Music/Arts: High-Vis Street Culture Festival at The Custard Factory
Digbeth comes alive in a flurry of colour, noise and beats as the very first High-Vis Street Culture Festival lets loose in a blaze of fluorescent energy. Nearly a hundred graffiti writers (yes you read that right) including Zuki, Rask and Hoakser, street art from the likes of Foka Wolf and Philth, plus dance battles, comics and a killer lineup of music headed by the incomparable lyrical majesty of Lady Sanity.
Sat 8 Sep 1pm to 8pm at The Custard Factory, Gibb St, Birmingham B9 4AA www.facebook.com

Arts: Eastern Bloc Songs at Centrala
Coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of the Prague Spring, Centrala presents a wonderful new exhibition, Wayne Burrows’ Eastern Bloc Songs: Party, Pop and Politics, the history and development of popular music from former Eastern Bloc Communist states during 1963 – 1988. Featuring sleeve art, TV clips, photographs and posters, it’s a uniquely inventive foray into the cultural peculiarities of communism and state sponsored entertainment. A private viewing takes place as part of Digbeth First Friday with the exhibition itself continuing until 20th October.
Fri 7 Sep 11am to 6pm at Centrala, Minerva Works, 158 Fazeley St, Birmingham B5 5RT www.facebook.com

Shopping/Arts/Food: Harborne Night Market at The Green Man
The night market returns to Harborne, this time spreading its wings to the more spacious surroundings of The Green Man. More space means more stalls, street food and positive energy, with a hefty line up including Disorder Boutique, Thrift Vintage Interiors and the excellent Off the Scale vintage bus. Plenty of food and drink options too with our favourites Pietanic and The Gin Craze the pick of the bunch.
Fri 7 Sep 4pm – 11pm at The Green Man, 2 High St, Harborne, Birmingham B17 9NE www.facebook.com

Gig: Beastdome at The Bramall 
The Beastdome is a 30+ channel sound system semi-permanently installed in the Bramall Building’s Dome Rehearsal Room, enjoy a programme of recent electroacoustic works by current BEAST postgraduate composers Kevin Buckland, Charlie Lockwood, Tony James Morton, James Opstad & Olli Smith.
Fri 7 Sep 5pm to 6.15pm at The Bramall, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT www.facebook.com

Gig: The Brummies at The Dark Horse
Sonic Gun bring The Brummies, who are actually from Birmingham, Alabama, to what is surely their spiritual home for a session at The Dark Horse. These guys produce great swirls of psych tinged pop with a delightfully winsome laid back vibe, like arms reaching out for a warm and gooey musical hug, well, we are all Brummies after all, join the love.
Fri 7 Sep 9pm at The Dark Horse, 145 Alcester Rd, Moseley, Birmingham B13 8JP www.facebook.com

Arts: Digbeth First Friday
Birmingham’s cultural juggernaut makes its monthly rumble through Digbeth’s coolest spaces with its usual immense breadth of imagination, invention and sharp smarts. Don’t miss Eastern Bloc Songs (discussed above) and be sure to dip into Genderqueer artist Alex Billingham’s exhibition Ashes to Ashes at Stryx, the launch of Blackhole Club at Vivid Projects and Lucy Lopez’s Ways of Learning opening at Grand Union.
Fri 7 Sep at various venues digbethfirstfriday.com

Art/Party: Dinosaur Drink and Draw at The Edwardian Tea Rooms
Drink & Draw is back starring Dippy the Diplodocus to scribble and scrawl its declarations of funky creativity and social high jinks all over your heart. This very special event for self-confessed doodle-addicts, casual cartoonists and quick/slow-draw aficionados, aims to offer a perfect social space to let both your creativity and the good-times flow. Perhaps dabble with a little alcoholic inspiration while you free-flow express yourself all over the page, bring your posh pens and creative spirit, but paper and pens are also provided.
Sat 8 Sep 6.30pm to 10.30pm at The Edwardian Tea Rooms, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3DH www.facebook.com

Gig/Food/Family: Kings Heath Street Festival 
Now that the much mooted terrorist threat to York Road (tongue so far in cheek it may disappear) has been somehow resolved, it can once again be the hub of the artistic vibrancy of Kings Heath. The street festival returns in some style with live music, street food, surprises and even a Circus Mash workshop, do not attempt acrobatics post alcohol. Bands include the cool dub vibes of Young Culture, the chaotic comic roots bedlam of the Dirty Old Folkers and the wild hoedown madness of Independent Country. Chow down at Esme’s, Full of Chaat, Bournville Waffle Company and several more, whilst your down there check out the wealth of funky establishments stationed along York Road. It’s a welcome return and we have fingers crossed that the Digbeth Dining Club takeover returns someday soon too.
Sun 9 Sep 12pm to 8pm at York Road, Kings Heath, B14 7SA www.facebook.com