Celebrating the Creative City with Awards 08

It’s that time of year…the Creative City Awards have been launched for 2008. Nominations are now open for the categories:

1. Creative Industries Award
2. Innovation Award
3. Outstanding Business Development (Birmingham) Award
4. Outstanding Business Development (Regional) Award
5. Best Newcomer Award
6. Outstanding Market Development Award
7. The Best Brand Award

The awards this year will take place on Saturday 29th November 2008.

Last year we went along and it was a great evening and made even better when we picked up ‘The Best Brand Award’ for Fierce! Festival a fabulous accolade to all our hard work over the years, and Fierce’s wonderful branding thanks to Lee & Johnny at Fluid!

The deadline for nominations is 17th October! Get nominating!

Special offer on desk space at Fierce

Are you a free-lance creative in need of inspiring office space?

We have a desk space for rent at the Fierce Earth office – for a bargain £200 a month (plus VAT) we can offer you:

A dedicated desk space with pedestal cabinet (with filing cabinet if required) – no hot desking here!

1 x computer with access to internet (subject to confidentiality agreement)

PLUS Free wi-fi access for a lap top

Complimentary tea and coffee

Heat, light and utilities

Meeting room facilities (by arrangement)

Phone land line available (by arrangement and for an extra fee)

Excellent City Centre location – with pay car park nearby

Opportunity to work in a creative environment and pick our brains for free

Fantastic networking opportunities and great views of the City!

Desk available from 1 September: 6 month licence agreement with 1 months’ notice either way. First month payable in advance.

If you are interested please contact Helga at helga@fierceearth.com or call 0121 244 8080 to come and see the space.

The future of Fierce post gets Birmingham Post’s attention

Since our post on the 4th August ‘Fierce Earth looks to the future’ we have received a lot of interest in our plans and what this means for Fierce and Birmingham.

Fierce! Festival this year completed its 11th celebration of performance and live art in the West Midlands. Since 1998 Fierce! has passionately presented international artists, supported the growth of home-grown talent and put Birmingham and the region on the international festival map.

Fierce Ten was the most ambitious festival in 2007 celebrating the 10th year of Festival would like to go on producing ambitious, large scale, eye-popping moments of contemporary art. We want to focus our efforts on securing partners and funds to keep our programming at the forefront of contemporary art and fabulous experiences.

Following the post – which was also featured on Created in Birmingham – we were contacted by the Birmingham Post who then covered the issue on Monday 11th August ‘Fierce fundraising focus keeps Festival on hold’

“The festival isn’t dead, there just won’t be a festival in 2009 in the way there has been in previous years.”

‘Fierce said it would continue to produce ambitious public projects throughout 2009 and support the festival’s partners who want to stage their own events next May and June.’

We have already put Birmingham on the map; we now want to keep it there!

The Drum are calling for submissions

SPRING SEASON 2009 PROGRAMME
February – April 2009

The Drum Arts Centre is keen to hear from any artists / companies with products that may be suitable and are available for our spring season. The Drum is the longest running Black Arts centre in the UK, please note the programme remit is to programme work that is created by African, Asian and Caribbean artists

All submissions/proposals need to be received by Friday 6th September to be considered. Proposals must include the following supporting information:

· Name, contact details of company or artist(s)

· Biographic details of artist(s) and company

· Synopsis of the piece / gig and details of how it links to the programme

· Running Time

· High quality colour and, if available, black + white images (min 300 dpi at 10cm square, ideally a file size of 1MB or over. )

· Press clippings of previous shows/events (if available)

· Tour Schedule (if applicable)

· Any product, CDs, books, tapes, web links etc

· Any special information to be included

This is not a formal application process, so please contact us with any concerns or queries. Please address all submissions / proposals to Pippa Frith, Programme Coordinator at p.frith@the-drum.org.uk or send them to The Drum, 144 Potters Lane , Aston, Birmingham , B6 4UU Tel: 0121 333 2425

Please note: The Drum is dedicated to developing and promoting contemporary art and culture of British African, Asian and Caribbean communities. The Drum’s mission is to lead and facilitate the development, celebration, performance and exhibition of the diversity of Black arts and cultures for the benefit of all.

Unsubscribe Me Jiva!

Since our post last week about the achievements of our Platinum artist Feng-Ru Lee (Milee) it reminded me of another former Platinum artist that has done some really interesting work that you may not have seen – Jiva Parthipan.

Jiva was a part of Platinum in 2006 and he performed at Fierce Ten with an installation work at the Custard Factory and Warwick Arts Centre programmed in as part of  this years Fierce! Festival with ‘Terror of Living/Necessary Journeys’. Jiva also shared his practice in the Fierce Talks:

Jiva Parthipan is a trans-disciplinary artist and performer whose work is often considered with the manner in which power is negotiated in the interpersonal, social, geopolitical and sexual spheres. Depending on the idea and context he utilises a variety of disciplines and strategies ranging from games, dance, video, text, lecture and interventions to realise his ideas.

Fierce! Program 2008

One of Jiva’s most recent projects has been working with Amnesty International and their unsubscribe movement, highlighting the human rights abuse permitted in the ‘war on terror’.  We’ve featured the adverts below, but be warned, this work is not for the faint hearted!  But they are both very powerful and disturbing performances from Jiva – and the calibre of his work makes both films all the more resonant. 

and…

Jiva, Feng-Ru Lee and all our Platinum participants show the international calibre of the West Midlands artists.  Through Platinum, Fierce! can support those practitioners and support that vital element of the local creative economy – opportunities to work, exhibit and perform in this region.

Birmingham Contemporay Music Group are looking for a Marketing Manager

BCMG is one of the world’s leading classical contemporary music groups with a diverse programme of activity including concerts, tours, new music commissions and a host of learning and audience development projects.

We are looking for a highly motivated individual to run and develop BCMG’s marketing function, with responsibility for strategic planning, budget control, audience monitoring and data analysis, targeted campaigns, design and print, copywriting and publications, website development, direct marketing, e-marketing, distribution and advertising.

You have a passion for music and the arts; a keen eye for design; excellent managerial, communication and computer skills. You relish responsibility and also working as part of a team. You have good budget management and you are enthusiastic about bringing BCMG’s work to a wide audience.

Previous arts marketing experience is essential.

Salary: £20,000

Location: Birmingham

Closing date: Thu 4 September

Interview date: Fri 19 September

For application details contact Jackie Newbould, General Manager: jackie@bcmg.org.uk or 0121 616 2616

BCMG is committed to equal opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.

Reg charity no: 1001474

Milee is grazing The New Art Gallery Walsall with her presence

Some of you may already know, and for those who don’t…Fierce! run an annual artist development programme called Platinum! Each year we call for culturally diverse artists based in the West Midlands working in performance, music, dance, theatre, video or spoken word. A key feature is that the selected artists have had an opportunity to present a work in progress as part of the Platinum strand at the Fierce! Festival.

We are pleased to see that Feng-Ru Lee or ‘Milee the Sheep’ (in tribute to the Dolly the cloned sheep), who has just participated in this year’s Platinum scheme is currently in residence with The New Art Gallery Walsall.

Her residence runs from the 8th July until 29th August, the grassed areas will be available in the foyer, the Artists’ Studio and roof terrace from Tuesday 19th to Wed 27th August and worth the trip to see her and hang out on the pasture!

Just as this years’ summer looks to be another washout, current artist in residence Feng-Ru Lee brings a ray of hope to the gallery. By laying an area of fresh turf through the building, she will create spaces for visitors to relax, congregate and enjoy lazy afternoons. The luscious meadows will also provide a pen for Feng-Ru’s alter-ego ‘Milee the sheep’ – a tribute to the original cloned sheep ‘Dolly’.

Grassed areas will be present in the foyer, Artists’ Studio and roof terrace from Tuesday 19 August – Wednesday 27 August 2008.

Open studio event: Wednesday 27 August 2008, 2-4pm

Free – all welcome.

You may have had the opportunity to see Milee during this year’s Fierce! Festival with Into the Space and you can still see her work on Fierce TV on the My Fierce Festival Site.

Our Platinum scheme has been supporting artists since 2004 providing them not only with a platform to present work in progress, but to develop individual learning plans, provide artist-led workshops and one to one mentoring from a practising artist.

It is a great programme with potential to have a direct impact on an artist’s process. The most beneficial part of the programme for myself was visiting NRLA Glasgow which has left an impression on me for my future work. Also the opportunity to be guided and mentored which helped me receive immediate feedback on my work.
Shane Shambhu

The mentoring programme worked very well. I chose Lone Twin not expecting to get them, but Platinum did. Greg helped me to pull together the fragments of my story into a performance and encouraged me to go for my gut instinct.
Trevor Woolery

And, Great News! The next Platinum will be open to all artists from West Midlands who are looking to develop and take risks with their practice, although priority will still be given to BME artists.

We’ll be launching next year’s scheme this autumn, probably with a fresh series of Fierce! Talks – only this time in a variety of regional settings. Watch this space for updates on speakers and call for applications!

And now for something completely different!

Yes, an unashamed Monty Python reference.  But after the relative seriousness of yesterday’s post I just wanted to share something else we’re working on that has a really upbeat feel!

Between October 2007 and April of this year I ran four Metapod courses.  Metapod’s “Be Effective” courses have been around for about six years or so, arising out of the Metapod website and festival started by Wolverhampton Light House many years ago. The seven-session course focuses on business planning skills for creative businesses.

Over the years, the Metapod Be Effective course has evolved into a really solid course for those creatives who want to turn their creative talent into a business – and it’s where it differs from a lot of courses like that is that it is run BY a creative business – Fierce Earth.  It’s our work as producers of festivals and events that give the training an authenticity (and a relevance) all of its very own.  And our featured speakers really are experts in their field and wherever possible (except for obvious things like Customs and Excise!) our featured speakers are successful creatives in their own right.

But the thing I love, about delivering Metapod over seven sessions, is the changes it brings about in the people who attend.  Most participants attend most of the sessions – and the group attain a real bond.  Partly because they are all trying to do the same thing – make a business from the thing they love to do creatively.  And I think that for many, this is the first time that a whole room of people take that ambition seriously.  Take them seriously. 

 So we are creating a Metapod website at the moment and part of our content is some follow up from participants to track the longer term impact of participating in Metapod.  And I thought it would be interesting to share some of the quotes with you, because reading them has really made my day!

Here are some sample questions and typical responses

As a result of Metapod, what did you either a) STOP doing, b) DO Differently and c) START doing?

I stopped apologising, instead I talked about my business positively.

I started to take my business idea more seriously and felt empowered by the knowledge I learnt on the course. It encouraged me that I could do it!

What piece of advice did you pick up at Metapod that most made a difference to your business today?

One thing was, if you talk about your business in a confused way or like its not much, then other people will think that’s its not much as well. Your attitude is important because it reflects onto your business.

One has to decide exactly what it is their business is going to provide. Once you have done this it becomes easier accepting and declining work rather than trying to do everything.

 How valuable did you find the training and advice for your business?

It was inspiring being around other creative people. We had the opportunity to meet people who were running businesses in the creative industry who were not really that different to us.

I found many of the training days and guest speakers useful and inspirational.  It broke some of the ‘mysteries’ of functioning within the creative industries.

I feel  confident and  clear about my business  which has had a really positive impact  on the way I approach both  clients, contacts  and opportunities. 

Thanks then to the participants who have responded to our questionnaire – you know who you are so I will spare your blushes.  If you’d like to know more about Metapod – or express an interest in attending – then please contact us at the office or e-mail helga@fierceearth.com.

Fierce Earth looks to the Future

One of the things that we want to do on this blog is let you know about our plans. As Chris pointed out in his recent post on Created in Birmingham, this is a chance to share with you some of the areas of work that you may not know so much about.

This summer is one of growth and development so there’s a number of key announcements we’d like to make.

Fierce! Festival

A number of you have already been in contact with interest in being involved with next year’s Fierce! Festival. As you know, we’ve now delivered 11 festivals, including our record-breaking Fierce! Ten in 2007 and this year, where we handed the reins of power over to you in programming “My Fierce Festival” online.

It’s been a great eleven years, and as you know, Mark Ball stood down as Artistic Director of the festival after Fierce Ten, working part time now as Creative Director here at Fierce Earth.

It’s therefore a chance for re-appraisal, looking to what we want to do and fundraise so that the festival can meet our artistic ambitions.

So now we are looking at the future of the festival, what we should focus on, when in the year it should take place. Most importantly, we hope to appoint a major new artistic director. But that will require a different funding structure and new partners to help us deliver a programme that has lots of collaborations, new commissions and international work – all the things that make Fierce! …well, Fierce, really.

So that’s what we’re doing at the moment. But as you can imagine, conversations like these take time. We’re also participating in a wider consultation about the future of festivals in the City.

So watch this space for more developments: at present I think it’s fair to say that there will not be a Fierce Festival in 2009 but that we will aim to produce 2-3 large scale ambitious public projects throughout ‘09, one of which may be at the festival time. Our partners too, may still want to programme audacious and risky work in May and June, and we will certainly be working with them as usual to promote performances if they do.

We’d like to deliver a bigger, more ambitious programme, and it may take some time to sort that out.

Rest assured though that, while we’re developing the festival, we will still be busy delivering the work of some fantastic artists from all over the world, in unusual places and spaces in true Fierce! style. We are also about to launch another three years of our enormously popular Platinum programme. The Platinum programme is a development programme for artists who wish to develop their live performance work, focussing on risk and difference. It will kick off in the autumn with a regional series of Fierce! Talks. We’ll keep you posted.

Creative Learning at Fierce!

Fierce! has also developed a really challenging and innovative stream of creative learning work as a year-round strand. In conjunction with Creative Partnerships in Birmingham (now Bright Space), we have developed projects in and out of school settings and worked with a variety of artists and young people.

Highlights of our work have included the Feed Me feast, a community feast held at May Lane Allotments where young people from four schools in the Kings Heath/Billesley area prepared a meal for 200 guests. The food had been grown on a plot on the allotment by the young people led by an artist-gardener, they had made the bowls we ate off with a ceramicist, served soup in watering cans, made table cloths and dyed them, created an entertainment courtesy of Miss High Leg Kick and even performed in a Vegetable Orchestra.

Or last year, where in a project which is typical in placing young people at the heart of our learning work, our Youth Panel was given budget to select and artist to show as part of Fierce! Ten. The panel conducted the selection process, contracted the artist, secured a venue, marketed the event and ran the performance on the day.

We have been very fortunate in having Andrew Tims as our Creative Learning Manager to lead on these projects. He has been a fantastic pioneer of this work and is much loved by staff and pupils alike! Andrew is leaving us at the end of September to pursue a career as a free-lancer, and we wish him all the very best.

This means that again, Fierce has an opportunity to take our Creative Learning work and build on our strengths. We’re considering announcing a call for projects and inviting ideas for innovative and exciting creative learning projects with people who would be willing to partner Fierce Earth. The work would initially take place speculatively, agreeing a set time during which Fierce and artists or creative learning professionals would look at the feasibility of a project and how we can make it work. We think it is a really exciting way of finding out new, ambitious and large scale work that continues to make a difference to young people’s lives through eye-popping moments of contemporary arts.