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Press Release
For immediate use
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WE ARE EASTSIDE
An invitation to explore Birmingham's creative playground
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We Are Eastside Open Weekend
Friday 26 March – Sunday 28 March
Eastside, Birmingham
FREE
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Online: www.weareeastside.org
Print: We Are Eastside printed guide available from Friday 26 March
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WE ARE EASTIDE: 7 INCH CINEMA / FLATPACK FESTIVAL – BIRMINGHAM JAZZ – CAPSULE –
CRAFTSPACE – THE CUSTARD FACTORY – EASTSIDE PROJECTS – GRAND UNION – IKON
EASTSIDE – PROJECT PIGEON – PUNCH – RHUBARB RHUBARB – THE EDGE – TINDAL STREET
PRESS – THE LOMBARD METHOD – VIVID - VRU
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We Are Eastside, an online and printed guide to the artists, collectives, promoters and spaces
helping to transform Birmingham's industrial heartland into a thriving creative playground, is set to
launch in Eastside on Saturday 27 March, as part of a major open weekend featuring free activities,
exhibitions, screenings and performances.

Arts enthusiasts, film and music fans, historians, city visitors and the downright curious from
across the West Midlands will have the opportunity to explore creative work being produced in
the area by taking in a film screening or magic lantern show, experiencing live experimental
jazz or electronica, learning about pigeon fancying, training as a traditional jester or clown or
by attending the opening of a new gallery during three days of activities.

The weekend of 26, 27 and 28 March will see the launch of a printed guide introducing the
sixteen organisations behind the We Are Eastside project, as well as the official unveiling of
dedicated new blog www.weareeastside.org which will feature regular updates, programmes,
event information, opportunities and contributions from the cluster of artists, collectives,
promoters and spaces based in the Eastside area, which is ten minutes walk from Birmingham
city centre.

The organisations behind We Are Eastside are 7 Inch Cinema and the Flatpack Festival,
Birmingham Jazz, Capsule and Supersonic Festival, Craftspace, Custard Factory, Eastside
Projects, Grand Union, IKON Eastside, Project Pigeon, Punch, Rhubarb Rhubarb, The Edge, The
Lombard Method, Tindal Street Press, VIVD and VRU [Visual Research Unit]

High profile work produced by or associated with We Are Eastside organisations include the UK wide BASS
festival produced by Punch, prize winning novels published by Tindal Street Press, Supersonic Festival –
Capsule's avant garde celebration of music, art, film and cake, the world premiere of a Barack Obama
photography portrait exhibition secured by Rhubarb Rhubarb and Birmingham Jazz's innovative rolling music
programme across venues in Birmingham.

A creative renaissance driven by a rich mix of bold new work and collaborative projects across
film, digital media, crafts, music, visual arts, architecture, literature and photography has led to
widespread recognition that the area of Eastside, characterised by stunning Victorian Gothic
and industrial architecture and dissected by the city's canal network, is emerging as the main
centre for cutting edge and diverse artistic and cultural output in Birmingham.

Acclaimed historian Ben Waddington, who will be delivering walking tours during the open weekend, likens
the recent reinvention of the area to the age of Birmingham's founding fathers, saying, “Like the Lunar
Society of the Eighteenth Century, there is a sense of a creative and productive renaissance taking place
here: distinct individuals with their own research and goals, but reciprocating and advancing in a common
direction: outward”.

Many of the spaces and buildings which will be open to the public – some previously unseen – are testament
to the area's previous incarnation as the epicentre of heavy industry in Birmingham and will be included in
the 90 minute walking tours which will explore tradition, design and pyschogeography.

From auspicious beginnings as the settlement of an Anglo Saxon tribesman Beorma to

development into farmland in the Medieval period and later, a heavily industrialised area of a
burgeoning Victorian city, the area east of Birmingham's centre is home to many iconic
buildings, including one of the first Lloyds Bank buildings in the country, public house The Old
Crown which dates back to 1368, The Bond - a collection of Victorian inland development of
canalside warehouses, the UK's oldest railway terminal Curzon Street Station, creative
enterprise incubation complex The Custard Factory and recently renovated chapel now digital
hub Fazeley Studios.

The gritty landscape east of Birmingham's city centre has seen an explosion of creative
enterprises, street art and redevelopment amongst the factories, numerous cafes, derelict
warehouses and former jug and bottle pubs over the last three decades. Eastside also includes
live music venues such as The Medicine Bar, superclub Air, The Rainbow courtyard and warehouse and
The Spotted Dog and plays host to internationally acclaimed festivals such as Flatpack, Supersonic, Plus,
Eclectricity, Drop Beats Not Bombs and the annual St Patricks Day Parade.

We Are Eastside has been programmed to coincide with the Flatpack Festival, Birmingham’s
annual celebration of the moving image and is supported by Birmingham City Council.

www.weareeastside.com/

[705 words]

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Ends
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Notes to Editor

Links
www.weareeastside.org
www.7inch.org.uk
www.flatpackfestival.org.uk
www.birminghamjazz.co.uk
www.capsule.org.uk
www.craftspace.co.uk
www.custardfactory.co.uk
www.eastsideprojects.org
www.grand-union.co.uk
www.ikon-gallery.co.uk/
www.insertspace.org.uk/projectpigeon.htm
www.punch-records.co.uk
www.rhubarb-rhubarb.net
www.livearts.co.uk/theedge.htm
www.thelombardmethod.wordpress.com
www.tindalstreet.co.uk
www.vivid.org.uk
www.biad.uce.ac.uk/vru/index.php

Images attached [300dpi]:

VIVID – William Hunt 2
The Edge – Home Echoes From The Edge
Supersonic - Monotonix07 Supersonic09 James Robinson
Project Pigeon – Coming out of loft

Media contacts:
Regional media enquiries: Lyle Bignon via lyle.bignon@btinternet.com or 07521 412 058
National media enquiries: Margaret London, Emma Pettit emma@margaretlondon.com or 0208 985 2445