On the 16th September 2021, Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, joined the B:Music team at Symphony Hall to officially open the Jennifer Blackwell Performance Space.

Jennifer Blackwell adored Symphony Hall and the generous support of The Blackwell Trust allowed B:Music to create a space as part of the ‘Making an Entrance’ project, dedicated to her memory.

The £13 million redevelopment project introduced B:Eats, Symphony Hall’s new café bar and the Jennifer Blackwell Performance Space.

B:Music’s COO Nick Loveland recalls “It’s hard to think back 5 years to “Making an Entrance”, most of which took place during the COVID lockdown. In some ways the absence of customers helped since it meant that our amazing construction team were left to get on the with the business of building this incredible new extension and performance space. However it was quite poignant at the point at which the building was formally handed over, since lockdown restrictions at that point meant that we weren’t able to show off our smart new spaces to anyone for nearly six months!”

Once the extension was opened, in the last five years, the Jennifer Blackwell Performance Space has welcomed thousands of audience members and hundreds of artists, becoming one of Birmingham's most vibrant informal performance venues. The space has showcased music from every genre, up and coming comedy talent, dance from around the world and poetry that is perfectly backdropped with Centenary Square.

B:Music’s CEO Nick Reed said “The past 5 years have seen the Jennifer Blackwell Performance Space breathe so much joy into the programme at Symphony Hall. Along with our B:Eats café bar, the space has truly opened up the building, creating a space for learning, talent development and of course performance. This unique informal setting is now a regular home for all types of music, usually with low admission prices and often free. It’s a favourite amongst audiences and performers, and a wonderful complement to our bigger stages at Symphony Hall and Town Hall.”

It’s fair to say that the space has exceeded all expectations, having developed its own identity separating its offering from that of sister venues Town Hall and Symphony Hall. 

We’ve seen the space filled with children singing songs in Senegalese, Chinese and Congolese as part of our Generation Birmingham project,  the regular ‘Bluebird Café’ style ‘Nashville Sound in The Round’ supporting the city with the ever growing country music scene, ‘Ballet and Brunch’, a project with our friends at Birmingham Royal Ballet, and our fortnightly Free Jazz Fridays which has given a space for jazz performers and jazz lovers to hear complimentary music to round off the working week.  

The Jennifer Blackwell Performance Space has become a home for not only championing emerging artists but also offering low-cost and free performances, helping us remove potential barriers to live music and fulfilling our mission to inspire a love of live music, through performance, participation and learning across Birmingham and beyond.

As Symphony Hall celebrates 35 years since its opening and Town Hall with a *slightly* longer 192 years under its belt, we are confident and excited for what is still to come for the space, the artists and for the audiences of the future.  

To join us at the next performance in this fantastic space, visit bmusic.co.uk/whats-on