News
November 2009 – we run our second Writer Networking Conference, The Writers’ Toolkit.
November 2009 – Jonathan Davidson leads a seminar on writers in schools work at the NAWE Conference in Southampton.
November 2009 – Jonathan Davidson features on BBC Radio Four’s Adventures in Poetry, talking about Edward Thomas’ poem, Adlestrop.
October 2009 – we run the tenth Birmingham Book Festival, including fantastic events with George Monbiot and hosting BBC Radio Four’s A Good Read and the final of the Radio Four Poetry Slam.
October 2009 – we work with The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to develop a plan for the UK’s first ‘Performer of Poetry in Residence’.
October 2009 – we tour the Dutch writers Tommy Wieringa and Cynthia Mc Leod to seven venues in the UK.
September 2009 – we begin work on Creative & Cultural Skills on a draft of their Literature Bluepring workforce development plan, working with consultant Jill Bellamy.
September 2009 – we run a sub-regional Writer Networking Event in Warwick, with Warwick Words, attended by over twenty professional writers.
September 2009 – we programme and help administrate the second Fantastic Fun with Words Festival in North Warwickshire.
August 2009 – we arrange two events for Dutch writers at the Edinburgh Festival.
May 2009 – we promote the most successful ever Orange Prize for Fiction Readers’ Day in Birmingham.
April 2009 – Midland Creative Projects has a twitter account.
March 2009 – we have submitted a GFA to Arts Council England to support the Dutch Writers’ Project we are arranging for the Foundation for Production and Translation of Dutch Literature.
February 2009 – we have begun to programme the 2009 Birmingham Book Festival.
January 2009 – Midland Creative Projects Limited begins work with the Foundation for Production and Translation of Dutch Literature on plans for a tour by key Dutch writers.
December 2008 – we say goodbye to Lucy Wood, who has worked for Midland Creative Projects Limited for many years. Lucy is moving back to the south and taking a well earned sabatical!
December 2008 – the Birmingham Book Festival hosts a meeting of key regional literature development organisations to discuss plans for joint work.
November 2008 – over a four day programme, Midland Creative Projects Limited delivers training workshops on ‘reader development’ to all members of Galway Library staff
November 2008 – Midland Creative Projects Limited staff present seminars at the National Association for Writers’ in Education annual conference.
October 2008 – the 2008 Birmingham Book Festival is the most successful to dates, with audiences up to 3,500 and ticket income up by 22%.
October 2008 – the Birmingham Book Festival hosts a first writers’ networking conference, The Writers’ Toolkit, attended by over 110 emerging and established professional writers from the West Midlands and across the UK.
September 2008 – Midland Creative Projects Limited manages Warwickshire Libraries’ first Fantastic Fun With Words family readers and writers festival across north Warwickshire.
August 2008 – Nottingham Writers’ Studio application to Arts Council England (drafted by Midland Creative Projects Limited) for funding for a new building and activity over two years is successful.
April 2008 – Midland Creative Projects Limited are awarded the tender to develop a business plan and funding programme for Nottingham Writers’ Studio.
April 2008 – the Library + Information Show is one of the most successful in recent years, with increased visitors and a 90% capacity for the presentation programme managed by Midland Creative Projects Limited.
March 2008 – the Birmingham Book Festival through its Write On! -Adventures in Writing programme hosts the first national meeting of managers of writers in schools programme.
March 2008 – the Birmingham Book Festival through its Write On! Adventures in Writing programme run a four day creative writing project for Solihull Primary Schools called One Extraordinary Day (well, four actually), working with the writers Mil Millington, Brenda Read-Brown and Sue Brown and with the graphic artist Jo Roberts.
February 2008 – Our Mediabox funded talk radio project is completed, with twenty young people making two half hour talk radio programmes for broadcast on New Style Radio. The work is so successful that six of the participants are asked to present their own radio shows on New Style Radio.
January 2008 – Jonathan Davidson’s adaptation of the novel Precious Bane by Mary Webb will be produced by Interplay Theatre, Leeds, to tour to special schools in late spring and then as a family show to arts centres in Autumn 2008.
Wednesday 9th January 2008 – We were very sorry to hear of the death of poet and writer Roi Kwabena. Roi was a unique writer and performer and one who brought enormous creativity to the West Midlands. He was a Poet Laureate for Birmingham Libraries and over the years worked with the Birmingham Book Festival and many writers and organisations in the West Midlands.
December 2007 – Midland Creative Projects Limited are successful in their GFA bid to Arts Council England for funds to research Literature Development in the West Midlands. The research will be completed by March 2008 and will include proposals for future Literature Development in the region.
November 2007 – The Birmingham Book Festival is successful in its Mediabox application to run a talk radio project with two teams of young people in February 2008. The project is supported by South Birmingham College and New Style Radio.
November 2007 – Midland Creative Projects Limited are appointed to create a Framework for Literature Development for Poole and Bournemouth Borough Councils. The Framework will be completed by March 2008 and will include the setting up of a Literature Development Steering Group across the two Boroughs.
October 2007 – Record advance bookings for the 2007 Birmingham Book Festival with over one thousand tickets sold by the end of September. The Festival itself is our most successful to-date, with excellent ticket sales and a series of wonderful events and activities. Highlights include the Night Writer all night writing workshop (ten writers, one mini-bus, lots of coffee) and a performance of John Cage’s Notes for a Lecture at Ikon Eastside.
October 2007 – Five writers (Will Buckingham, Helen Cross, Lindsey Davis, Mil Millington, Nicola Monaghan) have been commissioned to produce short stories for five readers’ groups in the West Midlands. These are to be recorded at the Birmingham Book Festival for broadcast by BBC Radio Four. The readers’ groups are in Much Wenlock, Solihull, Walsall, Leominster and Claverley, Nr Wolverhampton and the project is managed by the West Midlands Readers’ Network.
October 2007 – Changing Lives – a touring contemporary poetry performance being co-produced with Warwick Arts Centre (Coventry) and Bloodaxe Books – opens on 3rd October before a short UK tour. It will also tour in March/April 2008.
September 2007 – Warwickshire Libraries and Compton Verney’s ‘Wild About…’ weekend of events for readers and writers (programmed by Midland Creative Projects Limited) attracts record levels of visitors.
September 2007 – Bluecoat Arts Centre’s Grants for the Arts application to Arts Council England (written by Midland Creative Projects Limited) is successful, allowing the appointment of a part-time post to manage literature activities.