The CBSO Centre

The CBSO Centre is situated in the centre of Birmingham, just off Broad Street and a few minutes walk from Centenary Square. Home to City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and its sister organisation Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, the centre was built to complement the facilities of Symphony Hall and provides magnificent rehearsal facilities for the two groups.

At the heart of the building is a comfortable 250-seat flexible auditorium that will be used to host performances and workshops for the daytime programme at the venue during ArtsFest.

Venue Specific Information

The CBSO Centre
(Berkeley Street, B1 2LF)

An evening concert will take place on Saturday night with audience members able to purchase drinks from the venues fully licensed bar. Applications are invited from artists in all performing arts genres with the exception of spoken word and comedy.

Due to the extensive travel of CBSO and BCMG across the UK and abroad, the auditorium is available for hire year round for performances, recordings and broadcasts. More diversely, the hall is also regularly hired for meetings, barn dances, dinner dances, award presentations, conferences, receptions, poetry recitals, exhibitions and workshops.

Availability:

Saturday 8th September: 11.30 – 22.00
Sunday 9th September: 12.30 – 18.00

(Please note that these times are provisional at this stage and may be subject to change).

Space Available:

The CBSO Centre has a large performance / workshop area with wooden floor measuring 16 metres wide by 18 metres deep. The performance / workshop area is on the same level as audiences and so easily accessible for artists with disabilities.

Audience Capacity:

250

Equipment / Facilities Available:

- 500 watt PA system with 16 channel mixer, amp and speakers (The mixer is operated from the back of the hall).

- 4 DI boxes

- CD and minidisk playback facilities

- 4 SM58 microphones

- 2 condenser microphones

- Baby grand piano

- 100+ music stands

- Tables and chairs

(Please note that the venue will not have a backline, DJ, projection or screening facilities available during ArtsFest).

(Groups requiring backline that wish to perform at the CBSO Centre must be able to provide their own. Groups may need to be prepared to set equipment up before the first performance of the day and break it down / collect it after the last performance of the day).

Lighting:

- Static colour washes and spot lighting

- Complete blackout of the venue is achievable

Staffing:

There will be a sound technician at the venue in addition to a Duty Manager, stewards and bar staff. An ArtsFest Volunteer Venue Officer will be in charge of the venue on behalf of ArtsFest and will liaise with all artists before the event and on the day.

Additional Notes:

Changing facilities are not available at this venue.

Workshop Applicants:

Workshops will take place in the same area as performances within the auditorium.

Venue Access:

For artists bringing equipment or instruments with them that they wish to drop off by vehicle, they will be able to do this by pulling up outside the Centres main entrance on Berkeley Street. Space here is limited and artists will be asked to remove their vehicle as soon as they have unloaded. Disabled parking is available on Berkeley Street for blue badge holders and the main entrance to the centre has full disabled access.