BPN 1051 Media aan de Maas offcially opened

There was a party in Rotterdam yesterday. The old sailors’ school in Rotterdam was re-purposed for digital media education, named Media on the Maas (river Meuse). In the building three courses into one media cluster are taught: communication and media design, Graphics media technology and Communication Digital Media.

It is a beautiful building, dating back to 1916. Seamen and sailors were educated there. It is a characteristic building with a tall tower, which was intended for observation of the starts, a discipline for former seamen, and a captain's bridge In front façade small terracotta medallions can be found, while the entry reminds people of a rock coast with beacons. By 1990 dilapidation of the building set in and it took a while before a new destination could be found. Media aan de Maas is now in the heart of creative arts and digital media area. The theatre school is in the neighbourhood; the music education centre is next door. And on the old harbour grounds a digital media house has been built. Besides the classes and lectures hall, the building has been adapted for digital media work with spaces for iMacs, a studio for photography and video.

The idea for the renovation of this building was conceived in 2005. By the end of that year I was on a trip to Finland with people from Universities of Applied Science, among which people from the HRO University of Applied Science in Rotterdam. Also the new managing direct and building responsible, Elsemiek Heins (see photograph) was present. We had talks about the building and longer talks about the possible integration of the three courses. And yesterday it was all reality. The building has been in use since September 2007 and the bringing together of the courses has been completed, while the real integration is coming on steam.

The school is also in dialogue with companies in and around Rotterdam. This has led already to an intensive co-operation between the Thieme GrafiMedia Group and Media aan de Maas. Together they are setting up Thieme Medialab, which will provide students with working experience in multidisciplinary projects. In Thieme Medialab research, concept development and realisations of prototypes will be done. One of the first assignments will be the creation of a portal for the buying and sale of modern art.

Spencer Kelly, presenter of the BBC programme Click On was the key-note speaker at the official opening of the Media aan de Maas building at the Pieter de Hoochweg. He basically addressed the students by telling them that they should start thinking 10 years ahead. Referring to the founders of Microsoft, Google, Last.fm and Facebook, he noted that all those people were just out of university and had already made so much money, that they never could consume it during their lifetime. Using trends like music, he showed that in most cases there was a paradigm change involved. So the students should start thinking ahead and look for opportunities to change patterns or business. Spencer hoped that by the time the students had set up their company, lived in a big mansion and had a private jet, they would come to pick him up for a ride.

Blog Posting Number 1051

Tags: communication, design, graphics

Europrix.nl discontinued

Today it is the end of the month. Time to close off a number of matters. The most painful decision of this month is calling off the Europrix.nl, the Dutch language multimedia competition. But as the number of entries stayed far behind expectations, the governors of the Foundation Europrix.nl called off the competition. The entries sent in will have to be returned; the entry charges will have to be refunded and the site will be closed. It is a real pity, but the governors had to deal with reality: few entries, no competition.

It would have been the fifth edition of the multimedia competition. The Europrix.nl started in 2003. Following the example of the European version of the Europrix, the idea to set up a regional edition came up with the merger of two associations, MMBO and OPPO (now CMBO). The competition was seen as an attention getter and as a measure of professional performance by companies in the multimedia industry. The competition got off to a flying start for the first edition with the help of the Chambers of Commerce in Hilversum; the latter two editions received much assistance from the RIVIO department of the HRO college in Rotterdam, offering the venue and the catering.

Last year the Europrix.nl was also called off. More than one reason could have been offered for the low amount of entries. The governors had changed the categories and had brought these in line with the categories of the World Summit Award (WSA). From experience with the WSA it was known that particular categories would draw few or no entries at all such as the category e-health, for example. But given the fact the categories cover well the developments in e-content; more entries could have been expected. Another change was the higher entry fee. In order to cover the costs, the governors had raised the entry fee for companies and institutions. But this hardly proved to be the case in talks the governors had with prospects. Another problem could have been the public relations. Europrix.nl was not a heavily sponsored competition. In the previous editions a few sponsors had come forward which offered help in kind.

There are of course more intangible factors: the state of the economy, the fragmentation of the multimedia industry and the number of competitions... When the governors called off the competition last year, they blamed the aftermath of the economic dip of the past years. During hard economic times companies have a hard time to survive. They do not have assignments to enter of they can not spent the money and the time preparing entries. A discussion on this point was started with Bert van Dijk of the Frontrunner blog and journalist for the Dutch financial Daily.
The fragmentation in the Dutch multimedia industry might be another handicap. The Netherlands have a long tradition in ‘new media’ ranging from ASCII databases, videotext, CDs to Internet. Whenever a new technology came up, new awards were being handed out. And as the industry starts to segment, awards are handed out for segments. Presently cross-media is the fashion word, so cross-media awards are given out. And interactive marketing and advertising is the booming segment, so awards for that segment are handed out. But a real umbrella award competition will not make it and will not be stimulated by the ministry of economic affairs or any government agency.

The governors called off the Europrix.nl multimedia competition for the second time. The competition in this form will not be started up again. Perhaps the foundation Europrix.nl will concentrate next year on the students and young producers up to 30 years. But again this can only be done with the help of the sponsors, colleges and instructors. As far as a competition for companies and institutes is concerned, the Europrix.nl will be discontinued.

Blog Posting Number: 770

Tags: Europrix, World Summit Award