What are the opening hours?

Wednesday 2pm - 5pm Thursday 12pm - 5pm Friday 12pm - 5pm Saturday 12pm - 5pm

Grand Union

Call Directions Website Contact the business

Grand Union is an arts organisation based in Digbeth, Birmingham. Grand Union is an arts organisation located in Digbeth, Birmingham.

It is a place and an art practice that holds space for developing artistic, cultural, social and environmental relations for building equitable living.

10/10/2026

📌 As we enter October, we’re still reminiscing on our Harvest Celebration at Minerva Works late last month. Honouring all we’ve achieved this year with food, friends and conversation, in the lead up to the Harvest we worked with the Minerva Group to rustle up some special floral arrangements.

These bright, beautiful British native flowers were grown at St. Anne’s Hostel, our mother garden site where we’ve been trialing growing different varieties, for our Flower Farm research and development. 💐

The Flower Farm, a new community-led, regenerative land-based enterprise in the heart of Digbeth, Birmingham, will make our community work sustainable through offering therapeutic nature based sessions and environmental training opportunities. 🧑🏼‍🌾

🔗 To learn more about the Flower Farm, click here: https://www.grand-union.org.uk/what-were-doing/the-growing-project/the-flower-farm

📸: Grand Union, 2026.

[ID 1: A brightly coloured floral arrangement sits in a small ceramic pot. It is speckled with pink, purple and yellow, with winding stems heading out in every direction. The table it rests on is littered with foliage and gardening utensils.]

[ID 2: A person leans in to spruce up an arrangement of flowers, bundled together in a tall glass jar. They have bright blond hair and are wearing a multi-coloured paisley blouse and blue denim bottoms.]

09/10/2026

In late August, artist and educator Exodus Crooks alongside ‘Students of Nature’ cohort Gugan Gill, Susie Olczak, Rumbidzai Savanhu and Mads Washbrook commenced their first session on Ikon Youth Programme’s slow boat. 📚

Through reflective conversation, and using paint and paper to note-take and play, our ‘Students of Nature’ discussed what water ‘teaches us’, drifting along Birmingham’s canal network beneath the Summer sun. 🌞

📌 ‘Students of Nature - The City as a Classroom’ is an otherwise/learning programme with Exodus Crooks. Using the city of Birmingham as a starting point, our ‘Students of Nature’ are developing ‘new ways of learning together’.

🔗 To learn more about Exodus Crooks and ‘Students of Nature’, click here: https://www.grand-union.org.uk/what-were-doing/education/students-of-nature-the-city-as-a-classroom

📸: Lucy Grubb, 2026.

06/10/2026

That’s a wrap! 🎬

‘Learning to Drive in Birmingham’, a newly commissioned film by artist Laisul Hoque, has now drawn to a close at Grand Union. 🚗

The film, developed in partnership with Bow Arts, offered a glimpse into the lives of Birmingham’s Bangladeshi community, revealing the artist’s own understanding of the migrant experience in navigating a new city.

Through conversations in cars and phone calls from home, ‘Learning to Drive in Birmingham’ captured the ‘stories, histories and experiences’ of Birmingham’s Bengali community. 🎞

🔗 To learn more about Laisul Hoque, click here: https://www.grand-union.org.uk/what-were-doing/artist-projects/laisul-hoque

📸: Images by Tegen Kimbley, 2026.

05/10/2026

Exhibition: ‘Groundings’ by Shenece Oretha, curated by Amrita Dhallu 🌱

🎉 Launching 6 November, as part of Digbeth First Friday
🗓 Continues 7 November 2026 - 6 March 2027

Grand Union is delighted to present ‘Groundings’, a new sound installation by artist Shenece Oretha. Supported by an intergenerational network of gardeners, the exhibition seeks to ‘repair our severed relationship with the land by melding ancestral, embodied and collective methods of stewardship.’

🔗 To learn more about Shenece Oretha and ‘Groundings’, click here: https://www.grand-union.org.uk/whats-on/shenece-oretha

📸: A cluster of dried bamboo stems swaying in the air (research image), 2026. Image courtesy of Shenece Oretha.

04/10/2026

Time flies! ⏰

It’s been just over a month since we launched Infinite Opera’s landmark operatic production, ‘Open for Business’ in and around the city streets of Digbeth. 🎉

📌 Informed by the imagined histories and speculative futures of the area, ‘Open for Business’ explored the conditions of regeneration; it’s tensions, impacts and ecologies, through live song, orchestral music and theatrical performance.

Celebrating Digbeth’s rich cultural and industrial heritage, ‘Open for Business’ was commissioned by Stoford Ltd. and Grand Union to mark the redevelopment of the BBC’s Tea Factory, Typhoo Wharf. 🎭

🔗 To learn more about the Tea Factory public art commissions, click here: https://www.grand-union.org.uk/what-were-doing/community-led-infrastructures/artist-commissions-for-birminghams-bbc-tea-factory

📸: Images by Tegen Kimbley, 2026.

02/10/2026

⭐️⁠ Opportunity: Studio Space ⭐️

Looking for a studio? We have two exciting, distinct opportunities available with Bruntwood SciTech at their city centre Cornwall Buildings, and at Grand Union in Minerva Works. 💘

-

📌 Grand Union x Bruntwood SciTech Studio Programme
Fixed term (12 months), off site (Bruntwood Cornwall Buildings, Newhall Street, B3 3QR), free.

The Grand Union x Bruntwood SciTech Studio Programme provides a free, shared studio space for two West Midlands based artists for 12 months, at Bruntwood’s Cornwall Buildings in Birmingham City Centre. This programme includes:

✏️ A commission opportunity with Bruntwood SciTech.
✏️ One-to-one mentoring from the Grand Union team.

This 12-month studio programme is aimed at artists committed to developing their artistic practice, who can work responsibly in a communal setting, within the context of a partner organisation.

-

📌 Grand Union Studio Artist
Rolling, on site (Grand Union, Minerva Works, B5 5RS), £186 per month.

A 19 sq m studio is available at Grand Union, Minerva Works. The studio is lockable and self-contained, with 24/7 access and free parking available. 🚗

You will have the opportunity to connect with our wider Grand Union community including neighbouring studio artists, Digbeth friends and the Grand Union team, through various events and activities including Digbeth First Friday and ‘Open Studios’. 🎉

-

⏰ Deadline for applications: 9am on Monday, 26 October 2026.

🔗 To learn more about our studios and apply online, click here: https://www.grand-union.org.uk/whats-on/opportunity-studio-space

📸: (1) Image by Nina Bailie, 2025. (2) Image courtesy of Bunny Bissoux.

01/10/2026

⏰ Final Weekend: ‘Learning to Drive in Birmingham’ by Laisul Hoque ⏰

🗓 Ending Saturday, 3 October at 5pm
📍 Grand Union, Minerva Works, B5 5RS

💻 Screening online at grand-union.org.uk from Friday, 2 until Monday, 5 October 2026.

There’s only a few more days to experience ‘Learning to Drive in Birmingham’, a newly commissioned film by artist Laisul Hoque. 🎉

Detailing experiences of belonging and displacement through the lens of Birmingham’s Bangladeshi community, ‘Learning to Drive in Birmingham’ marks Laisul’s newest film work following ‘The Ground Beneath Me’ (2025) at Nunnery Gallery, London.

To celebrate its closing weekend, 'Learning to Drive in Birmingham' will be screening on our website from this Friday, 2 October until next Monday, 5 October at 5pm. 🎬

🔗 To plan your visit or watch online, click here: https://www.grand-union.org.uk/whats-on/learning-to-drive-in-birmingham-laisul-hoque

📸: ‘Learning to Drive in Birmingham’ by Laisul Hoque. Images courtesy of Tegen Kimbley, 2026.

29/09/2026

Access Information: ‘Learning to Drive in Birmingham’ by Laisul Hoque, October Digbeth First Friday 🚗

🗓 Friday, 2 October
⏰ 5-8pm
📍 Grand Union, Minerva Works, B5 5RS

Ahead of our final Digbeth First Friday celebrating Laisul Hoque’s latest film, we’re sharing some essential access information to help you decide if this event is right for you. ⭐️

📌 ‘Learning to Drive in Birmingham’ (2026) is captioned (approx. 30 minutes).
📌 5-6pm: Quiet opening with no bar and less crowds. We kindly ask people to wear a mask, and avoid wearing perfume.
📌 6-8pm: Pay bar serving alcoholic and soft drinks.

Grand Union is located up two flights of stairs (40 steps), and we do not have a working lift. There is a spacious gender neutral bathroom on site with no mobility aids.

🔗 For full access information, please click here: https://www.grand-union.org.uk/whats-on/october-digbeth-first-friday-learning-to-drive-in-birmingham

📸: ‘Learning to Drive in Birmingham’ by Laisul Hoque. Image courtesy of Laisul Hoque, 2026.

28/09/2026

Next week: ‘ROAM: Animations Inspired by our Right to Roam’, Animate Projects 🎬

🎟 Free, ticketed
🕖 7-8pm at Grand Union, Minerva Works, B5 5RS

📌 On Monday 5 October, Grand Union studio holder and artist Sarah Silverwood will be sharing a new animated short inspired by the Right to Roam campaign movement, alongside artists Edd Carr and Grace Lee.

Presented by Animate Projects, ‘ROAM’ explores the movement’s ‘vision of a future countryside in which people not only enjoy the physical, mental and spiritual benefits of nature, but serve as its guardians too.’

🎤 Writer and ‘Right to Roam’ campaigner Jon Moses will be joining Sarah Silverwood and Edd Carr in a Q&A, to share both artists’ inspirations and creative processes.

🔗 To learn more about Animate Projects and ‘ROAM’, click here: https://www.grand-union.org.uk/whats-on/roam-animations-inspired-by-our-right-to-roam

📸: Sarah Silverwood, 2026. Images courtesy of the artist.

24/09/2026

Announcement: Beverley Bennett, Board of Trustees Co-Chair 🎉

We’re thrilled to announce that Beverley Bennett will be joining us at Grand Union as Board of Trustees Co-Chair, alongside curator and writer George Vasey.

📌 Beverley Bennett is an artist-filmmaker whose work revolves around the possibilities of drawing, performance and collaboration. Her practice is connected with multiple ways of making. Bennett’s work has been shown nationally and internationally, including at Third Horizon Film Festival, Flatpack Festival and the British Film Institute (BFI).

Beverley says:
‘I have thoroughly enjoyed a positive and thoughtful relationship with Grand Union over the years. As an artist based in the Midlands who works nationally, I will be a strong advocate for Grand Union’s work…I recognise Grand Union’s important role in bridging the gap and raising the Midlands' profile. [This] role will give me the opportunity to give back.’ 💐

🔗 To learn more about Beverley, George and our Board of Trustees, click here: https://www.grand-union.org.uk/who-we-are/board

📸: Beverley Bennett, 2026

[ID: A portrait of Beverley Bennett in natural daylight. She is wearing a navy blue button-up shirt, black-framed glasses and have short hair. Beverley is positioned in front of a stark, cream-coloured wall.]

Address

19 Minerva Works, Fazeley Street
Birmingham
B55RS

Opening Hours

Wednesday	2pm - 5pm
Thursday	12pm - 5pm
Friday	12pm - 5pm
Saturday	12pm - 5pm

Telephone

+441216439079

Website

http://www.grand-union.org.uk/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Grand Union posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Grand Union:

Want your business to be the top-listed recruitment company in Birmingham?