EXCHANGE FESTIVAL
4/5 Nov
Explore / share / connect
Exploring what Balsall Heath’s Library could be
What is Exchange Festival?
4th November 11am to 8pm & 5th November 10am to 7pm
Moseley Community Hub at The School of Art
Exchange Festival is a free 2-day event taking place on Saturday, November 4th, and Sunday, November 5th, at the Moseley Community Hub in The School of Art, Balsall Heath, Birmingham. This festival is set to explore the potential of Balsall Heath Library upon its reopening in 2025 and the connection between the library and our historic building.
Throughout the year, Moseley Road Baths has been working closely with local and regional artists, facilitators, and practitioners to develop programme with a community led approach. The Exchange Festival’s steering group, deeply rooted in the Balsall Heath community, has played a crucial role in shaping, and curating the festival’s activities.
The festival provides a platform for open dialogues with our audiences, encouraging mutual idea sharing. It not only inspires residents to reimagine, connect, and actively participate but also ensures their inclusion in shaping the future of their beloved community library.
Exchange Festival is part of the Diving In project, made possible through the National Lottery Heritage Fund. This project has given Moseley Road Baths the creative space to explore how both the Balsall Heath Library and Moseley Road Baths can continue to serve the needs of local people.
Festival programme
4th November 11am to 8pm
Assembly Hall
Cloud Cuckoo Land – Submarine
Family activity
12pm to 3pm
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Sahiban Speaks
Performance
4pm to 5pm
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Words and Music Evening
6pm to 8pm
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Drawing Room 1
Sehra by Haseebah Ali
Interactive display
11am to 8pm
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Sufi Poetry
Performance and discussion
11am to 12pm
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Sehra by Haseebah Ali Activity
Artist led activity in making paper flowers to go on the structure.
1pm to 2pm
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Kate Rafiq – Birmingham Boy
Reading by author & an arts and poetry activity
3pm to 4:30pm
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Young Curators workshop led by Yasmyn Nettle
Collage Workshop
4:30pm tp 6:30pm
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Drawing Room 2
Mini Book Making with MIAH
Workshop session
1:30pm to 2:30pm
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Unveiling Potentials by Hassan Hussain
16+ workshop
5pm to 7pm
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Drawing Room 3
Creative Storytelling with Gully Collective
With Rupinder Kaur and Kamil Mahmood
11am to 1pm
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Balsall Heath Local History Society Talk
Balsall Heath Local History Society Talk
2pm to 3pm
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Mechanical Pollinator Screening
‘Love And Extinction’ is a ML generated moving image work responding to the ecology crisis by Jaime Jackson.
3pm to 4:30pm
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Zimmers of Southhall 1 & 2
Film screening
5pm to 5:45pm
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Request Line – True Form Projects
Film screening
6pm to 6:30pm
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5th November 10am to 7pm
Assembly Hall
The Phoenix and the Olive Tree by Mimar Collective
Family storytelling workshop with Mimar Collective
11:00am – 12:30pm
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The Phoenix and the Olive Tree by Mimar Collective
Family storytelling workshop with Mimar Collective
2pm to 3:30pm
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Comedy Night Hasan Al-Habib
Content Warning: Some material may not be suitable for children
5pm to 7pm
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Drawing Room 1
Haseebah Ali
Interactive display
11am to 6:30pm
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Amal Creative
Felt Bookmark Making
10am to 2pm
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Drawing Room 2
Anam Zafar:
The Wor(l)d on the street
Family workshop
11am to 1pm
View Print and Matter event page
Sofia Niazi:
Recipe Zine Planning Workshop
3pm to 4pm
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Aaisha Akhtar:
Radical Potential of Libraries | A space to dream workshop
4pm to 5pm
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Unaiza Karim:
Cultural Objects workshop
5pm to 7pm
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Drawing Room 3
Mosaic Road – A portrait of Balsall Heath
Exhibition
10am to 7pm
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Kate Rafiq – Birmingham Boy
Reading by author & an arts and poetry activity
11am to 12pm
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Lost In Translation with Zoya Ahmed
workshop
12pm to 1:30pm
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Mosaic Road Pop Up
A pop-up portrait studio where you can sit for a portrait and take a print home.
2pm to 3pm
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Abeera Kamran:
Urdu Typography
3pm to 4pm
View Print and Matter event page
Mechanical Pollinator Screening
‘Love And Extinction’ is a ML generated moving image work responding to the ecology crisis by Jaime Jackson.
4pm to 5pm
View event page
Request Line – True Form Projects
Film screening
5pm to 5:30pm
View event page
More about our programme
What we have explored and delivered this year
Who's better than who?
August and September 2023
A couple of so-called friends act out a medley of familiar children’s stories from their story box to help them understand how to get on with each other. A bird-like storyteller guides them through it all, with lots of audience interaction.
Donald Insall workshops
Park Hill Primary school, Moseley, Birmingham
June 2023
Two Year 4 classes at Park Hill Primary School in Moseley visited Balsall Heath Library to create 3D junk models of places where they would like to read. The school are part of an initiative ‘Drop Everything and Read’, to encourage reading as something that can be done anywhere and anytime. There was a really broad range of ideas, including treehouses, nests and food themed reading spaces.
Queensbridge Secondary school, Moseley, Birmingham
June 2023
Year 9 girls from Queensbridge Secondary School in Moseley recently worked with Donald Insall Architects and Red Bear Landscape to design plans for the land at the back of Moseley Road Baths. The space will become a community garden and growing space by the end of decade. They took a tour of part of the building, explored design principles based on ‘Make Space for Girls’ and were invited to create their own creative, imaginative designs. As well as encouraging the students to choose Design and Technology for a GCSE option, their work will influence the longer term design plans.
Ark Tindal Primary school, Balsall Heath, Birmingham
September 2023
Pupils explore the meaning of what a Library could offer – more detailed information coming soon.
