October arrives with a bang in Birmingham. Comedy takes over the city, hundreds of artists throw open their studio doors, Digbeth stays up late for a celebration of contemporary culture and there’s live music, family science and two major exhibitions at BMAG. Here’s The Birmingham Edit’s pick of the best things to do from Friday 2 to Sunday 4 October.
Birmingham Comedy Festival Is Back
The big event this weekend is the 25th anniversary Birmingham Comedy Festival, which begins on Friday 2 October and runs until 11 October.
More than 100 performances are promised across the festival, mixing established names with emerging Birmingham and West Midlands talent, theatre, film and improv. Opening weekend highlights include the Breaking Talent Award on Friday, followed on Saturday by Jason Byrne, Neil Delamere and Olga Koch, alongside a huge programme of smaller shows. Sunday includes the festival’s FREE Half-Dayer.
Birmingham Comedy Festival – HERE
Download the festival brochure HERE.
Go Behind the Doors of Birmingham’s Artists
One of our favourite Birmingham events returns for its final weekend on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 October.
Birmingham Open Studios sees artists and craftspeople across the city invite the public into their homes, workshops, studios and creative spaces between 11am and 5pm. Better still, visiting is free.
The trail stretches from Moseley, Kings Heath and Stirchley to Bournville, Harborne, Digbeth, the Jewellery Quarter and beyond. It’s a rare chance to meet artists where they actually work — and buy directly from them without gallery commission.
Plan your Birmingham Open Studios trail HERE.
Digbeth Comes Alive After Dark
Friday evening brings another reason to head for Digbeth as Digbeth First Friday returns from 6pm, this time as part of the wider BAS10 Weekender celebrating contemporary visual art across the West Midlands.
Expect late-night exhibition openings, performances and art appearing in some unexpected spaces. The BAS10 programme also includes events at Birmingham Hippodrome and Ikon Gallery, while Grand Union’s Learning to Drive in Birmingham reaches its final day on Saturday.
Explore the BAS10 Weekender programme HERE.
Joe Lycett Takes Over BMAG
The Ozzy exhibition may have finished, but Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery still has plenty worth seeing.
Joe Lycett’s EVERY THING MUST GO continues throughout the weekend. His first major solo art exhibition is joined by artist Christopher Samuel’s Watch Us Lead, exploring stories and perspectives too often missing from conventional history. The museum is open 10am–5pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
On Sunday, families can also drop into Marvellous Makers from 11am for a creative session inside the museum.
See what’s on at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery HERE.
Amy, The Doors or Arctic Monkeys?
Birmingham’s gig calendar has a distinctly nostalgic streak this weekend.
On Friday, The Amy Winehouse Experience brings a full live band to O2 Academy Birmingham’s Academy2, recreating Amy’s blend of soul, jazz and pop. Doors open at 7pm.
The Amy Winehouse Experience – TICKETS
Saturday offers two more tribute choices at the same complex: Antarctic Monkeys take over the main O2 Academy, while The Doors Alive play Academy2. Doors open at 7pm for both.
Antarctic Monkeys – TICKETS
The Doors Alive – TICKETS
A Sunday of Science
For families, Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum remains one of the easiest ways to fill a Sunday.
Alongside more than 200 hands-on exhibits, MiniBrum, steam engines, transport galleries, dinosaurs and the Science Garden, Sunday 4 October includes Planetarium Weekend Shows from 11am. The museum itself is open 10am–5pm.
Plan a visit to Thinktank HERE.
The Birmingham Edit tip: Make Saturday your exploring day. Birmingham Open Studios gives you a ready-made trail through some of the city’s best neighbourhoods, with independent cafés, bars and restaurants along the way. Then head back into town for comedy or live music. With so much of this weekend’s art programme free, it’s possible to have a genuinely brilliant Birmingham day without spending very much at all.
