Vivid Projects are the stewards of an important regional media archive of works produced by our predecessor organisations: TURC Video, Wide Angle, Centre Focus and Birmingham Centre for Media Arts between 1982-2012. 

The Birmingham Media Archive Project (BMAP) is delivered by Vivid Projects with support from the BFI Screen Heritage Fund.

The earliest materials in the archive were developed with the support of TURC Video, established in 1982 by the Birmingham Trades Union Council to provide resources in support of the union and labour movement. The first phase of the Birmingham Media Archive Project focuses primarily on work produced with or facilitated by TURC Video prior to October 1992; when TURC Video joined with the community arts organisation Wide Angle and was established as Birmingham Centre For Media Arts – which from 1997 became known as ‘VIVID’.

Scoping to date has established that over 1,500 digitised and analogue items are held, alongside photographs, administrative records and printed materials associated with organisations including TURC Video, Wide Angle, the Midlands Video Consortium and the Birmingham Centre for Media Arts. Much of this material has remained difficult to access because of legacy formats, unresolved rights and limited public cataloguing. BMAP has begun the process of addressing these challenges through rights research, skills training and public engagement focused on the 1980s: the ‘first decade’ of our archive holdings.

Practical training and guided access has supported independent creative responses from six artists and cultural producers based in the region, connecting archival content with new cultural production and bringing contemporary perspectives to histories often underrepresented in mainstream accounts of British screen culture. A programme of community skills workshops with over 50 members of the public introduced people from communities across Birmingham and the wider Midlands to some of the overlooked stories of the city – their responses, interests and catalogue contributions have created new insights.

This is a small selection focusing on some the works which played a key part in the conversations opened up by the archive. We hope you enjoy them.