Alternative Digbeth First Fridays

The thriving independent arts spaces of Digbeth have been working together on the First Friday of each month to present free art events, late night exhibition openings, performances and music. We had planned so much more for audiences this year, with partners Centrala, Vivid Projects, Grand Union and Stryx in Minerva Works, Eastside Projects on Heath Mill Lane and Recent Activity launching free guided tours in March. Due to the pandemic, our spaces are in lockdown until it is safe to reopen. But the art doesn’t stop…

This May 1st, we bring you an eclectic range of new works to discover, enjoy and participate in online. Whilst we cannot meet in person this First Friday, we are calling on our audiences to support those most in need. If you usually buy a drink or snacks during your First Friday night out, how about supporting some of the Birmingham charities providing crucial support to our communities during this incredibly tough time, by making a donation to them instead? To help, we have put together links to some brilliant Birmingham organisations and groups on the website www.digbethfirstfriday.com.

We will be sharing online, so do join in the conversation on Twitter and Instagram using #digbethfirstfriday.

Events this month include:

Vivid Projects:

‘Cut, Copy, Remix’ From April 18th-May 2nd, Black Hole Club, a development programme based at Vivid Projects that supports artists in the West Midlands, are collaborating with Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery on ‘Cut, Copy, Remix’, new work inspired by Birmingham Museums Trust’s Digital Image Resource. The project launched on 18 April with a fabulous new work by artist Cold War Steve, hosted online at www.thesocial.com/bennys-babbies/ . On May 1st look out for new works online from Mixed Milk and Black Hole Club’s Rosa Francesca and Alis Oldfield.

‘WORK’ Four new films about what work means today, online on International Workers’ Day Vivid Projects join with our partners at Animate Projects, Fermynwoods, QUAD and Junction Arts to launch the artist film exhibition ‘WORK’ online, featuring Adam Lewis-Jacob, Dryden Goodwin, Esther Johnson, Jenny Holt. Watch the films from 9am on 1 May via http://workprojects.org.uk/. Q&A with the artists at 7pm BST on Zoom https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UFYTTNH4R66dHPvxHHDauQ

‘Black Hole Club May Day Reader’ Black Hole Club offers work and conversations that ask, what holds value for us in this present? Presented as an online reader with content appearing on the web and via social media from 1st-3rd May.

Grand Union: Grand Union is connecting a network of gardeners to think about the future through plants and food. Join the online Growing Project discussion group every Thursday where participants will share gardening knowledge and practice and discuss how to enable more people to grow food, save seeds and distribute small plants across the city. You do not need to be an expert to join the discussion, more details can be found at https://grand-union.org.uk/gallery/the-growing-project-online-discussion/

Eastside Projects: On 14 May, join Emma Talbot, winner of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women 2020, for a chat about her forthcoming exhibition When Screens Break at Eastside Projects. Emma will discuss some of her work in progress and talk about ideas she is developing for the show in conversation with Eastside Projects Directors. https://eastsideprojects.org/events/live-studio-visit-emma-talbot/

Centrala: Centrala Online is a curated series of talks and online performances of Centrala's artists. Each fortnight, they will be introducing a new live-stream video on their youtube channel - regular updates on https://www.facebook.com/centralaspace/