l’ OMBRELLO
EASA009 ITALIA . DARFO BOARIO TERME . TUTTE LE NOTIZIE . SEMPRE! 6 AUGUST . ISSUE 11
EASA010 - MANCHESTER UK crazy town! July 31st to August 15th
So after a stunning good presentation last night with lots of lovely videos and not so much mumbling/talking, we decided to catch up with Chris from the UK team for a serious interview and an inside scoop and things next year, and their progress so far. The largest factor that resulted in the Manchester winning the 2010 bid was its departure from the usual isolated EASA small town, school campus typology. The location of EASA in the heart of a large vibrant city has resulted in quite a lot of excitement from all. Not least of all Chris himself who as a pure-bred Manchunian, who has lived, worked and studied in Manchester all his life. The pride and commitment that Chris feels is quite clear when you talk to him, and after spending the 21 months since Motovun INCM 2007 working on the bid and then the organisation, he still seems very positive and enthusiastic, even with another 12 months to go, “I love EASA and bringing it to Manchester is great, it makes me proud to think that it will have an impact on my home town”. Its the type of town that you have to get involved in to enjoy so it makes it perfect for the easa experience, also the theme is quay and A lot of people are worried about the separation of the workshop sites and the impact that this may have on the easa atmosphere, but as Chris points out the “its a human scale city, and the pedestrian is king” also the centre is more condensed than the current spread of the peripheral workshops this year. The only difference is that the interstitial zones are urban in Manchester rather than the scenic countryside we are enjoying here in Italy. Also the UK team are considering organising free bicycles like in Ireland and Greece, but remain concerned about the safety of the participants using them in the city. The main plan is to have a central easa base where the sleeping, food and parties will mainly happen, but where the workshops are held relies on the workshops proposals themeslves. Even in the current financial climate the organisation has still been steaming along with only minor problems up to this point. In fact Chris even claims that the current lack of large scale promotional events has meant that there has been an increase in interest from sponsors. However while there have been a lot positive reactions he still remains “positivity sceptical about people being over en-
thusiastic, while meeting as many people as possible is key to its success, I’ve learned not to completely rely on people until the ink is on the paper”. The size of Manchester is also a plus when looking for sponsorship, because of the amount of companies based there.
Working in a city is a new experience for many easa memebers and the potential that this holds for the workshops is great. The organisers are looking into having potentially 2 types of compitition workshops, with at least one of them being a perminant structure. However Chris was unable to confirm whether the workshops would be mainly construction, compound or media based “we want to have as much communication with the tutors as possible so we can help them with sites, materials and even any visiting specialists they might want to have involved, everything is an option at this stage”. With all the serious stuff out of the way Chris also promises us some great British food, fish and chips being the one most important thing he would recommend to anyone having their first visit to Manchester.” In fact a fish and chip shop map and Greggs the baker map are being included at Paul Farrells insistence, so there will be no excuses for not trying it out.” The excursion is also set to be a completely unique experience “no one even in Manchester even gets to do this type of boat trip, so its going to be amazing”. There are also a lot of surprises in the works but even with some gentle coaxing Chris remains tight lipped until everything is finalised “all I can say is keep your eye on the blog”. His one piece of advice is “everyone bring jeans”. As a closing statement Chris wants to openly invite anyone from EASA to get involved with the organisation, by either moving to Manchester or even just helping out from your home country. So if you love easa and want to help out in any way, get in touch with the team (see contact info below) Also all photographs that people have from this year would be a great help to the UK team for promoting next year and appealing to sponsors, so if you have any photos of events, workshops, parties or just anything in general please bring them directly to Chris or email them to him at cma@easauk.net and don’t forget www.easauk.net is already up an running so keep your eyes peeled for updates.
U M B R E L L A N e w s p a p e r @ g m a i l . c o m