Spring Umbro Industries Winners: hear what they have to say
The latest Umbro Industries final was held last weekend, with two Manchester-based creatives walking away with a combined £10,000 in investment for their ideas - Rocksteady Tea Party and The New Mancunian. We spoke to both winners at Saturday's Spring Umbro Industries final before and after they knew they'd been successful, here's what they had to say...
Karen Gabay, Rocksteady Tea Party, who won £7,500
What's the idea behind Rocksteady Tea Party? 'My idea is to have a tea party in a great setting in Greater Manchester, and the backdrop to it will be this great music from the 1950s and 1960s, which has had a big modern influence: rocksteady, jazz, reggae and bluebeat. The idea is that we’ll get the older generation down to the event to teach everyone the dances, because every type of Jamaican music came with its own dance, so it’ll be quite fun to bring these different groups together in this setting.'
What is is about this type of music that you're so passionate about? 'My dad was one of the DJs who used to play this type of music on the soundsystems, so I’ve grown up with it and I’ve got a lot of it in my own record collection. Also, whenever you go to these type of parties, there’s always children up late along with the adults, and there’s this great atmosphere. A lot of students here in Manchester are into this type of music as well now, so I just think it’ll make a great backdrop to a party.'
It's not the type of music that you immediately associate with Manchester, but doesn't it have a long history here? 'Yep, it’s always been here. Millie Stone, who sang My Boy Lollipop, used to own a record shop here in Manchester, and I remember her coming to the Town Hall to show people how to do the Rocksteady dance. A lot of people who are older will remember going out to these dances. It’s a real piece of community history as well, as you get people talking about their memories and experiences. I’ve worked as an archivist, and I’ve got footage of these old events that I want to turn into a film that we’ll screen at the event.'
How did you hear about Umbro Industries, and why did you decide to apply? 'I heard it about through a friend who had also applied, and I thought that as Umbro had quite a cool image they’d be a great group of people to join up with. Also, it’s quite hard to get funding normally for ideas that involve film, so I thought this was a great opportunity for my idea.' We also spoke to Karen after she was announced as a winner, here's what she had to say...
How does it feel to have won? 'It's a great feeling, I have had this idea for some time and so to be able to realise it is most definitely a good thing. I feel really privileged to get the thumbs up from the judges.'
Were you optimistic of success? 'It wasn't sure as there were some great ideas put forward in this round, but I did have some good comments on my page from people saying that they liked the idea and so I was hopeful that the panel would agree.'
Were you nervous presenting in front of the panel? 'I was anxious about it as the panellists are all so established in their own right but once I got settled down, it was an enjoyable experience and the panel made me feel at ease. I was delighted that they didn't ask me to do any dance demonstrations by the way!'
What's the first thing you're going to do with the money? 'I am going to start my research straight away so it will be buying materials so I can start on the pre-production process for the film. There’s people already interested in hosting the event, but the money would allow us to really make them special, more of an event than simply a club night.'
Dan Parrott, The New Mancunian, who won £2,500 to go towards his idea...
What's The New Mancunian all about? There isn’t really a platform for emerging bands and Manchester music in general on TV anymore. It’s something that I really enjoy doing, so the general idea is to be a voice for Manchester acts and bands, and to present them to the outside world. We basically want to have a very simple website, that’s presented like a three-page spread in a magazine, where you’ve got music news and things like that, but most importantly you’ve got video of the bands that you can watch. It’d all be shot with great production values, unlike a lot of music video that you see on the internet, which will hopefully make it stand out. It’s going to be a shop window for Manchester bands, so that whatever happens to them next, they’ll have this amazing bit of footage that they can take with them, really early on in their career.'
Why did you decide to apply to Umbro Industries? 'It’s something that I’m really passionate about, but it’s not cheap, and I don’t have the money to get it off the ground, so it’d be great to have that initial boost to get it off the ground. Also, we want to make the website look great and to launch it with a bit of a bang, so again the money would provide that. Speaking to Dan afterwards, he had this to say...
How does it feel to have won? 'It’s fantastic, the first thing I’ll do is to get on with development, get everything down on paper and work towards getting things moving. I’m going to get in touch with people I know who can pass on advice so I can build the best possible site, and then get on with filling it with great content.'
Would you say that Umbro Industries is a good thing for Manchester? 'It’s quite nerve-wracking, but it’s helped to get some really great projects off the ground. With other sources of funding, there’s plenty of hoops to jump through, but with Umbro Industries it’s all about the strength of your idea and the person presenting it, which makes it much more approachable.' If you think you've got what it takes to impress the Umbro Industries judges, get over to the website and submit your idea. You could be in with the chance of winning up to £10,000 to fund your creations!