Posh Torys’ poor image quality
Other posts will emerge but like Nick Booth, I too was at the Tory Party Conference in Birmingham - invited via Screen West Midlands who were asked to suggest local bloggers who might go along. To be honest I haven’t much to say only having attended for one day. It was big and impressive but I’m sure they all are. Tories talk posh but then I guess they all do nowadays. In scale it reminded me of a trade union conference I once photographed where noone talked posh.
My highlight was seeing Boris (posh but funny) at a fringe event in the Midland Institute. It was great to hear Londoners, in Birmingham, moaning about their bins and bendy buses.
The biggest shock for me however was the atrocious image quality of the images taken with my new work blackberry, shocking I tell you:
10 things I’d change about Digbeth and the Custard Factory
I spent my last working day in Digbeth last Friday after two and a half years. On Monday I shift to the Jewellery Quarter where I’ll be working for Digital Birmingham. I liked working around Digbeth (Bromley street to be precise) but it wasn’t without its frustrations so here’s 10 things I’d change about it:
1. Less galleries, more cafes. The fry-up options around the area are very thin on the ground. Rootys will do you one although the board advertising it is well hidden. There are a couple of cafes back towards town but that’s about it. Maybe if Vivid served a good bacon sandwich I’d be inclined to go use the place.
2. Shut the Custard Factory newsagents. Until it starts buying in more newspapers that is. The shelves in general always look a bit thin but I’m not bothered about that - I just want to be able to buy a paper. If you go after 9.30am there’s a good chance they’ll have sold their entire stock.
3. Build another carpark. Okay so maybe building carparks isn’t a useful or practical suggestion nowadays but as long as the current owners of the main carpark have a monopoly they’ll continue to clamp your car with glee.
4. Calm the traffic on Heath Mill Lane. The Custard Factory is an island surrounded by busy roads and a river (of sorts). Stopping Heath Mill Lane from being a busy cut-through to the middle ring road might make the walk from CF to The Bond a tad more pleasant (especially in the rain when every car thinks it’s funny to splash you).
5. Make Fazeley Street the main route to Digbeth. This is a straight, fairly quiet road that leads from the city centre directly to The Bond and the new Fazeley Studios. Digbeth High Street is just a dull dual carriageway. Fazeley Street could be a tree-lined boulevard if we gave it half a chance - oh, and planted some trees of course.
6. Signposts Please. NOTHING is signposted. I mean NOTHING. Not within the area or to the area. Why aren’t the wonderful canals pointed out? If you’re at Millennium Point you might be pointed back into town but not to the Custard Factory. Signs - it’s basic stuff.
7. Start selling stuff people need. Go on, admit it. When’s the last time you purchased something from a Custard Factory shop? They’re not helped by the lack of punters around there of course but an elite hi-fi shop? A violin shop? Homeopathy? Sometimes I just want to go buy a bag of nappies without going all the way to Morrison’s.
8. Open a restaurant. I did hear of one in the pipeline - anyone confirm? Seems curious that our leading creative quarter has such a mono-cultural nightlife. Drinking and music and that’s it. Jewellery Quarter has a few. In fact Digbeth-based Clusta boss, Russell has a place up there - I presume he didn’t think there was enough potential clientele in Digbeth.
9. Move the bus stops outside Digbeth Cold Storage. It’s the single biggest barrier between town and Digbeth and its made of people. Putting the stops for the 37/50/58/59/60 etc. on a narrow pavement is a ridiculous planning decision. Go do the walk now between Bull Ring and Custard Factory. Difficult isn’t it? Now go do it with a push chair or a wheelchair and fight your way past a load of grumpy people waiting for a bus that’s already 20 minutes late.
10. Gentrify/Don’t Gentrify - make your mind up. All those galleries - I mean come on, it’s gentrified whether you like it or not now isn’t it (and what are they doing down there anyway? why are they hiding from where most people are?). It’s still an industrial area of course and is a million miles away from what happened in East London but we need some clear thinking right now rather than simply hoping that an economic downturn prevents the worse of the excesses.
Pic by lamentables
Birmingham - The Uncreative City
After writing a couple of months ago about Creative Republic I thought it about time I went along to an event. So last night I showed up at the Michael Wolff Masterclass in the so-new-the-paint’s-still-wet Fazeley Studios in Digbeth. Wolff himself had to pull out at the last minute which was a shame but in his place we had Stef Lewandowski taking us through a presentation he entitled ‘Birmingham Ambient Creativity Audit’.
This basically involved Stef roaming the centre as if he was a fresh-face tourist, trying to orientate himself and look for signs of our cultural life. In short, after taking 500+ photos, he didn’t find much bar the very occasional fly-poster. What he did find was poor sign-posting, an excess of cars, a lack of hang-out spaces and a derelict ice-rink. It was a useful and entertaining snapshot of Birmingham, the uncreative creative city. One of Stef’s key points was about how Birmingham doesn’t look like a creative place despite the fact that creative and cultural industries make up such a significant chunk of the city’s economy (almost 9% of GVA or 5% of the economy - bigger than financial services but smaller than Law and business services).
That’s the key point for me. We’ve become a shopping city and a conference city, but can’t quite work out, in planning terms at least, how to be a creative city. I made a point during the evening about what Stef’s city tour might have felt like in the 1980s, a time when we were nothing more than a motor city, when we simply didn’t have the volume of creative industries activity we do now (2004 stats show 50% of all creative firms had started up in the previous ten years). In 2008 Stef was hoping to see more ‘indie’ culture as he walked around. He left ‘indie’ a little undefined but for me its more than shops or flyposters, its about people on the streets. Back in the 1980s hanging out in the city was a much more straightforward activity than it is now (Stef makes a point about the prevalence of CCTV and alcohol restricted areas). Then, the messiness of post-war planning left lots of curious, unwatched spaces - underpassses, undeveloped sites, old train stations - in which one could engage with friends in your own subcultural group (my own being ‘plastic punk‘ - into the music but too scared of upsetting his mum by ripping his jeans or dying his hair). Birmingham centre may be a lot better planned than it used to be but in that we’ve lost the diversity we used to see on the streets - a diversity of both people and places. A diversity that made us look like more of an ‘indie’ place.
In the last 20 years we’ve done everything that big, growing mature cities should do: we shut the underpasses, we gentrified the canals, we realigned the roads but we also privatised what were public spaces (Bullring was mentioned as an example of that), we priced out independent retail (we’re about to lose that great rabbit warren of youth culture and independent retail, Oasis Markets), we approved uninspiring architecture. I’m beginning to wonder if we’ve probably done everything you’re not supposed to do to plan a creative city landscape.
I think the idea of last night was that we’re essentially gearing up for more formal feedback to the Big City Plan in the autumn. Which is a good thing of course because consultation matters if we’re to take on Stef’s points and make his next city tour a much more rewarding experience.
Even though I had to dash off before the final feedback this was a useful night that gave me and others there plenty of food for thought. Well done to Stef and Creative Republic for pulling together something so useful rather than just canceling.
Floods, leaks and dodgy bulls
I’d hate to be the kind of blogger who has a bad day then proceeds to tell the world about it - my rubbish day is as nothing compared to the rest of the world’s proper rubbish days. Let alone those for whom every day is pretty rubbish.
But I tell you what - today (so far, its 8pm) has been fairly rubbish. An Ill-advised trip to town from which it took 90 minutes to get home through cancelled trains, stuck buses, and flooded rivers blocking roads.
Took some phone pics in Bournville after the taxi we’d resorted to couldn’t go any further of which this one is the only nicely dramatic one:
When we got home we found the roof had leaked which is annoying but if you want to see some proper dramatic pics then go take a look at Josh Hart’s pics. He lives near the river Rea in Selly Park which burst its banks.
However, the most extraordinary sight I saw all day though was the bull statue outside the Bullring in Birmingham. I knew they’d painted in silver (why I don’t know and don’t care) but look up close and it’s possibly the worst paint job known to man. I think it was best left alone….
I hope to finish my rubbish day by watching a rubbish film, Cloverfield. It really couldn’t get any worse could it?
A two pence bus fare for the digital age
I have a new job. I’m off (on long-term secondment actually) to work for Digital Birmingham as their Economic Development Manager. As part of my interview I had to do five minutes on how I would put Birmingham on the digital map. It was five minutes without PowerPoint so I wrote a speech which I thought I’d reproduce here (and no, I don’t quite answer the question but I do talk about buses a lot and yes, I added the embedded links afterwards):
“Birmingham feels strangely exciting at the moment. I say strangely because as someone who’s lived here all of his life, ‘exciting’ is a status that Birmingham has only occasionally reached the giddy heights of. But there is one time when I remember Birmingham reached a frenzy, when an event affected everyone in the city. No, I’m not talking about the double whammy of the G8 and the Eurovision in 1998 but rather, about the now almost legendary decision by the city council in the early 1980s to introduce 2 pence bus fares for under 16s. What halcyon days they were. That long-held dream of going all the way round on the number 11 bus could now be made a reality. The question of what to do on a weekend now had a simple answer – get on a bus and stay on it, see where it took you. It was a decision that mobilised a generation of idle youth. It took us to town and back every Saturday and left us plenty of change for space invaders and a cup of tea in the café on the sixth floor of Lewis’s.
In his article on youth culture from 1981, Gary Clarke actually makes reference to Birmingham’s 2p bus fares. He notes it caused uproar amongst the population, everyone was talking about it. He describes the moral panic caused by this mobilisation. To quote him: “Birmingham youths have created new meaning from the conventional activities of shopping and public transport”. But what’s this got to do with Digital you’re asking? The quote’s interesting for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I don’t think I’ve ever read a better summation of how I spent my teenage years. Secondly, I suspect that is how we’ll be talking 20 years down the line about the digital tools we’re seeing now. That is, as conventional activities.
Actually you’re probably thinking what’s all this got to do with buses? Well, the most exciting blogger in Birmingham right now is a Bus Driver. TWMDriver has his own blog as well as a Twitter account where you can leave him a question about life on the buses. Also, Jon Bounds, author of the Birmingham Its Not Shit blog, wants us all to spend the 11th of the 11th this year on the 11 route, leaving at 11am. He wants an army of Brummie bloggers out there, talking about it, recording it, photographing it. Why? Because it’s there I suppose and because blogging connects you to people and once in a while can actually mobilise them to do something they may not have thought about doing otherwise.
And I think that’s what I feel is exciting at the moment. There’s seems to be a developing, lively social media ‘scene’ going on and some of us have cottoned on to the fact that it’s cheap bus fare time out there in the digital age. More than cheap actually, most of the tools are free. But, what drove us onto the buses in the 1980s wasn’t just the reduction in fares. That facilitated the pre-existing desire we had to discover, to meet, to share. To spend afternoons in Virgin records flicking through magazines we were never going to buy. Digital technologies aren’t the driver of change - they’re an enabler of change.
So what excites me about this social media landscape is how it seems to be bringing citizens together and connecting them on a whole range of topics. I’d agree that at first glance it seems to be a social space partly occupied by a few ‘usual suspects’ in the creative industries. Yet if you dig deeper, you’ll find a rich seem of bloggers talking about where they live (Vale Mail), their work (a blog dedicated to Night Working in the City), or their interests (myself and others wittering on about our allotments). There are opinion leaders out there of course and what I think Digital Birmingham should be is one of them.
Using my Birmingham Post blog I’ve already written about how those with influence can make use of Social Media to start a genuine debate about the city - to develop, if you like, a Birmingham Digital School of Thought. There is a lot of influence to be gained in this city by being part of the digital discussion. Bloggers have a developing cultural capital that planners and decision-makers are beginning to take notice of. Power comes from what you’re saying as well as what you’re doing – it comes from being a part of the discussion.
We’re potentially heading for an economic downturn and if digital technologies can help us through the worst of the impact of such a downturn – by creating ‘digital’ jobs in the creative industries or in medical technologies or in serious games – then we need to speak up now to ensure those with the money, as well as the power, are listening to us and heed our guidance. What growth there is in the economy is in those and other hi-tech industries – the evidence is out there, let’s ensure we understand it and that it influences change.
So for Digital Birmingham its about exerting your influence by contributing to the debate. Be someone, or something, with a view, a position, a take on things. Digital isn’t a box to tick or a target to reach, it’s not a league table…. It’s a bus. The driver, as I’ve mentioned, is already part of the action. I believe Digital Birmingham can be a powerful body to exert the kind of influence that will mobilise our citizens to get on the Digital bus, stay on it and, as we did on the number 11, go round and round just for the hell of it. Birmingham needs a 2p fare for the Digital age and Digital Birmingham could be the body to make that happen.”
Job starts in September. Nicely evocative bus pic by Pete Asthon
Links for August 22nd
Some links for you:
- Mail announces Birmingham’s Digital Family - Birmingham Mail - Birmingham gets a digital family who are rewarded with plenty of free gadgets.
- Urban Walk: Follow bank holiday hedonism - Birmingham Mail - The Mail recommends a Digbeth pub crawl as a useful way to spend the Bank Holiday
- Relationship model of e-government | The Place of Social Media - Digital Birmingham gets some praise in an article on e-government examples
- Raj TV removed from Sky Digital; future in doubt - Birmingham-based Raj TV goes off-air.
Channel 4 - 4ip
Yesterday saw the pre-launch of Channel 4’s 4ip fund in Birmingham. I’m telling you this as although I managed to bring a notepad I completely failed to bring a pen and therefore need to write this down before it empties out of my head. Before we begin, two key things you need to bear in mind and written large on the 4ip homepage:
INTERACTIVE MEDIA, NOT TV
NETWORKS NOT BROADCASTERS
With that in mind, here’s a FAQ:
What’s 4ip?
Channel four investment fund to create interactive media projects with a public service benefit. The background for it is in the Next on 4 strategy stuff. £50million in total.
Why?
Ofcom are consulting about Public Service Broadcasting at the moment (phase one just closed actually). Part of that is about thinking about how broadcasters can fulfill their public service remit in ways other than showing TV programmes. It’s pretty clear 4ip is Channel 4’s attempt to develop a solution before one gets imposed. If it works then they’ll no doubt be asking for a slice of the licence fee in future.
So they are investing in ideas? Companies?
Both. Unlike the TV commissioning model where the IP remains with the producer there is potential here for Channel 4 to take an equity stake in the company itself. Andrew Dubber thought the issue around IP ownership was vague but I read it as simply too complex to go into at an event like this - real answer is that it will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
How much will they invest?
£20k upwards to £1.5m. They hinted that there will be a small number of £1m+ projects, a decent amount of £200k-£600k projects and plenty at the £20k mark. You’ll need to find 50% of the funds for your project from elsewhere - this isn’t a free ride. See note from Jason at Screen WM below.
Interactive Media? Public Service benefit? Seems a bit vague.
I know, it’s great isn’t it - the door’s open to a whole range of ideas given that the criteria is so broad. However, don’t misinterpret ‘public service’ as non-commercial. This is investment funding and the investors are looking for a return. As wide open as this is there should be an emphasis on where the market has failed. An example given around a project for female computer gamers made this clear. Plus, market failure is a criteria used for public sector funding support and that’s what this is - public sector funding. Specifically cited were social media, web, computer gaming. ‘E-drama’ or brand extensions of existing TV programmes (they fund the latter seperately) is the last thing they want.
The reason for a Birmingham pre-launch?
Birmingham, because the regional development agency has put £5million into a West Midlands pot, matched by Channel 4’s £5million. ‘Pre’-launch, because the formal application procedure isn’t set up yet and won’t be till autumn. They’re recruiting a Birmingham-based commissioning editor as we speak. Screen West Midlands are managing all of this so make sure you become best friends with them. There’s a regional test to ensure there’s a benefit to the West Midlands (spending 70% of the budget there or 50% of the talent is based there).
What about other regions?
I’m a Brummie, what do I care about other regions? Oh okay, apparently Yorkshire and Scotland are also in on the act. The West Midlands got there first though - remember that. Stuart Cosgrove was the Channel 4 rep at the pre-launch and let’s not forget that he’s the Nations and Regions guy at channel 4. He specifically said that there’s a balance to be redressed in developing regional media economies in this way. He cited the North West and of course, London, as already having had their fair share. I’m actually unsure if that means that this is not a national fund. I suspect that the other partners mentioned (Arts Council England, Media Trust, others I’ve forgotten) may allow non-West Mids/Yorkshire/Scottish projects to be funded.
So I should spend the summer musing on new ideas?
Yes and no. If you’ve got an idea even half-formed get it known about now. There’s £10million to be invested in a little over two years, that will take some spending. As I said, for the West Midlands, you need to be talking to Screen West Midlands right now about your idea so that come day one, you’re at the front of the aplication queue. Talk to Jason Hall: jason.hall [at] screenwm.co.uk. Try not to be put off by what looks like a tortuous application process - this is a lot of public money we’re talking about.
Where can I learn more?
The 4ip blog gives really strong hints about what they’re after. Go subscribe now. If you look at some of the videos they’ve posted you’ll learn what’s in the heads of the people who will decide if your idea is green-lighted.
Birmingham Creatives - I can’t hear you
Cross-posted from my blog at the Birmingham Post.
Actually I can hear some of you, particularly those of you that are on the same social networks as me or that I happen upon as result of my work. I can hear you loud and clear and you’ve got lots to say about this city and how it values or doesn’t value the arts and why what you do matters. What I can’t hear is the voice of the organisation that’s been set up to represent you collectively. Or to put it another way: what’s the point of Creative Republic? If they’re the voice of the creative sector aiming to make it “stronger, louder and more effective” then why does it all seem a bit quiet out there.
Actually they have had a few events, one as recently as June during which creatives got to mingle and have a nice drink. In fact the Facebook invite for the last event emphasised: “No Pack Drill… No Speeches… And No Charge”. That struck me as pretty depressing for an organisation that’s trying to represent us at the highest level in the city. So that’s an event that won’t be asking creatives how they want to be represented? No chance for attendees to have their say? No ‘we’ll fight them on the beaches’ rallying call for creatives to raise up their pens/brushes/mice/cameras and get themselves known and heard? No chance for the next generation of creative leaders to push themselves to the front of the room and tell their colleagues why they can make change happen?
There’s an economic downturn under way. Maybe it won’t be too bad but research tells us that growth in the Creative Industries are cyclical, that is, when the economy grows they grow more but when it slides they slide more. So we might be entering a downturn that puts the jobs of regional creatives on the line. Not just in service sector jobs such as design and interactive media but in cuts to the arts and support organisations. We should be ideally placed in having an organisation like Creative Republic to point out to city fathers that even if times get bad we’re worth sticking with. If Brum wants to be a must-live place then it should continue to support the arts no matter how sticky those council meetings get.
I have no doubt that there’s plenty of politicking going on by Creative Republic board members behind the scenes but why is it so quiet? Do they have a view on the impending closure of Culture West Midlands, the organisation from which it takes it statistics? How does it feel about Advantage West Midlands’ strategy for the Digital Media and Music sector?
As I understand it Created in Birmingham is part of the Creative Republic set up but that serves a different function - that’s about saying “come and look at all this great stuff happening in Birmingham’s creative scene”. What’s needed instead is a voice (a blog would be a start) that reflects what Creative Republic is trying to be - a political organisation that has an opinion and is fighting the good fight for the city’s creatives.
Politics and policy are dominated by the voice of business at the moment and here we are with an organisation that has a real chance to be the voice of the worker - for that we need pack drills and speeches rather than a free drink and cosy chat.