Disqus - Latest Comments for mattmurtagh

Re: Birmingham ArtsFest 2009

mattmurtagh — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:03:35 -0000

The programme is now up on the Artsfest website early and with an apology.

As someone who's trying to organise a really complicated small corner of Artsfest at the moment liaising with the team running the weekend has been a bit of a nightmare.

The people running it are great and really do work hard to deliver the festival, it's simply that two part time staff cannot run 'the biggest free art festival in Europe' as much as the misers at the Council would like them to. The event is shockingly underfunded, to the point where it's miraculous that it happens at all.

There is a complete lack of understanding of the web as a marketing tool too, my source inside the marketing team says that all efforts are put into getting national print coverage, getting that full page ad in the Guardian Guide rather than actually creating intelligible listings for the people of Birmingham. This despite the fact that a web marketing campaign would cost virtually nothing in comparison. Have a look at the Artsfest365 blog and weep.

Annoyingly the designers at the Graphics team are actually quite good - the print stuff has pretty high production values but there is a completely different team (well, one person!) working on the web stuff with no interaction at all between them. this is why the print programme came out pretty much on time and the web didn't.

Re: Question CUL3

mattmurtagh — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:58:21 -0000

A system of buskers licenses ensuring some good quality street entertainment.

Re: Question B4

mattmurtagh — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:31:05 -0000

Birmingham really needs to encourage the growth of independant retail, in recent years the city centre has become nothing more than an identikit branded bland english high street. While there will always be a place for the larger chains it is the unique local outlets that really establish the character of shopping areas.

The establishment of an area similar to Oldham Street in Manchester would really add to Birmingham's appeal.

Re: Option D1

mattmurtagh — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:21:25 -0000

This is the only option I can see with a viable future, I agree with the other commenters, a tree lined Bradford Street with some independent shops could become a very vibrant creative hub for Brum.

Street lighting and cashpoints are vital though, people need to feel safe, many of the newer residential developments in the area look like fortified gated communities.

Re: Question CUL5

mattmurtagh — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:28:03 -0000

- Invest in the buildings that the Council already owns, eg Curzon Street Station, brilliant spaces that have been abandoned for lack of political will.

- Get in contact with the companies that lease shops in the city centre, they'd be more than happy to get artists in on limited leases in shopspaces that are vacant. In a time of recession there are embarassing holes on the main high streets of Brum. If there was a council approved scheme for art plugging these gaps the city centre would become a much more interesting place to work and live in, look at the success of the small galleries in the Mailbox for adding a little soul to the place.

- Get people involved in art in the city, Artsfest is a brilliant event, The Big Picture was very successful. City residents are much more likely to enjoy a piece of art if they have some stake in it rather than it being forced down from above. If each Artsfest resulted in a large piece of lasting artwork that would stay in the city centre it would be a unifying force, too much of the public art in the city centre is unloved having no connection to the people at all

Re: Question CUL4

mattmurtagh — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:09:40 -0000

New Street's primary purpose should be transportation but then that's one of the problems with its current incarnation, it's purely functional.

The new New Street should act as the gateway to the region and the arts should be an integral part of this. It wouldn't take a lot of space to hang a few prints, you can bet that the station will be full of advertising that will not impact the functionality of the building. If 10% of that advertising space was given over to displaying work by local artists, perhaps directing new arrivals to exhibitions throughout the city then the impressions that people will have of Birmingham would change. This is one of the biggest rail interchanges in the country and is often the only view of Brum that many people in the country have.

Re: Question CUL1

mattmurtagh — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 13:51:32 -0000

Birmingham Photospace (www.birminghamphotospace.co... formed in 2008 with the aim of establishing a
world class space for photography in the city. While its members are all either photography enthusiasts or photographers we have established the group for much more than realising a pet project.

In answer to question CUL1 we believe that a dedicated photography gallery for both digital and print photography is needed in Birmingham to promote its national and global image because it would be a:

• popular visitor attraction – as evidenced by the recentexpansion of London’s Photographers’ Gallery (which relocated to a
larger, central London space earlier this year) and increasing visitor numbers to Birmingham’s existing museums and galleries. Prior to its move, the Photographers’ Gallery attracted circa 450k visitors a year in a side street location indicating photography’s commercial appeal and the financial viability of such a project.

Moreover Professor Michael Parkinson identified a shortage of cultural facilities and spaces in the city in his recent visioning study. A number of Birmingham’s cultural leaders have highlighted the lack of a dedicated photography gallery in the city as a major facility gap. Nationally there is currently no dedicated facility that can accommodate major international photography exhibitions. A Birmingham Photospace could be that facility working in partnership with the National Exhibition Centre, International Convention Centre and others to continue to expand the city’s extensive exhibition business and expertise.

• focal point for the city’s creative industries - one of the key sectors to further contribute to the Birmingham's continued growth and economic success, as well as to enrich the wide diversity of talent that we have to offer

• means of supporting city learning goals – both for young people and lifelong learning – whether through education outreach work or adding value to existing visual arts learning

• a key aspect of Birmingham’s plans to be a digital city - not least a centre for displaying Birmingham’s extensive but largely hidden photo archive in a new way. It could also be the ideal venture for a national museum looking to establish a regional base. For example the Victoria and Albert museum is one of the few national museums not to have expanded out of London and it has a huge photography collection. Such a collection alongside Birmingham’s collected works would support a major and connected but distinct history of photography museum.

• means of ensuring that new iconic images of Birmingham continue to be generated beyond the Rotunda and Selfridges

Our aspiration is for a world class photography venue. This need not be an expensive or complicated project to realise; it could make use of one of Birmingham’s many dis-used buildings close to the city centre.