One thing we wanted to do with Mr Elephant was provides various ways that people could get involved with the various strands of Mr Elephant. Since 2007 there’s been lots of ways people have been involved. From evolving their own creative ambitions to being an integral part of the event on the night, Mr Elephant has always aimed to offer a platform for peopl to get involved, and whereever possible develop whatever it is they love. This open platform has resulted in many opportunities for a whole host of people and their creative ambitions, and the nice thing is that its all happened at a grassroots level, with many creating opportunities that are either financially and/or creatively rewarding.

To name a few they have ranged from underground practices like djing and vjing, performing artforms like dance and performance, creative workshops like mask and music, professional platforms such as videography and webdesign, and local reportage such as journalism and blogging. However we can use the elephant as a platform we try and promote an open door policy, meaning people who are making a living are as welcome as people who want to have a go and get involved. Obviously we strive to create high quality event experiences so these exist on many levels and have been accessible to a range of ages and interests. The events themselves were initally also setup to showcase what we think is great in Birmingham, and the people that are involved with it, and so we try and ensure the same quality control with all parts of the large mammal.

Alongside this we have also have been creative about ways that revellers can get involved on the night especially at our larger festival style events. From the midnight mask parade to performing with “the tourists”… From poodle making to live percussion jams, we invite you to get interactive with mr elephant, whilst providing a multi genre, party rockin’  experience for all those who simply want to celebrate.

We like to operate on a grassroots level, so alongside professionals we have had local people making up the interactive performance, the midnight percussion parade, vjing to international techno artists, playing with renowned live bands, hosting their own stalls, making banners, skinning drums, delivering workshops, designing masks, creating parades, writing reviews, creating videos, taking photographs, making clay models, creating and parading poodles, etc, etc the list goes on, and mr elephant gets larger.

From people with no experience to fully qualified professionals, Mr Elephant has always aimed to provide a platform and opportunities wherever possible, to facilitate people to be doing and developing whatever it is they are interested in at a range of levels, via the various strands of Mr Elephant e.g the events, each time producing inspiring results, all due to local people sharing and collaborating. As we are totally unfunded the amount of time we have to invest in developing can be affected by finding income to pay the bills, but we are continually inspired by whats created and are looking at suitable funding in order to evolve this side or Mr Elephant.

To one and all, the door is always open, so feel free to get in touch and lets see how it can work.

At our festival style events these are 6 things to get involved with as a reveller

The Midnight Mask Poodle Percussion Parade – This happens at our bigger events and is basically a parade at midnight, led by local percussionists, with a chance to parade the poodle you’ve just made, or the mask you created. We provide the materials, and prizes are given for best in breed, and most imaginative mask. Prizes range from champagne and vodka to cuddly elephants and cds.

Drum Along – First Parade was led by Samba Central, and ever since has been led by local percussionists. 15 strong now and all welcome.

Interactive Performance -Take on the guise of an old lady or a tourist. Interactive performance seems to work really well in the underground environment as long as its fun. Its accessible and anyone with a flair is welcome. Like the percussion, we started with professionals at the first event, and now we have local performers performing alongside residents.

Host a stall – Stalls at the larger events are a great way of connecting with local people in a relaxed environment. At our last event we had local clothing designers – Youth Decay, Recycled pioneer and charity shop fashion icon Re-circle, Jamaican food from Marva (who runs the shop on poplar rd) and the make your own poodle stall ready for the midnight poodle promenade. At previous events we’ve welcomed menus from Manic Organic, demonstrations from local drum makers, shown films from Indymedia, supplied herbal highs from zen, and alternative therapies such as reflexology and massage. The door is always open so get in touch.

Participate in a workshop – We’ve had workshops from the start aimed at all aged, from family mask making, to live dj tutorials, from juggling and poi skills to drum skinning demonstrations andperformance workshops. From our 2nd birthday we are offering a workshop programme with the creations and skills learnt to also have a place in the event on the evening itself. Its been our goal since we started, and we are delighted to be working with Visual production and workshop organisation The Lab on Elephant T.v, which will showcase the aforementioned workshops once a month, alongside our resident partners, community arts organisation Dramask, and visual production company Blendstate.

Workshops in the day will where possible feed in to the event on the evening. We have strong directions for evolving the workshops, so feel free to get in touch if you would like to be involved.

Celebrate – As long as you’re alive who needs an excuse to celebrate right? Whatever it is you like doing, we (obviously) really hope you enjoy the events and workshops, and if there’s any way you’d like to be part of the festivities from in front or behind the scenes just ask….Mr Elephant events always attract a real spectrum of revellers of tastes, scens, and ages, largely due to the diversity and range of stuff happening. The atmosphere created is testament to that, and we hope the interactive elements and open door go some way towards making everyone feel part of it, because at the end of the day the experiences and collective atmosphere is what makes the events great.