After the successful launch over summer, this autumn we continue our mac at fifty celebrations. Jane Packman returns with The Wake, a celebratory performance event created for the gallery installation, The Woods. We also welcome Birmingham based artist Vanley Burke to the gallery for a major exhibition of his photography, By The Rivers of Birminam. We have lots of exciting opportunities coming up this autumn, including the new cannon hill collective, so keep an eye on www.macarts.co.uk, as well as IdeasTap, to see how you can get involved.

Calling all you young makers, creators, movers and shakers! 

mac birmingham is looking for a group of 20 young people, aged 16 to 24, to be part of mac’s cannon hill collective. You can be from any creative discipline but you must be based in the West Midlands. 

As part of the collective, you will come up with new ideas and develop projects from scratch, putting your stamp on mac’s fantastic arts programme. 

During six months spent working alongside professionals from the field, you will be introduced to top notch art, have access to mac’s events and artists, and devise original work to share with young people across the region and beyond. 

The collective will run from 1 October 2012 to April 2013, meeting one evening each week (with a break over Christmas) and at additional events as required. 

This brief closes at 5pm on Friday 21 September and is open to IdeasTap members aged 16-24 and based in the West Midlands.

CLICK HERE for more information and to apply.

Throughout August 2012

A celebration of urban culture at mac birmingham. Take part in a day long workshop or enjoy a free event in our public spaces, including an Old School Hip Hop Jam curated by Birmingham’s freshest DJs, plus breakin’ demonstrations by the region’s best breakers and crews.

One day workshops each Wednesday in August:

Urban Street Arts Wed 1st Aug, 1- 6pm, £15, Age: 13 - 19

Learn about the story of graffiti and street art, create designs then spray paint or use pens on giant boards to bring your creations to life.

Beats & Breaks Wed 8th Aug 1- 6pm, £15, Age: 13 – 19

Make your own music track to be added to mac’s Celestial Jukebox. Working with MC & DJ Feva, explore sampling and develop your rhyming and lyric writing.

Streetdance/Breakin'  Wed 15th Aug 1- 6pm, £15, Age: 13 – 19

Discover the foundations of Hip Hop Dance. Create a choreography based around Jacking, Stomping, Skating, Footwork and Lofting.

Make a Music Video Wed 22^nd 1- 6pm, £15, Age: 13 - 19

Work with an independent music video director to create your own promo video. Plan and shoot using HDV cameras, editing the results on Final Cut Pro Express

Fierce is a curated festival of live art, performance and public intervention that takes place annually across Birmingham.  The last festival in March 2011 animated the city with kayak rides on the canals, soldiers singing karaoke at a railway station, a live tattooing event and a blindfolded, headphone-based audio tour of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.  

The festival aims to be a collision point for live art forms, people and radical ideas; gathering artists and audiences together for events that supercharge the moment. Fierce works in partnership with Birmingham’s cultural institutions and a range of other more unusual spaces, including warehouses, swimming pools, car parks and shopping centres.

The next Fierce festival runs from Thursday 29 March  –  Sunday 8 April 2012.

Fierce and mac will co-present work and workshops from Fierce Festival artists Subject to_change and Uninvited Guests. Subject to_change’s latest project Cupid, is a meditation on love, the stars and personal mythology.  Uninvited Guests invite you to provide personal love song dedications for a heartfelt performance and will also run a short-term hyperlocal radio station.  

Cupid is co-produced by Subject to_change and BAC

Commissioned by BAC, mac and Fierce

Uninvited Guests are produced by Fuel

Find our more about Fierce: www.wearefierce.org

Please see www.macarts.org.uk for more details of Fierce festival’s programme at mac (full information released January 2012)

Independent record label One Beat Records and Birmingham Promoters are working with mac birmingham to produce a one day festival showcasing the best new music in Birmingham, and are looking for the best local unsigned acts to complete the line-up.

The festival will be in the outdoor Roman Amphitheatre-style Arena at mac birmingham, and will feature acts including The Carpels and Swim Deep, both currently making waves on the national scene. Fresh from working with Richard X on their comeback single, Poppy & The Jezebels are the latest addition to the awesome line-up. Also playing are festival favourites Tempting Rosie, The Jacarandas, Not by Design and new kids on the block JAWS. There will be spoken word from Jodi Ann Bickley & Friends, sets from the best local DJs as well as vintage clothing stalls, a pop-up bar and a BBQ.

To complete the line-up, the organisers are looking for the best young unsigned acts aged 14 – 21 to perform at the festival. If you’re a musician, singer-songwriter, MC, rapper, or part of a band or duo, this is your chance to take to the stage and play alongside the city’s best bands. If you are interested email onebeatsunday@macarts.co.uk by 10am on Monday 28th May with a link to your music on soundcloud or myspace, 100 words about your act, names & ages, and a photograph.

One Beat Sunday

Sun 22 Jul, 3 – 10pm, doors 2.30pm
Tickets £10 | All Ages (Under 14s with an adult)

Tickets can be purchased in advance by clicking here, over the phone on 0121 446 3232 or in person from mac birmingham’s Sales & Information desk.

One Beat Records and Birmingham Promoters present:

One Beat Sunday

Sun 22 Jul, 3-10pm | Tickets £10 | All ages

One Beat Records and Birmingham Promoters are taking over mac birmingham’s outdoor Arena for a one day festival. See some of Birmingham’s brightest bands including The Carpels, Tempting Rosie, JAWS & Not by Design. Plus DJ sets, spoken word, vintage clothing, outdoor bar & BBQ.

Follow us @mac_birmingham for opportunities to get involved.

The Future Poets Festival is a festival of new poetry created and curated by a group of 16-19yr olds from the West Midlands  

Young People (aged 16-19yrs) from the West Midlands, will be engaged to read, write and explore the full swing of future poetry by curating and creating their own Future Poets Festival over five months from April - August 2012.

Future Poets Festival is Funded by Clore Duffield Foundation Literature and Poetry Awards produced by Amy Rozel Martin, Writing West Midlands and delivered in partnership with mac and Ideas Tap.

For more info: http://futurepoetsfestival.com/

Saturday 4^th August 2012

12noon until 6pm.

Free

Please contact mac box office to reserve your place at the festival 

Plot 7: Next Generation

Plot now open

As part of the ALLOTMENT project, mac birmingham will be providing opportunities for a range of young artists and curators to create and exhibit work in the Next Generation ALLOTMENT plot. With support from mac staff and independent curator Charlie Levine, the young people will have the opportunity to develop ideas and share work within a professional environment alongside other practicing artists.

Next Generation #2

HOW to...

A project devised by members of Ikon Youth Programme working with Abigail Morris and Barber Youth.

Collect a 'How to' from this space...

Learn a new skill...

Donate your creation to IYP by leaving what you make in the space...

Your creations will accompany IYP to London and back this summer, onboard Slow Boat.

For more information please follow Slow Boat on ikonslowboat.com