Birmingham Festival 2023 announced: how to apply to be part of the festival?

Birmingham Festival 2023 will be taking place in Birmingham this summer as an homage to Commonwealth Games 2022.

The festival dates were announced today (March 28). The free event will take place over 10 days from Friday 28 July to Sunday 6 August, with Birmingham City Centre once more being transformed once more with colourful, joyous, vibrant spaces being created full of energy.

For the festival, Birmingham City Council is encouraging local artists and creative folks to come forward for the Made in Brum programme.

Made in Brum is a chance for Birmingham-based creative groups to be part of a large-scale festival. From steelbands to youth orchestras, from breakdance to bhangra and much more, the programme will highlight the diverse city that Birmingham is.

What do you need to join Made in Brum?

The Made in Brum programme will take place from Monday 31 July to Friday 4 August. Groups will perform roughly between 1 – 2 PM. Two or three groups will perform each day.

Birmingham Festival organisers are seeking groups who can provide the following:

• Live performance
• Performances that last between 15 – 25 minutes
• Complete performances, OR, if made up of different sections, these should smoothly transition into each other
• Performances that will work on a 7 metre x 10 metre stage. You can think about creatively using the space in front of the stage too
• Performances that have a set-up time of no more than 15 minutes and a packdown time of no more than 10 minutes. However, we can be flexible if groups need more time to accommodate performers with disabilities
• Content and performers that are pre-rehearsed and ready to perform to a large, live outdoor audience. This could include elements of audience interaction or engagement
• Performances that are suitable for family audiences, including children.

They are especially interested to hear from groups who played a part in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games experience and would now like to share their work in front of a new audience, on a new platform. This could include community groups who were part of/contributed to:

• Birmingham 2022 Festival Creative City Grants Programme
• Birmingham 2022 Neighbourhood Festival Sites
• Bring The PowerGen22
• Opening and Closing Ceremony
• United By 2022

How to apply?

They are looking for groups that are based in Birmingham. This means that the space(s) where the group usually meets should be in one of the 69 Birmingham wards.

You can apply by responding to the questions in the Made in Brum Application Form. You can respond in writing by completing the fields on the Made in Brum Application Form webpage. Wordcount limits are indicated in each question.

Or you can respond by sending a video or voice recording of your verbal responses. You can upload this on the Made in Brum Application Form webpage. In this case, please make sure your application is no more than 10 minutes long.

The closing date for applications is Tuesday 18 April. The selected groups will be announced publicly as part of the full Birmingham Festival 23 programme launch on 28 June.

What the council will provide

• Support from the Birmingham Festival 23 team, including someone to show your group around the space on the day, technical staff, and a Producer to help you throughout the process
• A PA system on the day to amplify the music you’ve chosen (live or recorded)
• Introduction of your performance from our Festival Host, getting audiences excited about your group and performance
• Space for your group in our Back of House area. This is where your group can go before and after their performance
• Water, tea and coffee, fruit, light snacks in the Back of House area
• British Sign Language interpretation and Audio Description for performances. A few weeks before the performance we will ask you for any lyrics and a simple description of visuals and movements in your performance, if applicable. This is to share them with our BSL Interpreters and Audio Describers so they can prepare in advance.

For more details, visit the Birmingham Festival 2023 website.