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October 2010

Somebody, somewhere, probably mumbled under their breath that it couldn’t be done. Four days of humberMUD activity?  And most of it free to enter? Does not compute. 

Yet there’s no holding this creative co-operative and its growing membership down and four days of activity, with six diverse events, were exactly what was on offer at the first – but surely not the last – humberMUD expo!

Those six events? The usual monthly gathering; the Media:Education:Interface conference; an audio-visual extravaganza with live DJ sets; a media market day; a stunning Old Technologies Ball and, finally, an afternoon of film screenings.

As wholly unpredictable as these four days were, MUD’s chair Mal Williamson played it safe to get things underway at that first night, which attracted the biggest-ever crowd to the Thursday networking and knowledge-sharing event.

“HumberMUD expo! is open,” yelped big Mal, before making way for a scintillating mix of presentations, fun and MUD-style shenanigans down at Fruit.

Lindsay Gordon of law firm Andrew Jackson, who discussed the legal ramifications of social networking sites, dispensed the kind of advice that her clients would normally pay thousands to hear.

Lindsay’s well-received mix of facts and Power Point visuals was followed by local filmmaking talent that included Kurdish documentary maker Havi Ibrahim, Jay Moy, O-Ten and Peter Goundrill. Havi’s film Wait, which charts asylum seeker and Hull resident Hayder’s efforts to obtain a British passport, was a small glimpse into a highly powerful piece of storytelling and made a big impact on the sizable audience.

That heady start set the following three days up nicely and, although attendances at the following day’s Media:Education:Interface conference could certainly be improved upon, the quality of the content certainly didn’t slip, with significant contributions from Quentin Budworth, Mike Chitty, Helen Philpot, Darren Squires and T-Zone Productions, Strawberry’s MD Jonathan Leafe and Force-7 entrepreneur Phil Batty.

Just two hours after Mr Batty had uttered his last sentence, the versatile Fruit was transformed into a venue fit for a club night. Home Sweet Home moved in their four-deck DJ set-up, lazers, projectors and screens and made the place their own, crowd an’ all, although several MUD regulars also embraced the audio-visual extravaganza, glow sticks, free gifts and opportunity to chant E-O-L-B…

In contrast, Saturday’s Media Market Day was a rather more sedate affair, with a small gathering of social media whiz kids, hyperlocal journalists, online TV specialists and theatrical types giving the public the opportunity to pick their brains and find out more.

Those that had been at the former and then arrived at the ticket-only Old Technologies Ball will have found the metamorphosis not entirely unlike something from Cinderella.

Where there had been banner stands, suddenly there were immaculately-dressed tables; where once had stood an industrial-looking performance arrangement for DJs was now a stage occupied by a jazz trio and gramophone players; a space that had held an assortment of flyers and cables was now a fully-fledged food preparation area for Fudge.

The contribution that the team at Fruit made to the expo’s success was a valuable one. However, the entertainment and food on offer at the Old Technologies Ball was also first class and made this the highlight of an extremely diverse programme.  A classy night that exceeded all expectations included the Lyn Acton Trio, It’s A Wind Up gramophone DJs and close-up magician Dominic Li.

Events were nicely rounded off at the Sunday film screenings, when Havi Ibrahim’s Wait was shown in its entirety and a chilled-vibe ensued.

Somebody, somewhere, is probably mumbling under their breath that none of this actually happened. Four days of humberMUD activity?  Whatever will they think of next?

Dave Windass