Rebel Uncut to work on Hyperlocal project in Birmingham

INDEPENDENT production company Rebel Uncut is to work with young digital producers in Birmingham.

The company is linking up with Young Rewired State, the worldwide community of young coders, to set up a new facility in the city for digital makers aged 18 and under.

The project will be part of Young Rewired State’s Hyperlocal programme, which is supported by American Express.

Rebel Uncut founder Nat Higginbottom will be leading the centre on the second Saturday of every month – beginning on January 10 – at its offices in the Jewellery Quarter.

Young Rewired State have had close connections with Birmingham’s young coding community for many years, staging its flagship summer event – The Festival of Code – at the Custard Factory in 2012 and 2013. The Festival of Code is a week-long annual celebration of digital talent.

The festival allows young people meet up in centres around the UK where they form teams to build websites, apps, games and algorithms to solve real world problems. This year marked the sixth year of the festival, with 1,200 young people across 60 centres taking part – five of the centres being in Birmingham.

Young Rewired State’s new Hyperlocal programme is an extension of the festival, allowing youngsters to meet up monthly, all year round. Currently in its pilot year, Hyperlocal provides a fun, informal and inclusive environment for young digital makers to improve their skills through a combination of peer-to-peer learning and expert mentorship.

Birmingham’s future tech stars will be able to attend the Rebel Uncut Hyperlocal centre every month to improve their digital making skills, solve challenges using open data and work together in teams to build projects using code and hardware.

The Rebel Uncut Hyperlocal centre also aims to support the West Midlands Festival of Code centres that simply do not have the capacity to meet all year round. In addition, they will actively support the development of new YRS Hyperlocal centres in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Coventry and Walsall in the run up to the Festival of Code 2015.

Higginbottom said: “I’m really excited to connect with the young tech community in Birmingham; it is so important to improve the city’s support for the next generation of digital makers. Our Rebel Uncut Hyperlocal centre will be a great place for young people to meet others with similar interests and start to think about building projects with their digital skills. I’ll also be bringing my film and television background to the table to see if we can think of projects that bring technology and media together.”

Kate McDonald, Hyperlocal Project Lead, Young Rewired State, added: “I am so pleased we are finally able to open a Hyperlocal centre in such an important city, and Nat is the perfect person to drive it forward. Young Rewired State already has a really talented community of young coders in Birmingham, so it’s excellent they now have a place to get back together regularly to continue to explore the potential locked inside their digital skills.”