Kalaboration has been devised to deliver a programme of visual arts activities in celebration of the 2012 Olympic Games and commemorate the 50^th anniversary of Jamaican independence.

 

Kalaboration is a partnership project between The Drum Arts Centre, School of Art Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD) Birmingham City University and RoguePlay Theatre. It is funded by Arts Council England and Birmingham City Council and granted the Inspire mark by the London 2012 Inspire programme.

 

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Freestyle ’Artist without Borders’

Kalaboration is pleased to be hosting “Freestylee: Artist without Borders” an exhibition of poster art by internationally acclaimed poster artist Michael Thompson aka Freestylee. Thompson studied graphic design at the Jamaica School of Art in Kingston, Jamaica, now the renowned Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. On landing an apprentice position he started to experiment with simple silhouetted graphic designs concepts suitable for screen-printing and poster art.

Thompson has been living in the United States since 1990 and worked as a freelance graphic designer and consultant. He has been described as a “creative activist” in a recent interview in Arc Magazine, due to the subject matter his work; from reggae music, police brutality, homophobia in Jamaica, the Arab Spring and persecution of fellow artists such as Ai Wei Wei. Thompson launched the first International Reggae Poster Contest in order to celebrate the pioneers, musicians, artists and institutions that made Reggae music possible and this exhibition features many of these artists and genres, which have seen reggae music become a global phenomenon.

Freestyle ’Artist without Borders’ – 16^th July – 14^th September, The Drum.

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KALABORATION IS THE NAME OF THE GAME.

What do you have to say about the Olympic Games?
Do you want to be part of the Jamaica 50 celebrations?

Well, Kalaborate is a project led by RoguePlay Theatre in partnership with The Drum Arts Centre, Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD) Birmingham City University, to work with those aged 8-18 in creating visual, digital or performance based art works for a series of exhibitions across Birmingham in 2012.
There are opportunities to work with artists across the city and create work for public exhibition, and show Birmingham that our young artists have something to say.
Kalaborate will commence with workshops for young people in January and finish in a public final exhibition of young people’s work in July 2012.

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