Archive for September, 2009
ArtsFest Starts Today!!! 11th-13th September
Please note that the website address for The Bhangra dancing world Record attempt ( Saturday at 1.30pm in Centenary Square) has been printed incorrectly in the programme and is www.thewbbg.com
ArtsFest 2009 – We hope that you are looking forward to the festival weekend!
ArtsFest 2009 opens at 5pm on Friday 11th September with a eclectic mix of jazz, indie, soul, blues and world music across the Centenary Square Stage Smooth Sounds concert and Victoria Square Stage, including a Samba spectacular and a pigeon liberation with an artistic twist. A range of other activity takes place within the City’s indoor venues throughout the evening including a Music Industry Seminar at the Library Theatre (for all of you interested in the music business), a BBC Big Band Radio 2 concert in Town Hall, a top class evening of spoken word and drama at The Old Joint Stock Theatre and another late night opening of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery with performances, exhibitions and candlelit dinners.
The fun continues on Saturday 12th with over a thousand people expected to break the Bhangra dancing world record in Centenary Square (you can register to take part and learn the dance steps at www.thewbbg.com or on Saturday morning in Centenary Square) and Saturday evening will once again see Classical Fantasia light up the sky over Centenary Square, with performances from the internationally renowned Birmingham Royal Ballet, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Birmingham Opera Company to a spectacular accompaniment of fireworks. KerrangFest will close the festival on Sunday 13th with some of the region’s best unsigned bands supporting headliners Reverend & The Makers and Athlete.
Throughout the weekend other festival highlights include BBC One’s exciting new science series, Bang Goes The Theory, on the road with interactive displays, live science shows and appearances by the presenters and the Heart FM Family Zone at City Centre Gardens with storytelling, archery, arts workshops, magic & puppet shows, community sports games and much more. A free vintage bus will run from the City Centre to the Jewellery Quarter where ArtsFest will take place across a range of venues in the quarter for the first time and finally don’t miss RhubarbRadio.com broadcasting live from a range of ArtsFest venues from Friday to Sunday or the Rhubarb Radio Saturday night after party at The Irish Club in Digbeth, which promises to be a real treat!
Please see below for further details about specific elements of the festival. Please visit the programme section of the website to view the full festival line up by time and day, or get a programme from one of the information points over the weekend for the full line up by venue and day.
Music Industry Seminar – Speakers Announced!
For anyone interested in the music business, get inside information and advice from those who have experienced it for themselves.
A music industry seminar will be hosted as part of ArtsFest 2009 on Friday 11th September at The Library Theatre, 7-9pm. The seminar will be aimed at the festival’s participating unsigned Indie bands and has grown out of the development of the unsigned music strand within ArtsFest over recent years. Alongside Kerrang Radio, ArtsFest will present two additional guest speakers from the local music industry to discuss and advise unsigned bands about how to further themselves in today’s climate.
Within the music industry seminar all speakers will talk about their personal experiences and history within the music business. Speakers will offer advice to those trying to break into the industry, and discuss good contacts, venues and promoters bands should know of as well as how digital promotion through websites, blogs etc can help bands to further their career. Speakers will also take questions from the audience and interact with the other speaker’s sessions.
The seminar schedule will run:
7-7.30 Nick Dunn of Horus Music
Following a lifetime’s involvement in music and a career as a teacher Nick chose to set up an independent record label 3 years ago. Horus Music has gone from strength to strength with Nick being one of few independent labels in the current climate making a profit, and having just returned from touring acts in Japan. Nick will look at the industry from the perspective of recently entering it and why he chose to enter the industry with both the successes and problems he has experienced.
7.45-8.15 Barry Tomes Gotham Records
Barry Tomes is a local music business consultant with extensive experience in the music industry. Barry is involved in Gotham Records and Revolver Records as well as running Music Insight at Birmingham Central Library, offering regular advice sessions and seminars to local artists about how to make money from your music and legal issues. Barry also hosts regular singer’s nights in Birmingham and will launch his new Music Business Jargon Book in forthcoming months. Barry will focus on his extensive experience of the music industry within the ArtsFest seminar.
8.30-9pm Alex Baker and Loz Guest Kerrang Radio
Loz Guest is Kerrang Radio’s new music expert and is the governor of all things alternative on Kerrang! Radio. Loz says that there is not a lot he doesn’t know about rock and its alternative styles and he dedicates his very existence to bringing only the very best music to the listener. Loz presents Mon – Thurs on Kerrang from 10pm for a three hour journey full of all the hottest new music plus plenty of classic tracks and celebrity guests and is also locked in conversation with all the major hitters from the world of music, TV, film and comedy. Loz also presents Friday nights, focusing on rock, punk and the metal with interviews from the biggest names in the business.
Alex Baker has spent his whole life in and around the music industry and now stands as the overlord of Unsigned and up-coming music in the commercial radio world! Alex Baker has been heavily ingrained in the music world since a very early age. From touring Europe to touring the UK, from writing songs to producing records he has seen and done it all. He’s spent years in the back of a van, he lives in a recording studio and above all else he loves unsigned bands. He has helped bands secure major tour slots, sign big deals and constantly pushes new talent no matter what the genre! He’s been at Kerrang! Radio for almost 4 years working on and off-air. His work has earned nominations for a variety of awards including a Bauer Award, A Sony Award and a Channel 4 Talent Award. Loz and Alex will look at the industry form their own unique perspective and offer advice on what makes a band stand out from the rest and what makes them stand up and notice an unsigned band.
The Kerrang Unsigned Stage @ The Flapper Pub (Fri & Sat) and KerrangFest @ Centenary Square Stage (Sun)
Working in partnership with Kerrang Radio, throughout the weekend a whole host of talented and exciting up and coming bands will perform on The Kerrang Unsigned Stage @ The Flapper and in support of the KerrangFest headliners Reverend & The Makers and Athlete.
Headliners Athlete first came to prominence in 2003 with their debut album Vehicles and Animals and in 2006 their single Wires received the Ivor Novello Award for “Best Contemporary Song”. Their fourth album Black Swan was be released on 10 August 2009. Sheffield band Reverend & The Makers shot to fame with their debut album in 2007 and have recently released their second album, A French Kiss In The Chaos. They are heading for ArtsFest following a support slot with Oasis at their recent stadium tour.
Other bands to perform within the mammoth ten hour KerrangFest include The Arcadian Kicks, hotly tipped by The Charlatans and a band you should really not miss and classically influenced Elliot Minor, who have just completed a sell-out UK tour. Also performing are Saving Aimee whose combination of rock, dance and 80s influences is fast gaining them a strong following and local indie heroes Johnny Foreigner will also be returning to their hometown to play the festival having recently returned from touring in the US and UK. Their gig at ArtsFest will kick off their new October tour.
Other bands to watch out for over the weekend include Big*Defender and The Arkanes, Carpe Diem and Subkicks as well as The Lines, Templeton Pek and Mexicolas.
Project Pigeon @ Victoria Square (Fri) & Key Hill Cemetery in the Jewellery Quarter (Sun)
A unique exhibition of pigeon-delivered-art will premiere at the festival this weekend representing Birmingham’s thriving artistic community and demonstrating the creativity and original thinking that such a community can produce.
Prior to the festival opening, pigeons have been simultaneously released at various locations around the country, including London and Cambridge, carrying message tubes containing various pieces of art with the exhibition starting when the first pigeon was clocked back into the loft in Floodgate Street, Digbeth to deliver its load.
The artworks carried range from mini banners and small items made of paper, to sound files and artwork contained on USB sticks – taking the traditional messenger birds into the digital 21st Century. Pigeons can easily fly at speeds of 60mph, or even up to 85mph with the wind behind them, and each will carry a GPS locator so their journeys can be logged and displayed as part of the exhibition.
The artists involved in the project, Alexandra Lockett and Ian England, have been researching for the project for over a year, and are now keen pigeon keepers themselves. They have built a pigeon loft from reclaimed materials to house their own brood, and regularly hold workshops with groups from the Birmingham Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Program.
Alexandra said, “We are keen to raise people’s awareness of these amazing animals – they have been used throughout history for people to communicate across long distances and have saved thousands of lives, particularly in the two World Wars.”
Ticket Booth
The ArtsFest Ticket Booth makes a welcome return to this years festival, offering thousands of discounted tickets for future performances to visitors during ArtsFest. Last year over 6,000 tickets were snapped up by bargain hunters, with queues starting early. This year 19 venues have offered over 12,000 discounted tickets for a variety of events, enabling the public to see top shows for as little as £2-£20.
New for this year, arts fans can view the tickets online a week before ArtsFest and then ring to reserve them, although restrictions will apply to the number of tickets each individual can reserve. Reserved tickets can then be collected from the Ticket Booth in the Central Library during the ArtsFest weekend, opening hours are Saturday 11 September 9am-9pm and Sunday 12 September 12-5pm.
To see what tickets are available go to www.birminghamboxoffice.com. Tickets can be reserved by calling 0121 303 2323 Monday to Friday, 10am-5pm. Reserved tickets must be collected by Sunday 13 September at 1pm, when any uncollected tickets will be released for sale again.
Following the festival any unsold tickets will be available for anyone to buy on the Birmingham Box Office website until Sunday 20 September.
ArtsFest Theme – Anniversaries and Celebrations
Anniversaries and celebrations are the theme of this years ArtsFest with legends from the Mini to Motown and local heroes all being recognised.
The 50th anniversary of the Mini is being celebrated with a specially commissioned film about the iconic car, to be screened during the interval of Saturday night’s Classical Fantasia concert. The film, which has been created for ArtsFest from digital material preserved by the Media Archive for Central England, is dedicated to the designer Alex Issigonis and also to the men and women of Longbridge who made the car.
The 50th birthday of legendary Detroit record label Motown will also be featured at the weekend extravaganza with a whole day of music at the Yardbird, New Style Radio’s Motorcity Blues event and Street Wize Dance Company at the Town Hall just some of the Motown-inspired events this year.
The bicentenary of the death of local industrial pioneer Matthew Boulton has inspired many offerings at this year’s festival, from a physical theatre piece by The sum of … in association with Scientific Reactions exploring the Lunar Society, to storytelling of parts of his life by Intimate Productions.
Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday is celebrated with the unique Project Pigeon – the naturalist kept pigeons during the development of his revolutionary theory of evolution, using the ease and speed of selectively breeding the species to develop and prove his ideas.
Other local anniversaries being celebrated include the 10th birthday of Tindal Street Press, the 85th birthday of the Crescent Theatre and the 90th birthday of the Birmingham Bach Choir.
A tribute to the late Grover Washington Jr, who died 10 years ago, will be performed by Delano Mills NotStrictlyJazz. This band has been formed especially for ArtsFest by a group of talented local musicians, to celebrate the huge influence the legendary US Jazz saxophonist had on Jazz and blues artists in the West Midlands.
A full list of anniversaries represented in the festival is below.
Classical Fantasia
Celebrating the anniversary of Handle with Handel’s celebratory “La Rejouissance” from Music for the Royal Fireworks to a spectacular display of fireworks.
Town Hall
Celebrating 175 years
Birmingham Bach Choir
90th Anniversary of the choir
New Style Radio
Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Motown Records
The Convulsions
Recognising the 50th Anniversary of The Mini
Tindal Street Press
10th Anniversary of local publishing company
Mary Rochford
Recognising the 50th Anniversary of The Mini
Yaz Alexander - performing tracks from the legendary Island Records (50th Anniversary) in addition to original tracks inspired by the record labels artists.
Yolanda Parinchy
Recognising the 50th Anniversary of Motown
Notorious
Helping celebrate 25 years of the Birmingham International Jazz Festival
Phoenix Dance Company
10th Anniversary of local dance troupe.
The Crescent Theatre
Celebrating 85 years of The Crescent with a one act farce to celebrate the origins of the theatre.
Alexandra Lockett and Ian England
Recognising 200 years since Charles Darwin’s birth.
Black Adder Clog Morris
25th Anniversary of Morris dancing group.
Centre for the Child in Central Library
Celebrating The Gruffalo’s 10th Birthday
Delano Mills NotStrictlyJazz
Celebrating Grover Washington Jr who died 10 years ago
Force Dance Company
Recognising the 50th anniversary of Barbie and Darwin
Julian Powell’s Solo Vibes
Recognising the 50th anniversary of Motown
Shropshire Youth Theatre
Recognising the anniversaries of Darwin, Barbie and the Mini
Stella Maris
Performing music associated with the Tudor court of Henry VIII and that of his contemporaries, to celebrate 500 years since his accession to the throne
Street WIZE D.C
Dance performance demonstrating Motown music through the years
sum… in association with Scientific Reactions
This physical theatre piece explores our reaction to how the regular full moon meeting of the Lunar Society catalysed Matthew Boulton’s part in influencing innovative change in social and industrial life.
Wiesniacy Polish Folk Song and Dance Group
60th Anniversary of the group.
Intimate Productions
Celebrating Matthew Boulton with lively Dramatic Storytelling of the Matthew Boulton Story
Park Friends Natural Heritage Celebration
Nature walks around Birmingham celebrating Darwin with the Darwin 200 Nature Trail
Thomas Pocklington Trust
50th Anniversary of the trust
Katherine Waters
Birmingham Babies Sculptures linking to the Industrial Heritage of Matthew Boulton
LP Design
Animation film to celebrate 50th anniversary of Motown
MACE Mini Film
Looking at 50 years of the Mini
One Thousand Ladders
Linking into the anniversary of man’s first step on the moon.
The Sugarfoot Stomp
5th anniversary of the collective.
Home Cooking Presents Freestyle Records 10th anniversary tour
10th anniversary of music label
Nachdey Hasdey
Celebrating 25 years of the Bhangra collective
Classical Fantasia
The chance to see the city’s premier cultural organisations perform for free at the Classical Fantasia. Birmingham Royal Ballet, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Birmingham Opera Company will be performing excerpts from world-famous classics during the two hour spectacular, conducted by Michael Seal. The evening will end with a stunningly choreographed fireworks display to Handel’s celebratory “La Rejouissance” from Music for the Royal Fireworks.
The CBSO will perform a variety of classical greats and family favourites such as Holst’s Jupiter and Saturn from the Planets Suite, Bernstein’s the Magnificent Seven and John Williams’ classic – Star Wars Theme.
Introduced by David Bintley CBE, BRB will be dazzling the crowds with a “strictly-style” dance-off, with three couples performing stunning duets from the much-loved ballets The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. The audience will vote for their favourite through the use of a traditional “clapometer”, with the winning couple then performing a specially choreographed piece.
Ronald Samm and Keel Watson from Birmingham Opera Company will be performing two arias from Verdi’s Othello, followed by the beautiful Vesti La Giubba from I Pagliacci by Leoncavallo.
During the interval a specially commissioned film about the Mini will be shown on the screen to celebrate the 50th birthday of the iconic car, which featured in the cult film The Italian Job. Created by the Media Archive for Central England especially for ArtsFest, the film features interviews, archive film clips of the car and of its production at the Longbridge factory.
A few beats and rhymes
A host of bands and events take place throughout the weekend for anybody into the bar and club side of the music scene, kicking off with Home Cookin’s Freestyle Records 10th Anniversary Tour Party at The Yardbird on Friday night. Featuring respected funk and hip hop artists from Birmingham, Brighton and Australia, Cookin on 3 Burners, Bamboos and Flevans will have you dancing into the early hours.
Reggae and dub continues the fun on Saturday from the Victoria Square stage leading into an evening of electronica, breaks, hip hop, funk and drum and bass from the stage. The party then continues with Rhubarb Radio at the Irish Club in Digbeth from 10pm with entertainment from Urban Sunrise featuring Wah Fish, Capoeira Renascer, Ay Mango Theatre and
To end the weekend it is back to The Yardbird on Sunday for a relaxed afternoon of jazz and world music, and the outstanding Oya Batucada live samba and brass band. The weekend is rounded off with Reggae from Memphis and Frutaloka’s global grooves.
Arts Feast at the Museum
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery will be open late on Friday evening of the festival for a wonderful mixture of exclusive dining, live entertainment and the chance to visit the museum’s celebrated exhibitions, as part of the opening evening for ArtsFest.
Following the hugely successful event at last year’s ArtsFest, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery are organising another candle lit dinner in stunning Victorian surroundings of the Museum Restaurant, it was opened as part of the original museum in 1885 by the then Prince of Wales who later became Edward VII. Advance booking for the three course meal is essential by calling 0121 303 2318. There will be a cash bar and a selection of exclusive table wines available on the night.
Throughout the evening there will be a number of special musical performances taking place in the museum, including traditional folk Bhangra Dancing, Bollywood musical style dancing, an exciting fusion of African and Brazilian dance and martial arts with Cordão de Ouro Capoeira, mediaeval and renaissance singing and traditional English village music. There will also be a performance of an excerpt from Roald Dahl’s ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’ by the Birmingham Stage Company.
Visitors will also get a last opportunity to see the UK exclusive bicententary exhibition Matthew Boulton: Selling what all the world desires in the Gas Hall and the popular family friendly Colour Splash in the Waterhall. The Museum shop will also be opening late for the chance to buy exclusive gifts, books, catalogues and merchandise.
All for Children
Arriving at ArtsFest this year is the Gruffalo, celebrating his 10th birthday with “his terrible tusks and terrible claws”. At the Centre for the Children, Central Library, he will be part of a wide range of entertainment organised for the weekend event which also includes numerous craft-based activities and a story-time. Children at the Centre will have the opportunity to see the Gruffalo in person and see whether he really does have such terrible teeth and claws.
The Gruffalo is a children’s book by writer/playwright Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler, telling the story of a mouse taking a walk through a deep, dark wood. The book has sold over 3.5 million copies and has won several prizes for children’s literature.
In addition there are plenty of child-friendly activities and events happening over the weekend at ArtsFest. Heart’s Family Zone in City Centre Gardens has storytelling, face painting, archery, arts & crafts workshops, re-enactments, puppet shows, magic shows and community sports games. The weekend culminates in a fantastic children’s carnival parade around the gardens.
Other family attractions include BBC’s Bang Goes the Theory Roadshow, a new science series, Monarch Beach offering Brazilian soccer, Capoeira and belly dancing, Japanese Taiko drumming and Tai Chi. Also, at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Colour Splash will be awash with the magic of colour, providing plenty of craft fun for children in the gallery area and there are street artists with their own brand of entertainment throughout the festival, including street theatre and circus performances.
WeVee
The innovative new digital media platform WeVee is arriving at ArtsFest in Birmingham. A Screen West Midlands/UK Film Council funded project, WeVee allows users to create their own personal video clips using moving image from regional archive content edited to music of their choice. The top five WeVee’s each day at the event will be showcased on the screen in Centenary Square.
Visual Arts
From Pre-Raphaelite paintings to contemporary sculpture, Birmingham will be a feast for the eyes during this year’s ArtsFest with a stunning range of visual art on display to suit all tastes. With local talent as well as internationally recognised artists involved there is the chance to enjoy, buy and even create your own works of art in locations across the city.
The popular art fairs will return with Art on the Railings in Centenary Square and Artspace in the Council House giving you the chance to own your own piece of affordable art from up-and-coming local artists. Local artist Katherine Waters Birmingham Babies sculptures will also be on display in Victoria and Chamberlain Squares.
Birmingham’s world class art galleries will also be opening their doors and holding special events to mark the occasion. Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Ikon Gallery and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts are all taking part, as well as a range of other museums and galleries across the city.
Brand new works on show will include Re-Place, a collaboration between leading artists from Birmingham and Bordeaux on show in the Works Gallery on Pershore Street, as well as Adrian Thompson, the UK’s only micro gold sculptor whose work will be in the Council House alongside Sonia Bhamra’s innovative light installations.
And for those wanting to create a masterpiece of their own, there will be a range of activities throughout the weekend in the Visual Arts Village in the Council House and Victoria Square offering the chance to try clay modelling, making traditional Indian table mats and a crash course in portrait photography.
ShortCuts
Over 80 short films will be shown during ArtsFest as part of its Short Cuts presentation in The Crescent Theatre’s Ron Barber Studio. Short Cuts offers local emerging directors an opportunity to showcase their most recent short films in a professional environment, and this year’s offerings include some real gems.
Shift Work, a collaboration between the Ikon and Gallery 37, explores the character of an abandoned warehouse in Digbeth, highlighting the changing space of such a building and its continuously evolving history.
Waiting for the End of the World, directed by Lee Deaville, explores the isolation felt by a Hungarian immigrant as he struggles to adjust to working life in the UK. Shot on location at a supermarket in Stoke-on-Trent over two night shifts, the film seeks to involve the audience with its dreamlike imagery, encapsulating soundtrack and character-driven narrative.
When we Build Again is a historic documentary directed by Ralph Bond made in 1943 – towards the end of the Second World War. Co-written and narrated by the poet Dylan Thomas, it explores some of the issues of town planning and regeneration that are still relevant today.
Art Detection Services, directed by Matthew Moore, is a humorous take on an age-old debate on what constitutes “Art”. It follows a group of art connoisseurs as they visit various galleries and shows and determine whether something is art or not with their electromechanical machines.
One Minutes, directed by Philip Pugh, is a unique feature-film experience shot in and around Birmingham with a local crew. It comprises of sixty different one minute films that explore the world of cinema and its techniques, whilst simultaneously mixing the diverse cultures, settings and traditions of our city.
The Worlds Biggest Bhangra Group World Record Attempt
Over a thousand people are expected to take part in the World’s Biggest Bhangra Group hopefully setting a new world record in the process.
On Saturday 12 September, some of the UK’s finest and most established Bhangra Dance Groups will be performing together to break a new Guinness World RecordTM of over 1000 people dancing the same routine at the same time in the same place for as long as possible. Everyone is invited to join in – just go to www.thewbbg.com to register and learn the steps.
Workshops will be held throughout the morning for everyone to perfect the routine before the warm up, which will be introduced by The Consul General of India when it starts at 1:30pm. The attempt will begin at 2pm and organisers are confident they can beat the current world record, which was set in Toronto in August 2008 with 763 people.
Barefoot Wines
Located in Centenary Square visit the Barefoot Wine stand throughout the weekend to sample their wines. Epitomising California cool and relaxed easy-drinking, Barefoot is the wine to be seen with, and is creating excitement wherever it steps. Forget about ‘bouquets of freshly cut grass with undertones of soil’, Barefoot is all about great tasting wines and having fun with your mates. All five wines in the collection are easy drinking, light, bright and fruity. Barefoot has been a supporter of the Art scene across the UK since it launched in 2007, so the Barefoot Community is very proud to support ArtsFest in 2009! See you there.
BBC Bang Goes The Theory Roadshow
BBC One’s exciting new science series that looks at how science shapes the world around us goes on the road, with interactive displays, live science shows and appearances from Dr Yan himself.
Ask It
If you want to find out more about arts organisations in the West Midlands, visit the Ask It Information Stalls in Upper New Street. Find out where they are next performing, join their mailing list and learn more about their work. Ask it stalls are open on Saturday 11am-6pm and Sunday 11am-6pm.
Stans Café
After the success of their installation at ArtsFest last year, Stan’s Café will be launching their new piece at ArtsFest ’09 – Giant Steps, do it yourself family theatre.
Rhubarb Radio
Rhubarb Radio will be broadcasting live from a number of venues throughout the weekend and will feature a whole host of interviews and acoustic performances on the station.
They will also host the eclectic ArtsFest party at the Irish Club in Digbeth on Saturday night 10am-2pm, featuring DJ’s, live bands and much more. Tickets can be obtained for this from the Rhubarb Radio stall which is located at the bottom of the steps at Victoria Square.
Centenary Square Dance Marquee
Powerful performances will feature on the dance stage throughout the weekend including contemporary, salsa, street, hip hop, Bollywood, Bhangra, parkour and breakdance, Irish, Japanese, Chinese, and Brazilian Capoeira dance including the likes of ACE, Sonia Sabri and Scanlon School of Dance.
Monarch Beach, Chamberlain Square
The Monarch Beach hosts the ArtsFest pARTicipate area exploring the links between arts and sport in the lead up to the Olympics. Activities include yoga, Tai Chi, Capoeira, Belly Dancing, and Brazilian soccer skills.
Victoria Square Stage
An eclectic range of music from the stage set into the fountain including folk, Eastern European, Classical, Electronica, Reggae, Singer Songwriters, Punk & Blues. Saturday night features urban dance, hip hop, electronica, funk and drum & bass followed by the Rhubarb Radio party at the Irish Centre, Digbeth – where the party continues into the early hours.
The Jewellery Quarter
For the first time ArtsFest links with English Heritage’s Heritage Open Days in the Quarter. Guided Cemetery Walks, performances in Galleries, drama and installations all feature with a free vintage bus transporting you from Victoria Square into and around the Quarter.
Please visit for further details.
Walkit.com
Find walking routes to ArtsFest venues with walkit.com. Get journey times, calorie burn and carbon saving. It’s quick, free, healthy and green.
Big Brum Buz
The live guided open top bus tour is the only introduction to the global city with a local heart – wish you were here! Discover the commercial heart, the unique Jewellery Quarter – the Jewel in the Crown, the Golden Mile, leafy Edgbaston and the East side extravaganza. Approximately one hour round trip – Birmingham uncovered – the only way to get to know your city Brum!
Time: 12 noon
Place: Top of Church Street, Colmore Row, opposite St Philip’s Cathedral.
Description: FREE BIG BRUM BUZ OPEN TOP LIVE GUIDED ARTS FESTIVAL SPECIAL SIGHTSEEING TOUR
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