Happy April! We hope you've been enjoying the sunshine ☀️We're working really hard ahead of our Origins Festival in May and we're so excited to see you there! Keep an eye out for our bonus newsletter next week where we'll be announcing the full line up of workshops 👀
As part of our Origins programme, eight brilliant Birmingham Artists have been in residence with the New Work department for 18 months, each developing a new piece.
From 11 – 16 May, join us for a week of new work, workshops and more. You can get your tickets for the double-bills by clicking on the button below! We have a range of pay-what-you-can tickets and all sales will be directly reinvested into our department to continue supporting artists in the West Midlands.
On Tuesday 12 May, as part of Origins Festival, In Good Company are bringing their scratch night FROM SCRATCH! to the Hippodrome. Applications are now open.
FROM SCRATCH! is an evening where performance makers can share their work-in-progress with a live audience and hear feedback and development ideas. It’s a time to get your show seen and ask the questions you want to hear from audiences.
Successful performances will receive -
- A fee of £300
- Filming and photography of your piece
- A meeting with IGC to help support the next steps post scratch night
Deadline: Wednesday 22 April, midday
Find out more here and apply!
We offer free last minute rehearsal spaces. Our studios can be available Monday – Friday between 10am – 5pm. Email creatives@birminghamhippodrome.com by 11am Wednesday with requests for the following week. Please drop us a message with a bit of info on what you’ll be using the space for, as well as how many people will be in attendance. This ensures we can book you into the most appropriate space available!
The Artists' Lounge is a relaxed space for Creatives to be at home in the Hippodrome with drinks making facilities, a lounge and library (open weekdays 10am – 5pm). Best accessed through our Thorp Street Reception Entrance.
We've also now set up Hippodrome Creatives as a Community over on the Hippodrome's Instagram account! We'll be sharing the latest on what we're up to, updates on the Artists' Lounge, content and news! Click here to join!
Making work for Outdoor Arts Festivals with Matt Evans – Wednesday 29 April, 3pm – 5pm
In this workshop, Head of Festivals & Sites at the Hippodrome Matt Evans, will talk you through how you can develop ideas for outdoor/public space, commissioning, key production realities – thinking about weather, environment, technical limitations and working for mixed and first-time audiences. You do not need to have previously made work for outdoor spaces to attend this workshop.
Sign up here!
What workshops would you like see? Is there a practitioner that you think is great we should know about? Is there a workshop you really enjoyed and would like us to run again? Let us know by filling out this form.
Artist Commission Opportunities - Selina Thompson
Selina Thompson Ltd are offering 10 £1000 commissions for artists of different disciplines to help them celebrate their 10th birthday! The pieces will be performed at the birthday party in Birmingham on Friday 11 September.
Find out more here and apply!
Grand Plan - Applications open
Grand Plan offers grants up to £1000 for people of colour, aged over 18, living in the UK, looking to make a leap with their creative practice. Grants can cover: the cost of equipment, courses, your time, materials, travel, or whatever you / your project needs.
Find out more and apply here!
Walsall Beyond – A People and Places Digital Commission
Walsall-based creatives, community groups and heritage organisations can apply for Walsall Beyond, a new £18,000 digital commission delivered in partnership with The Space and Creative Black Country as part of Making Our Mark heritage project.
Deadline: Monday 25 May, noon
Find out more here!
Radical Body Arts - DDD Support Grant
This micro-grant is for UK based disabled creatives who are currently facing barriers in their career due to financial hardship.
Radical Body Arts are offering 7 micro-grants and each recipient will be awarded £500 to be used flexibly, in addition to a £200 equipment budget, and a £200 access budget.
Deadline: Monday 20 April
Find out more here!
The BBC Comedy Collective is a bursary scheme supporting 10 emerging writers, producers, directors and editors from across the UK who want to build a career in scripted comedy. Each of the 10 bursary recipients will receive:
- Paid production experience
- Development support:
- Mentoring and guidance
- Event access
Deadline: Wednesday 6 May, 11.59pm
Find out more here!
THE ROOM DECIDES – CALLOUT FOR WEST MIDLANDS WRITERS
The Room Decides is an experimental new writing and performance night based in Birmingham. Writers are given a specific goal, and the room decides whether each piece succeeds. At the end of the night, the audience votes for an overall winner, and the winning piece is invited back to the next event for an extended encore performance.
They are seeking short scripts for their first event, 'Shocking Scenes', on 20 June 2026 at a Southside venue in Central Birmingham. The challenge for writers is simple: shock the audience.
They are looking for writing that surprises — work that includes a moment (or moments) audiences won’t see coming, and that creates immediate impact in performance.
They welcome monologues, duologues, and short scenes (max cast of 4), approximately 10–15 minutes in length, that are dialogue/character-led and suitable for script-in-hand performance.
Open to writers based in or from the West Midlands who are available in Birmingham on 20 June from 4pm.
Full writer callout: WRITER CALLOUT - THE ROOM DECIDES.pdf - Google Drive.
Send submissions to: theroomdecides@gmail.com.
Instagram: @theroomdecides
Celebrating Pohela Boishakh ✨
Celebrate the Bangladeshi new year in style and colour at the CBSO Centre! Performances include: guest artists Khiyo, alongside vocalist Sohini Alam, poets Saida Chowdhury and Tarek Chowdhury and an ensemble of CBSO musicians. We can't wait to see you!
When? 📅 11th April @ 7pm
Where? 📍CBSO Centre
If you'd like us to share any events, sharings, shows, readings or anything you're working on in this newsletter, please get in touch through creatives@birminghamhippodrome.com.
We include many opportunities in the monthly newsletter, some sent to us and some we come across online. While we do read through all opportunities included, these are not endorsements for the companies or organisations they're published by. If you have questions or there are any issues with opportunities shared in the newsletter, please get in touch with the organisations directly.
Thank you for being part of the Hippodrome Creatives community. See you soon!
Maria-Magdalena (New Work & Artist Development Coordinator)
