Spring Exchange at The Old Print Works (pictured)

A free event for all the family to sample the creative variety of offerings available at Balsall Heath’s awesomely industrious community space. The theme of the event is sustainability with numerous free and low cost workshops, talks, stalls, demonstrations as well as the current exhibition in the fabulous first-floor art space. The schedule offers a plethora of possibilities spanning across the various spaces. The Craft Room will host permaculture, foraging and DIY home-made organic beauty product events, there’ll be soil science in the garden, alkaline, raw and vegan food demonstrations in the kitchen, bike maintenance and rocket stove workshops in the lower gallery, photography in the dark room, CDT for children, pottery, sound baths and recycled jewellery and textile workshops. Ort cafe will provide refreshments.
Stick around for the evening to catch various revelries in the form of Ort Cafe’s KateGoes to Outerspace gig (£5) and the free after party in the Top Floor Studio featuring DJs Téa and Didier Gravebongaz.

Sat 5 Mar, The Old Print Works, 506 Moseley Rd, Birmingham B12 9AH. Tel: 07410 442334, 11am-5pm. www.oldprintworks.org and ortcafe.co.uk

Janet Mendelsohn at Ikon

In a dramatic photographic ‘homecoming’ of sorts, the Ikon’s critically acclaimed gallery nestled deep within the neo-gothic buildings of Brindley Place is hosting the largest exhibition to date from American academic and filmmaker Janet Mendelsohn.
Intrigued by the power of the human story, Mendelsohn’s exhibit showcases her esteemed ‘photo-essay’ with the majority of the photos taken while Mendelsohn was a student here in Birmingham in the 1960s. Her work captures intimate images and portraits from a troubled Balsall Heath in an era when it was renowned as one of the largest red light districts in the UK.
The magnificent black and white prints use photography as a tool to analyse the culture and gain a deeper insight into the unique sociocultural relations within the area at the time.
Birmingham was in the process of clearing the area of its many slums, which transformed the streets and provided an intriguing canvas for a budding photographer. Mendelsohn’s photographs document a working class district in flux. Capturing individuals at pubs, cafes and in bustling outdoor scenes, the intimate portraits make for a heartwarming and humbling insight into the supportive, working class relations of 1960’s Birmingham.

Wed 27 Jan – Sat 2 Apr, Ikon Gallery kon Gallery, 1 Oozells Square, Brindleyplace, Birmingham, B1 2HS, Tel: 0121 248 0708 Tue – Sun 11am-5pm www.ikon-gallery.org janet-mendelsohn

The Cell Project at the Library of Birmingham

Do not pass Go, do not collect £200. This new performance art project at The Library of Birmingham offers insight into an always controversial, often misunderstood, world. This month, you can experience a taste of what’s it like to be ‘inside’ in Britain in 2016, with only your thoughts to distract you from four concrete walls, two bunk beds, a metal toilet and a sink. The brainchild of arts organisation Rideout, Go To Jail aims to challenge people’s perception of this country’s justice system. With over 85,000 people, mostly men, banged up in Britain today, can our Victorian infrastructure, outsourcing of security contracts and penal education system cope? You’ll have more of an idea by looking around an authentic cell mock-up, but Go To Jail lets you interact with performers, too, each with past experiences of prison themselves. After all, each prison is a collection of lives, human stories which have somehow ‘gone wrong’. Once you’ve spoken to the ‘cons’, you can vote on sentences and amenities. Should cells have TVs? Wifi? Books? Never mind early releases; you may find Go To Jail makes your own mind that bit more open.
Tue 1 Mar – Sat 12 Mar, Level 3 Library of Birmingham, Centenary Square,Broad Street, Birmingham, B1 2ND. Tel: 0121 242 4242 Tue – Sat 11am – 4pm www.libraryofbirmingham.gotojail.com

Mars off your Turkey techno party at Suki10c

A free, Mars-themed all-nighter in Digbeth celebrating all that is techno with a cornucopia of resident DJs and fancy dress ‘or other forms of ridiculufication’ warmly encouraged. Sadly, this is the last event hosted by Off Your Turkey for the foreseeable future, an organisation that has been putting on small-scale raves completely free of charge in Birmingham since 2010. Donations are welcome but are completely voluntary.

Sat 5 Mar, Suki10c, 21 Bordeley Street, B5 5PJ, Tel: 07535 966314, 10pm – 6am. www.heyevent.uk

Margarita Weekender at the Prince of Wales

Springing into March with bold enthusiasm for all things tropical, Moseley drinking institution the POW is hosting a Margarita Weekender to celebrate the favourite classic cocktail. 10 specially crafted cocktails will be available to tantalise the taste buds and shake-up the mood. Twists on the old classic salted rim include Mezcal, Frozen and Sombrero themed thirst quenchers. Sample at your leisure in the infamously kitsch surrounds of the outdoor Mo-Tiki bar, a covered beach with heated open-air seating.
Prince of Wales, 118 Alcester Road, Moseley, Birmingham,B13 8EE. Tel: 0121 4494198 3 Mar- Mar, 6pm – 10pm, FREE. hwww.theprincemoseley.co.uk