Say Hello

Glad to be working with Maverick and Fierce as well as Rewired PR on Say Hello – the public participatory programme of Hello Digital.

Some of the planned activities are Film Dash – a 48-hour film challenge organised by Chris Unitt; My First Email; News Dash; Kahani and Urban Legends. For more information, please visit the Hello Digital website as well as the HD and Say Hello blogs.

There are also plans for a series of roadshows in the next few months in the run up to the 2010 Hello Digital conference. The next few months truly looks exciting on the digital front here in the Midlands.

Hello Digital Fringe Events

Having turned freelance, I’m lucky to have been offered a job with Birmingham City Council’s Arts Services to work on Hello Digital. My role there is to set up Fringe Events to support the main Hello Digital conference, which is supported by Advantage West Midlands, Arts Council England, Digital Birmingham, Screen West Midlands, Business Link WM and Marketing Birmingham.

Hello Digital is the Midlands’ first and largest digital festival. Having worked on it when I was still at Maverick, this festival is quite close to my heart.

So from September 2009 onwards, Fringe Events have been funded by Hello Digital. These are targeted towards young people, the over 55s, producers and creative artists as well as various communities. A judging panel which consisted of the main HD partners and Claire McArdle of 4iP whittled down the applications and helped decide which Fringe Events we were going for. Some producers have asked for their sessions to be part of the HD umbrella, which we were happy to add to the Fringe repertoire.

The Fringe Events, to name a few, include: Brum Twestival, Popcorn Comedy, 4AM Project, FizzPOP Howduino, Talk About Local – Highgate and Digital Inclusion Unconference. in which below is a video from organiser, Jon Bounds of We Share Stuff.

Jon Bounds @ WSS Digital Inclusion Unconference from Mars Elkins on Vimeo.

There are quite a few workshops and sessions happening in March 2010, so do visit the Hello Digital website to see if those events take your fancy. To see a list of the Fringe Events, please click here.