Open evenings let Birmingham people connect with Shakespeare heritage

People across Birmingham can discover how to get involved with a major new project to unlock the city’s forgotten Shakespearean heritage – thanks to upcoming information evenings.

Held at the iconic Library of Birmingham from 6pm to 8pm on Thursday 11 April and Friday 26 April, the events give potential collaborators an insight into the Everything to Everybody project being developed by the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City Council.

The University and Council are collaborating on a £1 million plan to revive the city’s almost-forgotten Birmingham Shakespeare Memorial Library (BSML) - the first, oldest and largest Shakespeare collection in any public library in the world and one of the UK’s most important cultural assets.

The project unites the Shakespeare archive with the George Dawson Collection (GDC) - a wealth of documents relating to the nonconformist preacher, lecturer and activist, who founded the Library as part of a pioneering ‘Civic Gospel’ which helped make 19th-century Birmingham the world’s most progressive modern city.

Participants at the information evenings will visit the Shakespeare Memorial Library and see items from collection. They will also meet project team members, share ideas for activity and learn how they can help to get Birmingham’s communities involved in the project.

Anyone interested in attending can book a place by e-mailing Julia Thomason on julia@juliathomasonassociates.co.uk. More information can be found at: https://everythingtoeverybody.bham.ac.uk/getinvolved/

Project Director Professor Ewan Fernie, from the University of Birmingham, commented: “During this exciting Development Phase, we’re keen to talk to potential project partners and would encourage people to attend one of our free information evenings.

“We want to reach out to Birmingham people and work together to renew George Dawson’s ambitious legacy of opening up Shakespeare and elite culture to absolutely everyone today.

“Dawson was a pioneering figure who helped to make Birmingham a real force in the vanguard of world culture. We hope to inspire people across the city to join us in revitalising this collection of global importance.”

The Heritage Lottery Fund has given the partners £32,700 of development funding to help progress plans to apply for a full National Lottery grant. Their four-year project aims to revitalise Dawson’s dream of creating a culture actively involving everyone in Birmingham.

A comprehensive programme of working with History West Midlands, Birmingham Commonwealth Association, Culture Central, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and other organisations and communities across the city will culminate in a major exhibition and festival celebrating Birmingham’s cultural ambition and innovation in the year of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The project builds on prestigious global partnerships with the Folger Shakespeare Library and University of Minnesota (USA), the Universities of Queensland, Sydney and Melbourne, as well as the German Shakespeare Society, the world’s oldest national Shakespeare society which honoured the opening of Birmingham’s civic Shakespeare library in 1868.

It has launched regional collaborations with city communities such as Birmingham Central Mosque, Midlands’ Polish Community Association and Handsworth Ladies’ Shakespeare Society. It also identifies links with collections held in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham Midland Institute, Cadbury Research Library, Birmingham Rep, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and the Shakespeare Institute Library.

• The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions, its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers and teachers and more than 6,500 international students from over 150 countries.
• Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) applications are assessed in two rounds. The Everything to Everyone project has been granted round one development funding of £32,700 by the Heritage Lottery Fund, allowing it to progress with its plans. Detailed proposals are then considered by HLF at second round, where a final decision is made on the full funding award of £675,800.Thanks to National Lottery players, HLF invests money to help people across the UK explore, enjoy and protect the heritage they care about - from the archaeology under our feet to the historic parks and buildings we love, from precious memories and collections to rare wildlife. www.hlf.org.uk. Follow HLF on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLottery, #Nationallotteryplayers and #HLFsupported.
• The project is being generously supported by History West Midlands, who have produced two podcasts and an article by Professor Ewan Fernie, on the forgotten story of George Dawson: https://www.historywm.com/podcasts/meet-birminghams-lost-philosopher-george-dawson-1821-1876 and https://www.historywm.com/articles/george-dawson-the-lost-prophet
• The total value of the proposed project is £1,057,104, comprising £78,689 for development and £978,415 for delivery. Further funding will come from a range of benefactors, including the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City Council.
• George Dawson (1821-76) founded the BSML for everybody in Birmingham. Though it remains public property, recent usage indicates most Birmingham residents are unaware of this: 2017 saw only seven requests for items from the BSML.
• The project will enable the city‘s communities to contribute through family days, open days, workshops, community-curated exhibitions, digital exhibitions and neighbourhood productions. The project will also give volunteers the opportunity to acquire new skills as they help to digitise the collections and work with community groups and partners to organise events.
• BSML is owned by Birmingham City Council - built through purchase and donation by individuals and organisations over 150 years. As well as its world-famous First Folio, BSML contains the second, both editions of the third, and fourth folios, about 70 further rare editions, Pavier quartos, and a near-complete set of 18th / 19th century English language editions, plus books in 93 languages from Abkhazian to Zulu.
• The library contains over 40,000 volumes, 17,000 production photographs, 2,000 music scores, hundreds of posters, 15,000 performance programmes, 10,000 playbills and unique material relating to great Shakespeareans from Ellen Terry to Lawrence Olivier, and remarkable works of art such as Salvador Dalí’s Macbeth illustrations.