Digbeth First Friday – 2nd October

Experience the great independent culture this unique part of Birmingham has to offer, by exploring the wide variety of late night treats on offer, including exhibition openings, special events, culture in unexpected places, live music, street food and much more.
Come rain or shine, on the First Friday of every month Digbeth has something for everyone – October being no exception.

On offer this month:

Edible Eastside, Beer and Cocktails, 6–8pm
Join Edible Eastside for their end of summer event. They are offering free beer and cocktails with garden inspired snacks (botanical tempura, home made vegetable crisps, meze style dips) to anyone who makes a pledge towards their crowd funding campaign, HOME GROWN COOKS.

The Bond Café: One in Four, 6–9pm
Multi Arts Festival celebrating the positive impact of creativity in Mental Well-Being. Featuring: The Well-being Community Choir, Musical Connections, ADHD, Elmo Sexwhistle, Random Acts of Recovery Arts Workshop with Birmingham Craftivists.

Centrala: Conversio, 6–11pm
“Conversio” by Malgorzata Davidek is a multi-element textual and visual narration based on the stories of migrant women. After party starts at 9pm run by a group of talented artists with great passion in electronic music and great visuals Deep Emotion Collective.

Bombay Tapas: Indian Street Food, 5.30–11pm
Bombay Tapas will be serving fresh, homemade, authentic Indian vegetarian/ vegan street food outside Centrala Gallery. A fusion of Indian delicacies with East African flavours.

Grand Union: Big Mouth. Emma Hart, 6–8pm
Explore Grand Union’s latest exhibition Big Mouth. Emma Hart has created some bespoke cocktails inspired by her practice which will be available for you to enjoy at the bar while you explore her sculptural and audio works that want to tell you how it really is and how it really feels.

Stryx: Soup: PTII, 6.30–8.30pm
Soup: PTII is an interdisciplinary artist residency based at Stryx, Birmingham. The residency awards emerging artists in the West Midlands the opportunity to work for 8 weeks in the heart of Digbeth, giving artists uninterrupted time and space to develop their projects.

Vivid Projects: 9 EVENINGS: Breathing & Staring 6–8pm
Vivid Projects presents the first collaboration between Darren Joyce, George Saxon and Justin Wiggan. Drawing on their recent groundbreaking projects with the health sector, the artists present new research exploring empathy, nostalgia and recall through audio, performance and film.

Eastside Projects: DISPLAY SHOW and Flore Nové-Josserand ‘City Growth Blues’, 6–8pm
Join Eastside Projects for a late night opening of their new exhibitions ‘Display Show’ and ‘City Growth Blues’ by Flore Nové-Josserand.

Artists on The Edge: First Friday Frolics for Calais, 7.30–11pm
Tall tales, enigmatic characters & merriment from Orchestra or Not, Dr Ethics, Anna Palmer & Leon Trimble and Leon Priestnal with live music from James Brough, Midnight Magpie and Hoopla Blue. Ubuntu Kitchen Club will be serving tasty South African food – £4 plus bar.

ICA Off-Site: Live + Loud, 8pm–12am
This exhibition shows works by artists Fergadelic and Ben Sansbury, fashion designer Ashley Williams and film and photography duo Tim & Barry and rising star Tyrone Lebon. Friday’s evening event sees Tom of England headlining with support from Tim & Barry.

– Maps with details of all events will be available online at www.digbethfirstfriday.com
– Find us on Facebook and twitter @digbethfirstfri

Edible Eastside: 122 Fazeley Street B5 5RS, 6–8pm
The Bond Café Gallery: 180-182 Fazeley Street, B5 5SE, 6–9pm
Centrala: Unit 4, Minerva Works, 158 Fazeley Street, B5 5RT, 6–11pm
Grand Union: Unit 19, Minerva Works, 158 Fazeley Street, B5 5RS. 6–8pm
Stryx: Unit 13, Minerva Works, 158 Fazeley Street, B5 5RS, 6.30–8.30pm
Vivid Projects: Unit 16, Minerva Works, 158 Fazeley Street, B5 5RS, 6–8pm
Eastside Projects: 86 Heath Mill Lane, B9 9AR, 6–8pm
The Edge: 79-81 Cheapside, B12 0QH, 7.30–11pm
ICA Off-Site: 119 Floodgate Street, B5 5TL, 8pm–12am

– Digbeth First Friday launched in May 2014 and takes place on the First Friday of each month. The next event will be on 6 November 2015.
– Digbeth First Friday is produced by a group of Digbeth-based arts organisations who are working together to create a critical mass of events and allow visitors to discover the exciting independent culture this unique part of Birmingham offers.