulgaria) and Babak Salari (Iran), to present their project ‘My Street’, where they have been working in Cuba, documenting stories on the streets of that unique country – top recommendation from Friction, a great project, from some fantastic artists.  My Streets will be presented at the Edge on 27th of Februaury, 2010 – full details next week.

And don’t forget to block out your diaries for our resident fools -  from the 19th to 28th of March, Jonathan Kay and the Nomadic Academy of Fools will be in residence at the Edge for a series of workshops, performances and foolishness.  This is the only appearance by the fools in the region this year, and so is not to be missed!  Again we’ll be posting full details, workshop and performance times next week.

The creative industries, that is.  So this week is National Apprentice Week, woohoo!  Over at Creative Alliance we now deliver about a quarter of all creative apprenticeships in the UK, training young people to enter the creative industries by arranging placements with artists and arts organisations, and offering support to apprentices and employers in the process.  Boring stuff, eh?  But wait – what is actually going on here?

Traditionally the creative industries have very much been the preserve of the middle classes, of graduates from higher education and Tabitha Ffforbes -Smythe while she waits for her trust fund to mature.  It’s always been a hard nut to crack for those who don’t have the education, support or contacts, for those who are a bit less well off (I know, I was that soldier).  So, when the apprenticeships came back on the agenda a year or so ago, we  saw an opportunity to change things.  We put a programme together specifically targeted at those without the aforementioned advantages – now on our second ‘cohort’, the programme is a resounding success with the participants.  It is very heartening seeing the commitment these young people are putting into the opportunity – many of whom never dreamed that they would be able to get access to the industry (this is the issue many of them have fedback to us – they just couldn’t see a ‘way in’ to the creative industries, before the apprenticeships came up).

Anyway, we wanted to mark National Apprentice Week in some way, to celebrate the success of the (mainly) young people on the programme.  So we asked the apprentices themselves to come up with something – and with their new-found confidence they were happy to oblige – so this is what they did.

In ‘flashmob’ stylee, they rocked up in various places in town, and lined up with their ‘haha I’m an apprentice’ tees out and proud (it was pretty cold on the day as well, bless ‘em).  People would stop and ask them what they were up to, and they’d tell them all about the programme and what they were getting out of it – a lovely piece of PR for Creative Alliance, all the more lovely because it came from the participants themselves.

…As Noel Dunne put it.  We were discussing our Cultural Leadership Programme, in partnership with Creative Alliance. A bunch of us are getting together over the next 18 months to look at how the cultural leadership in the city can be influenced, and we were taking a look at the bigger picture – what will culture look like in 18 months time?  By then the effects of the economic difficulties will have filtered further into society, there’ll be a very different-looking government, and no doubt the cultural landscape will have changed.  The general feeling was that things would likely be much more difficult for those of us working in the cultural sector.  As well as being the first thing to get cut when times are tough, there’s a whole new policy being touted by the Conservative Party, based on the American model for funding the arts.  Having worked in the US, and having many colleagues out there, I can tell you that they regard us as incredibly well-resourced, there is sooo little funding available for them  – and that scares me.  The arts are left at the mercy of philanthropists and corporate sponsorship, with a much smaller amount of public funding supporting it.  So sponsorship and donation are the main funding sources for the arts.  This means that a lot of non-commercial or risk-taking work is less likely to be supported, leading to a more anodyne output.  It also means that a lot more artists rely on product-based work, selling craft, rather than art (many ‘artists’ you meet in the US are actually craftspeople) – this is not what I would like to see happening here.  The UK  is often seen as a world-leader in producing cutting-edge work in the arts and part of this has been due to having ( admittedly imperfect)  public funding systems to support cultural endeavour.

So, what are we going to do?  Well, we can vote tactically for a start (tough for me, as an inveterate ‘none of the above’ voter), and try and keep the political damage to a minimum.  But I think we also need to be a bit  clever in riding out the coming storm.  We should work together more, pooling our resources and giving each other a helping hand – co-operate, rather than compete.  If we share our resources, our strengths, we can achieve much more, with a lot less.  We’re going to need to be more strategic with our energy, more resilient and more open to going out of our comfort zones, to find new ways to get the resources we need to make the culture we want. And we need to remember what is important and to focus our energies there.

Together we can weather the storm – let’s huddle!