THE BAG
birmingham art guide / june 2025
hello! welcome to june’s BAG. a little thin on the theatre side sadly, but you’ll be so busy with all the new exhibitions opening that you might not notice. something i’ve been loving since starting the BAG is how much new live music it’s introduced me to. let me know if you’ve made any BAG-related discoveries too! enjoy x
what’s on
theatre
at uob, PhD student you lyu is presenting blind bird, a physical theatre piece about the extinction of the great auk. you can watch the english version on june 4th or the chinese version on june 5th.
marriage material, gurpreet kaur bhatti’s adaptation of sathnam sanghera’s novel set in wolverhampton, opens at the rep on june 25th.
new scratch night just dropped! draft includers is at the victoria on june 24th, and is taking submissions. plsu the old joint stock’s scratch night, play/test, is back on june 25th.
you know my mum by coventry company ego arts is at the rep from june 27th - july 2nd.
itzatna arts are hosting an exciting-looking two-day theatremaking workshop with pepa duarte on june 27th + 28th. early bird tickets are a very reasonable £35, and there’s also the option of lunch cooked by mexican chef alfredo hau.
film
jane austen ruined my life looks like a fun silly french time, which might be just what you need - june 14th-19th at mac.
SAFAR, the uk’s largest film festival dedicated to cinema from the arab world, is screening three films at mac this month.
on june 21st, the heath bookshop are screening orlando, the virginia woolf adaptation starring tilda swinton.
dance
watching urja desai thakore dance is a joy, and her company pagrav dance are at mac on june 20th with ROOH, a piece about female heroism.
opera
in coventry, buxton opera house are bringing the vanishing elephant to the belgrade theatre from june 18th-21st. it looks like a beautiful show for kids especially, and the music has lovely south asian influences.
music
£7.95 seems very reasonable for this orchestra-in-a-day workshop at mac on june 1st. byo instrument.
power folk festival is back! and it’s at hockley social club on june 8th, which means there’ll be good food too. i’m particularly excited by the award-winning banjo virtuoso.
on june 15th, bcmg present bird fanfares, a concert of contemporary music based on birdsong, including works by david hindley, ‘the man who writes birdsong’.
the cbso are playing tchaikovsky’s 5th symphony, with sheku kanneh-mason playing elgar’s cello concerto, on june 19th.
muzikstan is back at the old print works on june 19th with the middle eastern sessions.
celebrate the solstice on june 21st with ACID MORRIS at centrala.
visual arts
on june 3rd, GRAIN photography hub are hosting slidefest palestine, an exhibition with all proceeds going to medical aid palestine.
lots of big exhibition launches this month: at ikon gallery on june 24th for seulgi lee + thread the loom, and at mac on june 27th for their sari summer season. all of these will be open through til autumn. over at grand union, kasra jalilipour’s exhibition gut feelings 2.0 opens on june 6th for digbeth first friday, and you can see it until august.
multistory and wolverhampton school of art’s exhibition of work from the blast creative network’s artist residencies continues until the end of the month.
it’s degree show szn; birmingham school of art’s is open from june 5th, and wolverhampton school of art from june 6th.
throughout the month at bullring, you can see the epic story of graffiti, an exhibition of henry chalfant’s iconic photography of the graffiti scene in new york.
reading + writing
a series of spoken word events by fire and dust in collaboration with apples and snakes continues at the belgrade theatre this month, with birmingham poets bradley taylor (june 13th) and jasmine gardosi (june 27th) headlining.
corinne fowler, tireless historian of colonialism and the british countryside is back in brum on june 24th, in conversation at waterstones in harborne. meanwhile at waterstones in town, you can catch julia armfield on june 4th.
this eastside projects workshop with lola olufemi on june 28th is sold out, but why not get on the waiting list - i have.
miscellaneous
on june 9th, you can book a ticket to see some of bmag’s collection of textiles at the museums collections centre.
sounds of solidarity at mac’s outdoor amphitheatre on june 14th is a day of music, dancing and workshops to celebrate refugee week - the excellent Dee’Cleo is playing a set, amongst other delights.
on june 14th at the belgrade, comma press are hosting voices of resilience, an evening sharing diary extracts and testimonies from women in Gaza, accompanied by music and a visual score by a Gazan filmmaker.
on june 21st, performance artist tereza bušková is holding a procession in erdington as part of her work mothers without hands.
also in mac’s outdoor amphitheatre is a celebration of congolese independence day on june 28th.
if you’d like to learn some mending and sewing skills, there’s a series of workshops throughout the month at the anchor in digbeth.
opportunities
polish director nastazja domaradzka and armenian writer abi zakarian are seeking participants for two workshops at centrala, one on recipes and one on family stories, to help with the creation of their theatre installation FINDING LARGE MONUMENTS TO BE DESTROYED.
supersonic festival have a callout for artist facilitators of any discipline to lead a workshop as part of this year’s festival. deadline june 9th.
for artists
reimagine redditch are seeking an artist to create banners for the love woodrow banner parade. deadline june 17th.
multistory have opened applications to emerging artists in sandwell and the black country for a three-week residency, with access to resources and specialist workshops at wolverhampton school of art. deadline june 24th.
for dancers
o’driscoll collective are looking for a community dance artist based in the black country for their project ‘something outta nothing’. deadline june 8th.
two opportunities from jaivant patel company: a callout for performers as part of their ‘roots to routes’ south asian heritage month event, and a seed commission for a south asian lgbtqia+ artist to create new work.
for composers and librettists
birmingham opera company are commissioning new short works for brum commissions in an open call. deadline june 13th.
for writers
new screenwriting scratch night story engine have a callout for writers for their november edition.
for actors
loudmouth theatre-in-education are looking for two actor-facilitators to play male characters in their company, one full-time and one part-time. deadline june 27th.
thanks for reading. if you enjoy the BAG, please tell a friend.
anna x