Birmingham's brilliance shouldn't be a secret

Feb 5 2009 By Matt Taylor

I’ve always known that Birmingham isn’t s**t (as the well known website states), but on Monday I was convinced of this fact by one of the city’s biggest advocates – Helga Henry from Fierce Earth.

Helga, who is also chairman of creative industries lobbying group Creative Republic, was speaking at a Birmingham Future lunch, and listening to her wax lyrical about city’s creative and cultural offer really cemented my view that Birmingham is a city with plenty to shout about and be proud of.

Now, I would consider my knowledge of the city to be fairly good, but I was somewhat surprised – and slightly embarrassed – to discover that actually there was quite a lot that I didn’t know about Brum.

For example, I didn’t know that St Paul’s Gallery currently has one of the largest exhibits of album cover artwork in the world or that the first user generated movie, Faint Heart, supported by Screen West Midlands, was produced in the region.

Nor was I aware of other award-winning projects, such as theatre group Stan’s Café, or the Flatpack film festival, which will be staged in Birmingham in March. And then there’s the imaginatively titled ‘Stitches and Hos’ knitting club at the Hare & Hounds pub in King’s Heath.

I admit that knitting or album artwork may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but neither is ballet at the Hippodrome or a classical music concert at Symphony Hall. And that’s the point. Birmingham has something for everyone.

The city’s creative and cultural offer is as rich and diverse as its population; you just have to be prepared to delve a little deeper, and in most cases venture outside the confines of the city centre.

For those that do, there is a whole new world of weird and wonderful things to see and do right on your doorstep.

My eyes have certainly been opened and I hope that after reading this many others will be too. But if my words can’t convince you, go and discover Birmingham’s alternative creative and cultural scene for yourself.

To return to my opening statement, Birmingham is definitely not s**t. The challenge is making sure that everyone knows this.

* Matt Taylor is an account director at Headline Communications and chairman of Birmingham Future.