Bristol Wikimania Bid

In a nutshell

• Country: United Kingdom
• City: Bristol
• Venue:
• Proposed dates:
• Planned attendance: Any Wikimedian!
• Contact:

Introduction

Our 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.

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 (50–54 °F). 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-Template:Convert/mm range, up to the 900-Template:Convert/mm 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 Template:Convert/C during July 1976, down to Template:Convert/C in January 1982. Monthly Temperature extremes at Filton (since 2002) exceeding those recorded at Long Ashton include Template:Convert/C during April 2003, Template:Convert/C during July 2006 and Template:Convert/C in October 2011. The lowest temperature to be recorded in recent years at Filton was Template:Convert/C during December 2010.

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)

• 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