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Some of you may have noticed that the UK filk convention is getting a little - busy - these days. Some of you may have noticed at Didgeri-12 that even starting at unearthly hours on Saturday and Sunday mornings and running through to late at night that we were still having trouble finding enough time to fit in all the people we want to listen to or for as long as we'd like to hear them for. We certainly did because we had to programme it! Or maybe you've sometimes thought that wonderful as it is, all this lovely music programming does get in the way of simply relaxing and having a chat with all the friends you haven't seen for months.
So what to do, we thought? Ideally, one would add an extra day to the filkcon but that doesn't work because Mondays would be charged at business rates. So we thought what we need is another UK filk con - a sort of Filk Relaxacon. Lightly tech'd, lightly programmed, altogether a chance for a pleasant blend of music and socialising. "Good idea, eh?" we thought, even as it became apparent that having thought of it that it'd be us that'd now have to run the darn thing! So where and when? Logic (aided and abetted by pleasant memories of sunny FilkContinentals, and being able to sit and play in the type of warm sunshine that February conventions in Milton Keynes are not noted for) dictated that since our other major UK filk events are February and Easter, it should be in the summer.
However we will confess that apathy was winning out until a Smitty that shall be nameless suggested that we run it in association with the Unicon. That they had already done the legwork and sorted the site; they'd give us space, organisation and certainty/economy of scale - and we'd give them extra members! Unicons are also relaxed and friendly, run in (relatively) cheap higher education sites with their onsite accommodation, and are held in summer vacations so would be just the right time of year for our purposes. Plus everyone would get two cons for the price of one! Sounded like a good idea, so we asked next year's Unicon and they said "Yes". So we were lumbered...
Hence HarmUni!
HarmUni will be a lightly programmed, minimal tech, summer filk relaxacon to be held in association with Eboracon, Unicon 2001 in York on August Bank Holiday weekend, Friday 24th to Sunday 26th August 2001. The venue is Langwith College in York University, a large site with plentiful parking (usually rather a problem in York) but within easy reach of the city. The city centre is approximately 20 minutes walk away, or a £3 taxi ride (we're told) from the train station. There will be no programming on Bank Holiday Monday, but you will be able to stay on at the college on Sunday & Monday nights if you so choose so that you can go play the tourist in York, an exceedingly interesting place to be with the National Railway Museum and the Yorvik Viking centre among the varied attractions.
HarmUni's guests are Ju and Katy (Juliane Honisch and Kerstin Dröge).
Membership costs £25 (£20 for students & the unemployed (proof of status will be required at the door)) and accommodation is £22 per person per night (B&B). The accommodation is University rooms usually occupied by students so is almost entirely single rooms, though there are other B&Bs in the area if you can't bear the thought of not sharing a bed/room with your SO. Accommodation must be booked in advance - please don't turn up on the day and hope to get a room. When booking rooms you will need to pay £15 deposit up front (this is required by the University).
Anyone who joins HarmUni is also joining Eboracon and will receive their publications and be able to attend their programming, and vice versa. The guests to Eboracon are Douglas Hill (a children's SF author), Anne Gay & Stan Nichols and Pete Morwood & Diane Duane, and their committee consists of Sparks, Tim Kirk, Sarah Farmer, Heather McLaren and Ben Warner. Their programme will include a feel for the history of SF & fandom, showings of 2 movies at the onsite cinema, ghost story telling, a science of juggling workshop and a disco.
HarmUni is brought to you by Lissa & Phil Allcock, Tim & Annie Walker and Smitty. Yes, we know we only just ran a filk convention, but after that we think we deserve something more relaxing! It also meant we had a reasonable (or possibly even unreasonable) amount of profit that we wanted to put back into filk fandom by subsidising a summer convention and guests at same. We do know that that is many more people than are needed to run a convention of this nature, but like we said, we want the chance to be able to relax at this con too!
We intend to take advantage of the slow paced nature of this convention to encourage instabands, and sets from people who either don't usually have sets of their own due to being swallowed up by some of the big groups and bands performing at the main convention, or are intimidated by the more formal concert atmosphere there. We would also like to encourage a few workshops and maybe even a bit of dancing, items which are very successful at FilkContinental. Above all we want people to have a good time relaxing with their friends, with as much or as little music as they want.
So join HarmUni. Or Eboracon. Either way it's buy con, get con free...