Newsletter

Erdington Arts Forum

Newsletter 02

30.01.08/29.02.08

Hello everybody.

I trust you are all warm and well and busy planning new art and projects for the coming months. If all goes according to plan we'll be needing loads of stuff from you all to cover the walls of Erdington this year. The main initiative is to develop a programme of events that will constitute Erdington Arts Festival which we want to coincide with Birmingham Arts Fest (which takes place 12th - 14th Sept).

There are of course pros and cons to this as the deadline for Artsfest applications is 28th March so we need to get our skates on firstly with formulating a group constitution which I will be drafting in consultation with Patrick and then presenting to the membership for comments and suggestions. It's vital that we do this as it will give a stong position from which to apply for funding. (Possible applications to Awards for All/Arts Council West Midlands/Birmingham City Council)

Briefly the Festival would comprise all or some of the following:

Theatrical presentations from All Saints Players
Art Exhibition by members of EAF
Photography by (untitled) Photography Collective
Film presentations (from Andy Spencer, myself & others)
Art Exhibition by members of North Birmingham Community Arts
Displays from Birmingham Model Railway Society (and maybe some Scalextric as well)
Public Art projects to involve local schools and other members of the local community (eg Themed painting project for the security boards now going up around St Barnabas Church)
Possible contributions/support from the Ikon. (One of their proposed projects in Erdington this year includes a 23metre long Whale made from textiles by artist Claudia Losi!)
Artist talks and workshops.

So lots of exciting possibilities and a pulling together of all our resources which are many and varied. We have the possibility of using the Cincinatti building as our main exhibition site along with other locations in Erdington (local shops etc and hopefully use of the shop space in Central Square as a gallery) Also Claire Turner from the Ikon has offered their services in regard to curatorial advice and other support and we shall be meeting with her this week to discuss this further as well as liasing with Erdington Town Centre Partnership to garner their support.

The intention is that we form sub-commitees to address issues such as funding, publicity, resources, liason with partners etc and consider such matters as approaching local business for sponsorship and support. I hope that in the next few weeks we can arrange meetings to discuss these matters further and formulate a strong proposal.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have comments and suggestions. It's a lot to consider but if we set our sites high enough I am sure we can achieve a great deal.

Look out for further email updates and info on the blog (http://erdoarts.blogspot.com/)

All the best for now.

Simon.

Email: admin.erdo@gmail.com