Dear reader ,
it is my sincere hope that you will be reading this letter while looking at the waves breaking on a white sandy beach and clutching a Margarita (and I do mean the drink!) or another kind of (slightly alcoholic) beverage. After a stressful first half of 2010, I’m sure you deserve and need a long and relaxing holiday.
The month of June and early July has been very busy here at
etma but that’s not really news, I suppose.
On June 21th, we finished our second session of the
European Media Executives Leadership Programme (EMELP) and I dare to say that it was a great success. During one very intense week at the
etma premises fifteen participants worked hard on their
personal leadership styles and were offered a wealth of relevant business information. The reactions were unanimously and overwhelmingly positive. With participants coming from Australia, UK, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Canada and Greece we once again managed to keep our promise and contribute to the creation of a great European professional network of well-informed media people. Thank you to our partners of the for making this a great experience.
Just before launching the EMELP 2010 session I returned from a one-week workshop in Shanghai. This Crossing the Borders between Europe and Asia event was a joint initiative of EDN, Documentary Campus and the Guangzhou Documentary Film festival. I was given the chance – together with some esteemed international colleagues – to work with producers and directors from China, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea (South!), Australia, Spain and Germany. What an incredible experience this was. And as always I had the impression that, as a tutor, I learned at least as much as the participants did, maybe even more. I do love this kind of workshops and there is not one bit of doubt in my mind that they deliver real and tangible results.
On Monday July 5th, I returned from a similar workshop to which I was invited by the Balkan Documentary Center. By the way… are you looking for a good destination for a city trip? Think about Sofia. An amazing town! This time I was invited to assist filmmakers from the Balkan area on their path towards sustainable business practices. I’ve said it before and allow me to repeat myself; the Balkan area is a treasure chamber of talented and motivated people who own an incredible wealth of good stories and they know how to tell them. There’s still a lot of work to be done on the business side of things but they’ll get there soon enough.
I think
etma will be able to assist them in achieving this goal. I can now officially announce that
etma is starting a collaboration with Warsaw based producer and training organiser Dariusz Jablonski (Apple Productions) to set up a branch of the school in Eastern Europe. The content and the delivery of the programme is quite similar to the Strasbourg
online training programme but slightly adapted to the Eastern European situation. Here at
etma we’re very excited about this development and we’re looking forward to a very fruitful collaboration.
I was very pleased that during my one-day visit to Sunny Side of the Doc I was approached by several people who expressed an interest in joining
etma next year or even this year. We do indeed offer the possibility to catch up with the
2010 online training session and start the training in September 2010. Would you be interested in this? Contact
Jörg Winkelmann but do it fast, for the deadline is coming close.
While writing this letter I feel a bit deflated for yesterday a heavy weight was lifted from my shoulders and now I’m struggling with a feeling of void. Yesterday, as a final step we completed the checklist and got all the official papers signed by the
etma president and sent off the Media 2007 application to Brussels. For more than a month
the media management school team has been working on the file and this was an intense and time-consuming experience. A word of thanks to all those of you who sent a letter of support (more than 90!) and / or signed up for
an etma membership in 2011. It’s great to see that our work is being appreciated and that we can count on you. And a word of apology to the assessors - whoever you are - for the size and weight of the file. We tried to make it short and compact but there’s so much
to say about us... Well, you’ll see what I mean when the file lands on your table.
At the moment we’re in full preparation for the second
second online training session in September. We’re all looking forward to have the participants with us again. As far as the
2009 cohort is concerned, we’re now going through the process of assessing their final assignments. This is a long and intensive process that is being conducted in collaboration with our partner and I hope we’ll be able to grant the first diploma degrees somewhere around early October. I don’t think I’m divulging too much when I say that we’ve seen some amazing work arrive on our desks.
This is probably the last letter of the director before September because in August the activity at the media business school will be on the slow burner with several
staff members being on holiday, including myself.
This does not mean that the house will be empty. Should you need information or would you like to talk to us, just
contact us through the usual channels and you’ll find us.
Wishing you a wonderful summer and hoping to hear from you soon, I remain,
Yours sincerely,
Paul Pauwels
Director