Digbeth First Friday ft. Club Integral, Grand Union Xmas Party, SYN sirens & sexuality + more.
A creative explosion of arts events, happenings, exhibitions and eats featuring all sorts of fun, trouble and after-hours adventures in expression. See here for full details.
Fri 1st Dec. Various venues across Digbeth. 12pm – late. Mostly Free.

8 Bit Lounge at BMAG
It’s the 8th birthday of the 8 Bit Lounge and as part of the museum’s Collecting Cultures program they will be presenting a mass of retro gadgetry for punters to play with complemented by the usual 8-bit sonics and mile high electronic nostalgia. Consoles, computers, programming and wicked beats, and with our absolute favourite the ZX81 in attendance a positively geektastic event. Now excuse us while we go and play 3D Monster Maze all night.
Sat 2 Dec 12pm at BMAG, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3DH www.facebook.com

Coming Out – Sexuality, Gender & Identity at The BMAG
Featuring works by the art super-giants Andy Warhol, Sarah Lucas and Francis Bacon to name a few, this ground-breaking new exhibition will be opening its doors with a public launch in partnership with SHOUT festival that promises life drawing with a drag queen, performance art and activities. Marking 50 years since the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality in England and Wales and putting LGBT+ stories in the spotlight, the BMAG’s new exhibition also offers a rare glimpse of Grayson Perry’s ‘Claire’s Coming Out Dress’. Events linked to the event include soap carving, rainbow storytelling, tours and drag make-up art. See here for more details.
Launch event: Sat 2 Dec Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, B3 3DH. 1-4pm. Exhibition runs from Sat 2 Dec – Sat 15 Apr 2018, Mon – Thu, Sat & Sun 10am-5pm, Fri 10.30am-5pm. Free. www.birminghammuseums.org.uk (CR)

HolyHowl Records launch at Paul Smith, Mailbox
New record label and management company HolyHowl has chosen the super slick Paul Smith fashion store in The Mailbox for its launch party and you’re all invited. All the mostly local artists represented by HolyHowl will be performing acoustic sets including psych rockers The Good Water, indie kids Spilt Milk Society and the innovative folk stylings of Jessie Reid. The party continues afterwards at The Sunflower Lounge.
Sat 2 Dec 1pm at Paul Smith, Mailbox,  39 Wharfside Street, Birmingham B1 1RE www.facebook.com

Make it Reggae at 1000 Trades
Rocksteady rumblings down in The Jewellery Quarter for another evening of the sharpest roots beats with resident selector Joe T spinning tunes until the early hours. Expect some Christmas surprises.
Sat 2 Dec 8pm at 1000 Trades, 16 Frederick St, Birmingham B1 3HE www.facebook.com

Corevibez rave all-nighter at Suki 10c
Hardcore beats all night long just like the old days with an incredible roster of DJs and MCs kicking it up till the birds start shrieking on Sunday morning and you emerge bleary eyed into the Digbeth morning.
Sat 2 Dec 11pm at Suki 10c, 21 Bordesley St, Birmingham B5 5LY www.facebook.com

Will Ferrell Triple Bill at The Mockingbird
Get your laughing gear primed and ready for a whole afternoon of knockabout comedy starring the always reliable Will Ferrell. Step Brothers kicks things off at 12pm, a completely daft romp featuring Ferrell and John C. Reilly as sparring man children, at 2.45pm join Ron Burgundy in Anchorman and things are rounded off with the buddy cop incompetence of Will and Mark Wahlberg in The Other Guys. Free tickets for each film have to be obtained on the link below.
Sun 3 Dec at The Mockingbird, The Custard Factory, Gibb St, Birmingham B9 4AA veezi.com