3.6.1
Original Document
Birmingham has a thriving cultural, sports and leisure sector which serves local and regional needs. The city centre is home to a number of venues, including Symphony Hall, St. Philip’s Cathedral, the Hippodrome Theatre, the Birmingham Rep Theatre, the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the National Indoor Arena and the Ikon Gallery amongst many others. Plans for relocating the Library of Birmingham from Chamberlain Square adjacent to the Birmingham Rep site in Centenary Square are well advanced.
Plain English Translation
Birmingham has a thriving cultural, sport and leisure sector which serves local and regional needs. The city centre is home to a number of venues, including Symphony Hall, St. Philip’s Cathedral, the Hippodrome Theatre, the Birmingham Rep Theatre, the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the National Indoor Arena and the Ikon Gallery amongst many others. We also have plans to move the Library of Birmingham from Chamberlain Square to a site next to the Birmingham Rep.
“Birmingham has a thriving cultural, sport and leisure sector which serves local and regional needs”
Unfortunately important parts of the cultural sector are woefully under-promoted, with the likes of Marketing Birmingham, Visit Birmingham, Forward, Birmingham City Council – those involved in promoting the city and all the good that happens here – concentrating on the select few listed above.
Time and again, we hear the Symphony Hall, Hippodrome, the Rep, the BMAG, NIA and the Ikon Gallery touted. Why is that? Why is the city's independent scene never mentioned and celebrated? From outside the city Birmingham looks one-dimensional at best, yet we know this isn't the case.
I'm not for a second saying that the venues above aren't excellent, but I think it's very wrong to concentrate on the big few and ignore the smaller sparks of creativity that go towards making a city an interesting, varied and exciting place to live. The city's marketing departments are letting grade A material slip through their fingers every week instead of holding it aloft and proclaiming the city for the great place it is.
I've heard it said by some of the more successful independent promoters in Birmingham that they are getting by despite the council, not because of it. As a result of the Big City Plan I would like to see this changed.
Suggestions:
Have someone at the council with a remit to make art happen, facilitating between departments if necessary.
Venues to be made more easily available for 'artistic purposes'.
Empty city-centre shops to display posters for artistic events/exhibitions. In fact – dedicated billboards in prime locations to advertise independent art (perhaps rotated on a weekly, lottery basis).
Risks to be taken occasionally.
Listings in official publications to step beyond the 'big few'.
Staff at tourist information points to be made aware of the range of events happening around the city.
I agree with the above comment that our cultural facilities are not promoted well enough. This applies at local level as well as the need to promote nationally and internationally if we seek to bring in more visitors as part of being an aspirational city. I live in the city and am constantly seeking events, only to find out about them after they have happened.
I also agree. The most exciting events i go to in the city I tend to hear about via word of mouth and because I'm plugged into technological channels that facilitate the sharing of this information. Without Twitter, blogs and network of creative friends I'd probably never get beyond the odeon on a saturday night – where are the posters, the billboards and the big promotional pushes to get us Brummies inquisitive about the grat things happening within our cities?