Bristol Wikimania Bid

In a nutshell

• Country: United Kingdom
• City: Bristol
• Venue: University of Bristol
• Proposed dates: August (coinciding with the annual International Bristol Balloon Festival)
• Planned attendance: Any Wikimedian!
• Contact:

Introduction

A creative and cultural city

Bristol is one of the pre-eminent European centres of creative and cultural industry and talent with a growing global profile. The region's creative industries are estimated to be worth £3 Billion pounds to the UK's economy.

The creative industries in Bristol employ around 9,000 people, making up for 12% of all businesses in the city. Bristol is home to 1,350 creative businesses, including the multiple oscar-winning Aardman Animations (the creators of Wallace and Grommet), as well as the BBC's Natural History Unit, Endemol West and many other independent film and production companies. Bristol is the world capital of the wildlife and environmental film industry - responsible for 25% of this sector's global output, hosting of the international 'Wildscreen' Festival every 2 years, and employment of around 1,500 people.

Another leading event is the 'Encounters Short Film Festival' that is held annually at the Watershed, the UK's first and most highly regarded media centre. The Bristol Design Festival, an annual celebration of creativity, design and innovation, is now also a hugely popular occasion. Apart from its film, broadcast and digital media companies, the city is justly famous for its varied and vibrant music scene - from the Bristol Bach Choir to the more subterranean 'Bristol Sound' in the form of Portishead, Roni Size and Massive Attack.

Bristol also boasts a strength in other creative sectors unmatched by most other European regional cities - design and architecture, books and publishing, visual arts, theatre and performing arts, including a profusion of festivals and carnivals throughout the year, comedy clubs, street theatre and Europe's leading circus school. Creative quarters such as the Jamaica Street Studios, Knowle West Media Centre, Mivart Studios, Paintworks, Pervasive Media Studio, Spike Island and the Tobacco Factory are examples of Bristol's vibrant creative community, contributing to its accolade of 'Second Media City' in recent years.

Economy and industry

As a major seaport, Bristol has a long history of trading commodities, originally wool cloth exports and imports of fish, wine, grain and dairy produce later tobacco, tropical fruits and plantation goods; major imports now are motor vehicles, grain, timber, fresh produce and petroleum products. Deals were originally struck on a personal basis in the former trading area around The Exchange in Corn Street, and in particular, over bronze trading tables, known as The Nails. This is often given as the origin of the expression "cash on the nail", meaning immediate payment, however it is likely that the expression was in use before the nails were erected

As well as Bristol's nautical connections, the city's economy is reliant on the aerospace industry, defence, the media, information technology and financial services sectors, and tourism. The former Ministry of Defence Procurement Executive, later the Defence Procurement Agency, and now Defence Equipment & Support, moved to a purpose-built headquarters at Abbey Wood, Filton in 1995. The site employs some 7,000 to 8,000 staff and is responsible for procuring and supporting much of the MoD's defence equipment.

In 2004 Bristol's GDP was £9.439 billion, and the combined GDP of Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and North Somerset was £44.098 billion. The GDP per head was £23,962 (US$47,738, €35,124) making the city more affluent than the UK as a whole, at 40% above the national average. This makes it the third-highest per-capita GDP of any English city, after London and Nottingham, and the fifth highest GDP per capita of any city in the United Kingdom, behind London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast and Nottingham. In March 2007, Bristol's unemployment rate was 4.8%, compared with 4.0% for the south west and 5.5% for England.

Although Bristol's economy is no longer reliant upon the Port of Bristol, which was relocated gradually to the mouth of the Avon to new docks at Avonmouth (1870s)and Royal Portbury Dock (1977) as the size of shipping increased, the city is the largest importer of cars to the UK. Since the port was leased in 1991, £330 million has been invested and the annual tonnage throughput has increased from 3.9 million long tons (4 million tonnes) to 11.8 million long tons (12 million tonnes). The tobacco trade and cigarette manufacturing have now ceased, but imports of wines and spirits by Averys continue.

The financial services sector employs 59,000 in the city,and the high-tech sector is important, with 50 micro-electronics and silicon design companies, which employ around 5,000 people, including the Hewlett-Packard national research laboratories, which opened in 1983. Bristol is the UK's seventh most popular destination for foreign tourists, and the city receives nine million visitors each year.

In the 20th century, Bristol's manufacturing activities expanded to include aircraft production at Filton, by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, and aero-engine manufacture by Bristol Aero Engines (later Rolls-Royce) at Patchway. The aeroplane company became famous for the World War I Bristol F.2 Fighter and Second World War Bristol Blenheim and Beaufighter aircraft. In the 1950s it became one of the country's major manufacturers of civil aircraft, with the Bristol Freighter and Bristol Britannia and the huge Bristol Brabazon airliner. The Bristol Aeroplane Company diversified into car manufacturing in the 1940s, producing hand-built luxury cars at their factory in Filton, under the name Bristol Cars, which became independent from the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1960. The city also gave its name to the Bristol make of buses, manufactured in the city from 1908 to 1983, first by the local bus operating company, Bristol Omnibus Company, and from 1955 by Bristol Commercial Vehicles.

The last ever flight of any Concorde, 26 November 2003. The aircraft is seen a few minutes before landing on the Filton runway from which it first flew in 1969.

In the 1960s Filton played a key role in the Anglo-French Concorde supersonic airliner project. The Bristol Aeroplane Company became part of the British partner, the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Concorde components were manufactured in British and French factories and shipped to the two final assembly plants, in Toulouse and Filton. The French manufactured the centre fuselage and centre wing and the British the nose, rear fuselage, fin and wingtips, while the Rolls-Royce Olympus engine's manufacture was split between Rolls-Royce plc (Filton) and SNECMA (Paris). The British Concorde prototype made its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford on 9 April 1969, five weeks after the French test flight.

In 2003 British Airways and Air France decided to cease flying the aircraft and to retire them to locations (mostly museums) around the world. On 26 November 2003 Concorde 216 made the final Concorde flight, returning to Filton airfield to be kept there permanently as the centrepiece of a projected air museum. This museum will include the existing Bristol Aero Collection, which includes a Bristol Britannia aircraft.

The aerospace industry remains a major segment of the local economy. The major aerospace companies in Bristol now are BAE Systems, (formed by merger between Marconi Electronic Systems and British Aerospace); the latter being formed by a merger of BAC, Hawker Siddeley and Scottish Aviation), Airbus and Rolls-Royce are all based at Filton, and aerospace engineering is a prominent research area at the nearby University of the West of England. Another important aviation company in the city is Cameron Balloons, who manufacture hot air balloon. Each August the city is host to the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, one of Europe's largest hot air balloon events.

A new £500 million shopping centre called Cabot Circus opened in 2008 amidst claims from developers and politicians that Bristol would become one of England's top ten retail destinations. Bristol was selected as one of the world's top ten cities for 2009 by international travel publishers Dorling Kindersley in their Eyewitness series of guides for young adults. In 2011 it was announced that the Temple Quarter near Bristol Temple Meads railway station will become an enterprise zone.

Climate

Situated in the south of the country, Bristol is one of the warmest cities in the UK, with a mean annual temperature of 10.2–12 °C. It is also amongst the sunniest, with 1,541–1,885 hours sunshine per year. The city is partially sheltered by the Mendip Hills, but exposed to the Severn Estuary and Bristol Channel. Rainfall increases toward's the south of the area, with annual totals north of the Avon River in the 600 range, up to the 900 range South of it. Rain falls all year round, but autumn and winter are the wettest seasons.

The Atlantic strongly influences Bristol's weather, maintaining average temperatures above freezing throughout the year, although cold spells in winter often bring frosts. Snow can fall at any time from mid-November through to mid-April, but it is a rare occurrence. Summers are drier and quite warm with variable amounts of sunshine, rain and cloud. Spring is unsettled and changeable, and has brought spells of winter snow as well as summer sunshine. The nearest weather station's to Bristol for which long term climate data are Long Ashton (about 5 miles South West of the city centre) and Bristol Weather Station (Within the city centre). However, data collection at these locations ceased in 2002 and 2001 respectively, and Filton Airfield is now the closest Weather Station. The temperature range at Long Ashton for the period 1959-2002 has spanned from during July 1976, down to in January 1982. Monthly Temperature extremes at Filton (since 2002) exceeding those recorded at Long Ashton include during April 2003,during July 2006 and the lowest temperature to be recorded in recent years at Filton was during December 2010.

Our community

As of June 2009 the City of Bristol was made up of 433,100 according to ONS statististics.

Conference

Venue

Event to be based around the University of Bristol Campus - with breakout events across the centre of the city at other possible venues

Wikimedia UK hosted TWO large events in the city at the Victoria Rooms (University of Bristol - attended by 750 people + live webcasted to 3,500) + in the city's main cathedral itself earlier that morning (550 attended). Both on the morning of January 13, 2011 - so the viability of large events in the city has been tested and worked successfully

Special events

Parties

Wikimania traditionally hosts two parties, one for attendees (capacity of 250-350) and one for sponsors and VIPs (capacity 40-60).

• Attendees party(ies) propositions

(location, how to get there, what's cool and relaxed about it)

Possible venues include:

• Victoria Rooms - University of Bristol
• Bristol Cathedral
• St Georges
• O2
• Colston Hall

• Sponsor party(ies) proposition

(location, how to get there, what's chic and high profile about it)

Logistics

Getting to the United Kingdom

International travel to the United Kingdom is extensive. Access to the UK is provided by 30 international airports providing travel to 200 destinations, 8 ports with international passenger ferry services to Europe, and a rail link to mainland Europe via the Channel Tunnel.

Train (via Belgium and France)

Eurostar high-speed trains run between London (St Pancras International), Ebbsfleet and Ashford through the Channel Tunnel to Paris (Gare du Nord), Lille and Brussels. During the summer an additional weekly train operates to Avignon and during the winter a weekly service runs a ski service direct to the French Alps. Through tickets and connections are available in Lille, Paris and Brussels from many European cities to most large UK cities.

Journey times average two hours fifteen minutes to and from Paris, and one hour fifty minutes to Brussels. A second class return from Paris to London costs between €85 and €230. While it can be cheaper to fly from London to Paris using a low-cost airline, bear in mind that the journeys to the airports can be expensive and time-consuming.

Financial

Budget

Bristol Wikimania Bid/Budget

Sponsorship

Sponsorship Levels

Gold

Silver

Bronze

A discussion should take place on the distinction and differences between each level from a donor & Wikimedia perspective....following on from any WMF guidance

There should be a second level of sponsorship level...could be described as 'Supporting' and would be aimed at groups or organisations helping through 'in-kind' donations of venues, food or employee time

Confirmed Sponsors

All of the groups and organisations currently listed below under Potential Sponsors have been approached to see whether they would be willing to assist in a bid for Wikimania in the city. They have all said 'yes' - but obviously need more detailed discussions before they can move from Potential Sponsor to Confirmed Sponsor status

Potential Sponsors

Already expressed an interest in supporting a bid

• ''Bristol City Council
• HP Labs (Bristol)
• Bristol Festival of Ideas
• University of Bristol
• The Watershed
• Invest in Bristol
• Bristol Natural History Consortium
• BBC Bristol
• BBC Anchor Project''

Timeline

• Rough draft budget - December 2011
• Venue Viewing - December 2011
• Creation of Budget, Bid documents, venue selection, approaching potential sponsors etc - Now-January 2012
• Start working on bid page and forming wikimedia volunteer bid team - Yesterday - We have User:EdSaperia, User:Panyd, User:HJ Mitchell, User:Marek69 and User:ErrantX working on this
• Bidding officially opens - January 2011
• Bidding closes and winner announced - May 2012
• Conference - July/August 2013