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January 2011

MUD headed back to the cold expanse of Fruit this month for a mixed bag that took in crisis PR, photoblogging and the hot topic of Hullness. An industrial blower, cranked up between speakers, kept the climate tolerable for the die-hard MUD folk that made the effort on this chilly January evening.

Hullness had already hit the headlines earlier this month following the announcement that Hull's architecture centre Arc was the recipient of around £50,000 of Heritage Lottery Fund cash that would enable them to further explore the spirit of this 'ere place.

To their credit, Arc's Jon Wood and Hannah Cooper grasped the opportunity to set the record straight in light of the negative press that met the announcement. They were joined on a Clear As Mud panel, chaired as ever by the provocative Mal Williamson, by Hannah Crookes from Hull Business Forum.

The Arc team clarified that their work on Hullness has already and will continue to be used to inform architecture and design in the city – thus far, Hullness research has been incorporated into local development documents and informed the original plans for the Fruit Market, the Larkin 25 project and the Building Schools for the Future programme. The Hullness investigation has, Arc claimed, been replicated in the North West with the similar Manchester DNA project.

A panel of 16 leading architects has met on a monthly basis with Arc over the last two years to share their expertise on the built environment. “This is all about better architecture for the city,” said Jon Wood.

The Hullness project manager, who will work alongside a vast team of volunteers to discover what the spirit of Hull is and archive all material gathered during the process, will not receive the entire pot of money.

“The responses that we have had really do show that people want this,” Hannah Cooper said. “We haven't stolen any council jobs as a result of receiving this funding. The project will create a job, training and further opportunities. At this stage we really don't know how big this thing will be.”

Hannah Crookes reminded everyone that business will embrace the project providing that “the business community gets something out of it. It is important that we all work together.”

Mal Williamson took to the floor during the forum inviting the audience's views on both the project and whether Hullness actually exists. Most comments were positive regarding the project and divided on Hullness. There was, however, a consensus that Hull folk are the friendliest in the country on exiting public transport (“cheers, Drive”).

Photographer Neil Holmes shared his experience of using social media and online networking to promote and develop his business. Neil has successfully generated commissions using a combination of a self-hosted photoblog, flickr, twitter, Facebook and PhotoShelter.

Neil's philosophy is a simple, common sense and businesslike one: “The more people that see your work the more people will be inclined to commission you.” Neil emphasised the need to be a 'net giver' in relationships with an online audience.

The dashing, jazz-besuited Nick Glaves, of The Public Relations Company, closed the show with an engaging, informative and very witty look at crisis PR. Nick used BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill as a case study, highlighting the catalogue of PR blunders the global giant made and suggesting how the fallout from this environmental disaster could have been handled before, during and post-crisis to ensure that reputations remained intact. A great presentation by an exemplary speaker.

MUD members might be keen to know that they can get their hands on an iPad 3G in a competition organised by the University of Hull's Enterprise Centre. For your chance to win, log onto the Enterprise Centre's website, view the video and follow the instructions to compose some music to accompany it.

The next humberMUD will take place at FRuIT on Wednesday, February 16 when, in a one off collaboration reminiscent of Whizzer and Chips, MUD joins forces with the Hull City Arts Forum.

Dave Windass