Tuesday 1 October 2013

Digbeth Speaks Exhibition: visitor information and events





EXHIBITION:

3-13 October. Mon-Sat 11am-5pm, Sun 1pm-4pm. Lakeside Gallery, Custard Factory, Gibb Street.

RELATED EVENTS:

Drop-in family workshop, Sunday 6 October 1.30pm-3.30pm. Free.
Making time capsules: in this workshop, the children will be able to explore the idea of a digital time capsule using their own experiences of Digbeth to create drawings and stories. They will use a range of materials to create their own newspaper articles and giant speech bubbles, alongside getting creative on our giant chalk board wall! The workshop is run by Katy Pegg.

Workshop, Wednesday 9 October, 1.30pm. Free
Social History: in the archives: this event looks at the role of archives in social history. Using two very different sets of archive material – relating to Handsworth in the 1980s and the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, a research department that pioneered the study of popular culture – Dr Kieran Connell, a historian at the University of Birmingham, will lead discussion about what archives are, how they develop and the role they play in history-writing.

For more information, email Carly on digbethspeaks@gmail.com


PRESS: 
http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/whats-on/digbeth-speaks-exhibition-takes-snapshot-6070268


We look forward to seeing you there!

Thursday 19 September 2013

Recruiting for Exhibition Volunteers (deadline extended until Mon 23 Sept)

What does Digbeth mean to you?

Digbeth Speaks is an oral history project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and led by young members of the Friends of Birmingham Archives and Heritage. The project has created an audio and visual time capsule of Digbeth and its communities during 2013 for an archive that will be housed in Birmingham Archives and Heritage at the New Library of Birmingham.

The Digbeth Speaks exhibition will be a celebration of the diverse stories that have been recorded over the course of the project. The exhibition will contain a selection of audios (oral history interviews and vox pops) that will be accessed at listening stations, alongside photographs and text panels interpreting what we have found. Interactive elements will allow visitors to make their own contribution to the time capsule.

We are delighted to offer this exciting opportunity for individuals to gain valuable experience working on our end of project exhibition. The main role of volunteers will be gallery invigilation; volunteers will be responsible for overseeing the exhibition during opening hours, welcoming visitors and providing information about the project. Additional duties may include: marketing, setting-up and assisting with the exhibition opening event, assisting with the installation and deinstallation of the exhibition. Some heavy lifting may be required.

The exhibition begins on 3rd October and finishes on 13th October. Opening hours are to be confirmed and there will be an opening event on 3rd October, 6pm - 8.30pm. Please indicate on the application form your availability for these dates; hours are flexible but we require individuals to commit to a minimum of 12 hours over the 10 days. A contribution towards expenses will be provided.

Essential Skills:

The successful candidates must:
- Be self-motivated with excellent organisational skills
- Have excellent interpersonal skills and confidence in communicating with members of the public
- Be a team player
- Have a flexible approach to the role
- It is also desirable that you would have a passion for working with the arts or heritage sector.

How do I apply?

Please email Curator Jenny Lance for an application form at j_lance@hotmail.co.uk by 5pm on Monday 23rd September. Please mark VOLUNTEER in the subject line of the email.

For more information about Digbeth Speaks and the Custard Factory go to:

Thursday 29 August 2013

Warwick Bar Fete: A Moveable Feast, 27 July 2013


Saturday 27 July saw the Digbeth Speaks team descend on Warwick Bar. In exchange for a cool glass of cloudy lemonade, we collected voxpops with visitors to the Summer fete.



At just gone 10am, a small group of dedicated volunteers gathered in the space we had been assigned for the day. Armed with bunting, balloons, coloured pens and signs, we set to transforming an empty unit into a beautiful stall that would entice visitors to come and talk to us. 



Kym Epton from Red Cell Films made a time lapse film of us setting up, which will be included as part of a mini film about our oral history project. 




 The Warwick Bar Moveable Feast was a free event filled with food, art and culture. Visitors were able to experience Ikon’s summer launch of the ‘Slow Boat’, an aerial acrobatics show by Rogueplay Theatre, the Edible Eastside open day, an artisan food market and a pedal powered cinema, to name a few. There was also bhangra dancing, a mini sports day and people were able to taste the finalists in the Digbeth Pie competition (we were one of the finalists!).







Throughout the day members of our team spoke to local residents, performers, artists and visitors, and asked the following three questions:
  • What have you been doing in Digbeth today?
  • How would you describe Digbeth in three words?
  • What does Digbeth mean to you?
We had a huge range of responses! Unfortunately the Heavens opened at about 5pm and put an end to the event. But by that time all the Digbeth Speaks team had had a fabulous day and gathered lots of new thoughts about Digbeth.

Holly Beaumont-Wilkes, Project Volunteer



Tuesday 27 August 2013

Introducing film 1: Digbeth Speaks does the Custard Factory's Antiques and Vintage Bazaar, 8 June

In a previous blog post we told you about the filming we did at the antiques and vintage bazaar at the Custard Factory on 8 June. Here's the finished video:



Wednesday 14 August 2013

Chinese Community Centre - Birmingham interviews, 2 August


On 2 August 2013, I conducted an interview with two ladies at the Chinese Community Centre - Birmingham (CCC-B). CCC-B is located at the heart of Digbeth. It aims to promote cultural exchange, social and personal well-being within the Chinese community. The two ladies - Ms Fung and Ms Tang - were service users of the Hong Que Day Care Service. Hong Que provides vital services for the elderlies, such as hot meals, weekly shopping trips, health talks and recreational activities.



Upon arrival, I was given a warm welcome by Kate Gordon, the Senior Care Officer who helped to arrange the interview. I was then treated to lunch with the Hong Que grannies. The delicious and nutritious meal was prepared by a team of dedicated volunteers. As I was seated at the big round table, the grannies were eager to show their hospitality by piling delicious food on my plate. It was a lovely experience, which reminded me of being with my grandparents in Hong Kong.

After lunch, some of the Hong Que ladies went to the activity room to have a game of mahjong. It was a great way to socialise, as well as to exercise their mental dexterity. 

The interviewees and I were then led to the cosy 'Dragon Room' by Kong Sing Lee, the Care Support Worker. Mr Lee accompanied Ms Fung and Ms Tang throughout the interview, offering excellent support and helping to explain the procedures. It was fascinating to hear about their experiences and we are grateful for their participation in our archive.

Tessa Mo, Project Volunteer and Visual Documentation


Monday 5 August 2013

Sara Preisler interview


On 15 July, a humid Monday afternoon, I was fortunate enough to be able to escape the heat in the fresh and attractive surroundings of the Sara Preisler Gallery in Digbeth. I had volunteered to interview Sara Preisler, a jewellery designer who has been creating collections since 1993, and whose gallery and studio space can be found in the Custard Factory. I was joined by Holly Beaumont-Wilkes, who had kindly agreed to take notes for the interview and to photograph Sara and the gallery. 



The oral history interview was a unique experience for me. I was able to gain insight into the place Sara’s gallery occupies in relation to the surroundings of the Custard factory, the relationship she has to the artistic community in Digbeth and her involvement and support of local university graduate jewellery designers. 








We also discussed the jewellery collections she creates and the bimonthly exhibitions that are held at her gallery. It was great to get to see the space in which she creates and exhibits her jewellery and would recommend you to visit and see the exquisite jewellery that can be found in Digbeth, and the diverse community that forms the Custard Factory.

Hannah Squire, Project Volunteer

Wednesday 31 July 2013

Community life in Digbeth? Monday 15 July


On Monday 15 July we went to St Anne’s Roman Catholic Church on Alcester Street to meet Father Patrick Brown. We talked about the Digbeth Speaks project and discussed potential people we could contact to record stories about the Irish heritage and spiritual life of the area. We found out that Cardinal Newman had founded St. Anne’s in a former gin distillery next to where the present church was built. Father Brown recounted some of his memories about Digbeth from the 1970s and talked about the ways it had since changed. We recorded a short interview with him to go into the archive - he had an interesting insight on the question of whether Digbeth has a ‘community’ today. While many of the church’s parishioners live across Birmingham, for those with Catholic and Irish heritage, St Anne’s brings that community together.












Next stop - SIFA  Fireside, a charity that tackles homelessness, alcohol misuse and social exclusion across Birmingham, situated in an old printing factory on Allcock Street. Development Manager Simon Hackett invited us along to their weekly forum to talk about Digbeth Speaks. We also found out about the fantastic work that the charity does as well as hearing from some of the service users about the positive impact that the centre has had on their lives. Rob told us the story behind the name of the band he is part of - Feed us Biscuits, we should’ve guessed by the digestives on the table! Check out their performance here.




We then stopped off for a lovely lunch at the Greenhouse Café in Digbeth, before calling into the Lakeside Gallery at the Custard Factory – where our exhibition at the end of the project is going to be held. We also called by one of the vintage shops on the way, where Carly bought this beautiful 1930s brooch!  






When we arrived at the gallery, we were greeted by an exciting exhibition of street art. Setdebelleza is a Spanish artist is touring galleries around the world.






After visiting all the people and places on that day I started to think about the whole range of reasons that people visit Digbeth, including eating, socialising, going to an event or exhibition, or shopping; for those that visit SIFA fireside, it’s a place that offers many of the same activities and it’s a lifeline to them; for parishioners at St. Anne’s it’s a spiritual home. While Digbeth might not have a traditional, fixed community, it welcomes a range of smaller communities and individuals as a modern, multi-cultural hub, but with reminders of its industrial past. 


Lauren Dudley
Project Volunteer


Sunday 28 July 2013

Deadpixels, 18 July


On the 18th of July Suki10c hosted the second instalment of ‘Deadpixels’, “Birmingham’s newest retro gaming night”, fusing the moody urban nightlife of Digbeth with such console-gaming classics as Street Fighter, Tomb Raider and Goldeneye. As Nikolay, Dasha and I entered the venue I was pre-empting my devolution into a rosy-cheeked fledgling as I caught sight of the Goldeneye menu screen, replete with all of the childhood wonderment of the then next-gen of gaming. Fortunately, I was able to control my excitement and Nikolay and I took to the pads for our first game of the 007 shooter with one of the promoters of the night. With Nikolay respectfully bowing out midway through, it ended in a tie between myself and the promoter – not bad after a 10-year hiatus! – after which he kindly provided a great vox pop, likening Digbeth to one of the main arteries connected to the heart of the city. 




The evening was a slow-burner and modestly attended, but gradually, one by one, the venue began to fill out. As music went it was a hybridisation of dub reggae, dubstep, breakbeat/hip-hop and a general assortment of electronic dance music; a variety consistent with the rich history of urban music and club culture in Digbeth. Indeed, an apt setting for these confluent cultures. Since the early nineties MC’s have drawn on these classic retro titles as witticisms in their lyrics, and when sampling technology developed producers were able to patch in familiar sound bites from these games into their beats: an aesthetic adopted by a wide range of jungle, garage and grime producers including, most notably, Jo, Wiley, Zomby and Birmingham born Preditah. And that’s not to forget the tradition of martial arts in Hip-Hop/Grime culture (think Wu-Tang), where ciphers and battles are decided on the raw, lyrical force and dexterity of the MC’s. (Hell, grime legend D Double E couldn’t make it clearer with his ‘Street Fighter Riddim’!) It’s no secret that Digbeth has been a vital mainstay in the development of these cultural legacies in the UK, and Deadpixels’ bimonthly night presents a refreshing new direction. Everyone I spoke with effused on the importance of Digbeth as an aspiring, alternative community, facilitating these types of event.

Later in the evening Stale Dale & Chonkybeatz performed a masterful live beatboxing set as a respite from the button bashing. In fact, the Street Fighter corner had amassed a slew of budding players eager to test themselves against an opponent, Goldeneye too had its moments, but Lara Croft was left, sadly neglected in the middle of the dance floor. All in all, the night was a charming, down-tempo alternative to the usual offerings and I look forward to part three to see how they develop the idea.


Hamish Campbell-Legg, Project Volunteer

Tuesday 16 July 2013

Irish Heritage Group, 3 July

Sarah and I spent the evening of 3 July at the Irish Club, Digbeth High Street for a Birmingham Irish Heritage Group meeting and lecture. We were kindly invited along by Jim Ranahan with the support of Ann at the Irish Heritage Group.



Jim gave a really interesting talk entitled 'How do we want to be remembered? Community involvement with Birmingham museums', which stimulated a lot of discussion afterwards about representation of a collective heritage and community engagement. We were delighted that Jim used our project as an example of the ways in which the community could tell their own stories and gain wider representation in the archive.



Following Jim's lecture, we spoke to the group about our project. We received a warm welcome and enjoyed talking to several members of the community afterwards; they each had fascinating stories to share about life in Digbeth, past and present.

Sarah and me with Jim and Ann





It was an insightful evening and we are looking forward to interviewing Jim and two members of the group - who we met on the night - over the coming weeks.

Carly Hegenbarth, Project Manager

Sunday 7 July 2013

Pubs of Digbeth walk, 29 June

On Saturday 29 June we co-hosted the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Love Architecture Pubs tour of Digbeth. It was led by architect and urban designer, Joe Holyoak and we were joined by people interested in architecture, Digbeth and, crucially, pubs...

We started at The Woodman by Millennium Point which has recently been granted planning permission for renovations and to be reopened. The architecture was by James and Lister Lea who were responsible for designing a number of pubs in the Digbeth area during the late nineteenth century – they’re easy to spot by their red bricks and terracotta decorations. The next pub, also a James and Lister Lea, was the Eagle and Tun. Now boarded up, it was once frequented by UB40 whose recording studios were just round the corner – the interior features in the video for Red Red Wine and there’s an article about it here.










At one time there was a pub on virtually every other street in Digbeth; we learnt that they were mostly on street corners in order to maximise passing trade. Some were purpose-built as public houses and others were converted from domestic buildings, such as the ex-Spotted Dog on Meriden Street.

On the tour, we also passed other pubs no longer in operation such as The Old Wharf on Coventry Street, which was known for its Heavy Metal clientele and gigs and only closed in recent years. I went there a couple of years ago (and it was Metal) so that must have been very soon before it closed. It had a small stage in the gig room and the whole interior back room was painted with images of bands from through the ages.

After The Old Wharf, we passed the Birmingham Packpackers. This ex-pub on the corner of Coventry Street was built in the 1920s and is of a notably different style to the grand James and Lister Lea pubs. At the start of the twentieth century there was increasing concern about drinking and pub environments - as such, new pubs were built in a more domestic style. The Spotted Dog on Alcester Street is another pub that would appear to fit this style.



Towards the end of the walk we went into The Anchor and The White Swan on Bradford Street to see the interiors; both are James and Lister Lea and are definitely worth a visit. The White Swan still has its original Minton tiles and both pubs retain much of their original character.



We ended in The Old Crown which archaeological investigations date to the late fifteenth century - so, far more ancient than the other architecture we’d already seen. The building began life as the Guildhall and School of the Guild of St John the Baptist of Deritend (the church of St Johns used to stand on the other side of the road) and didn’t become a pub until the nineteenth century. The building has a long and fascinating history which is well worth investigating, including that it was used as a safe house during the English Civil War.

Some fascinating themes emerged from the histories of these pubs and the people who we spoke to on the walk. Firstly, and in contrast to now, pre-Second World War, Digbeth was a densely populated area with terraces, back-to-back housing and factories crammed in with a multitude of pubs serving the community. Now many of these pubs have gone but their traces can still be seen on street corners throughout modern-day Digbeth. Another consistent theme is the sometimes difficult dynamic between residents and pubs, particularly music venues of which there have historically been a lot in Digbeth. Noise complaints have frequently threatened the survival of pubs - The Rainbow on Adderley Street had a very narrow escape from closure a couple of years ago, and The Spotted Dog with its legendary Jazz and Irish music nights has been more recently threatened. The industrial nature of the area was commented on by our fellow walkers, as well as the fact that many of them hadn’t been into the pubs here before but that they certainly would again.

All in all, we had a fantastic day and spoke to some great people - this was thanks to everyone on the tour, the pubs of Digbeth and a few pints along the way! The message is: go and explore Digbeth’s great pub heritage!


For anyone interested in finding out more, Joe Holyoak has highly recommended the following books: Birmingham Pubs 1880-1939 by Alan Crawford, Michael Dunn and Robert Thorne; the Birmingham edition of Pevsner Architectural Guides to Birmingham; CAMRA’s Britain’s Best Real Heritage Pubs, Pub Interiors of Outstanding Historic Interest by Geoff Brandwood.  The Midlands Pubs website is also an excellent source of information on Birmingham’s pubs.

Katie Hall

Volunteer social

On Tuesday last week we hosted a great social for all our volunteers as a thank you for all their ongoing hard work and to celebrate our achievements so far. It was lovely to get the team together and chat about the project, including experiences of doing oral histories and vox pops, as well as times spent in Digbeth. Thanks everyone!!

We also had the chance to update everyone about what we’ve achieved so far, and talk about the exciting things still to come, particularly the exhibition that’ll mark the end of the project which we’ve now confirmed will be at the Custard Factory. It’ll be fantastic to share everything we’ve gathered about Digbeth over the past few months.

Watch this space…..








Katie Hall