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| MEMORABILIA ITS#SEVEN SEVEN part #1 |
| July 29, 2008 |
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...And another ITS, the seventh one, is over. It has brought new friends, new faces, new enthusiasm. New stories will live in our memories and hearts. It has brought new young careers that need our help to continue, develop and receive the right recognition. The way we conceive our job leaves us with lots of work behind us, but also lots of work ahead. It's easy to just organise a competition and then tell people "Ok, you won your prize, you had your 15 minutes of glory. Now you can go, hope you're lucky". That's why many people look puzzled when we tell them we work on ITS the whole year round. They ask "Do you really work all year round for a 4-day event??" That's one of the things that makes ITS different. It's not just a 4-day event. And new ideas to support and give visibility to creativity spring up every day, like the creativity archive ITS#ARCHIVE in the attic of our offices or the editorial project we are working on, THE SEISMOGRAPHER, to collect in a yearly publication all of the creativity that doesn't make it to the finals.
It has been (up to now) another very tough year. Each and very time we tell ourselves we have used up all the energy we had, and then the following year we are surprised by the energy we find within ourselves. Passion, will and the certainty of doing the right thing are very powerful energizers, and the payback is another successful edition of ITS. We're not being presumptuous, we're just collecting the feedback from the dozens of guests who have expressed their compliments to ITS#SEVEN:
Patti Wilson - Fashion Stylist
"Lovely. A really nice experience. Being relaxed and away from everything allowed me to really think. And with such great company. Thank you."
Elisa Palomino - Head of Studio Diane Von Furstenberg
"Again the ITS experience has been a pure pleasure to share with this wonderful family. Thanks to the strong will, hard work and stubbornness of Barbara, ITS has become the biggest platform for young creativity internationally. Thank you for making us all dream year after year."
Gareth Pugh - Fashion Designer
"ITS stands as a fantastic platform to showcase creative talent and hopefully launch the career of a young designer. Financial support and exposure are so important to a designer, and ITS provides both in abundance. It was an an honour to be part of the Jury for ITS#SEVEN."
Umberto Bortoletto - Shoe Designer Salvatore Ferragamo
"The past three days have been exciting, and an experience I will always cherish. Creativity was the key word and something everyone shared. Thanks and see you next year!!!"
Sarah Moon
"When there is an opportunity to help or grant young photographers I am in favour of it and I think this contest was successful in the quality of the work that was shown."
Before we close the office and take a break from work, we still need to do a couple of things. There's thousands of photos of the event we need to choose from to prepare a DVD with a wide selection of ITS#SEVEN pictures. The Multimedia department is working night and day on the ITS#SEVEN video that collects interviews, the awards ceremony, fashion show and a short teaser that sums up the edition. Our press office is in touch with dozens of magazines and newspapers around the world asking for pictures and details, our administration office is checking all payments, and so on and so on. There are even companies that are riding the wave of enthusiasm and are already proposing collaborations and projects for the future. It's like stopping one of those big cruise ships: you don't stop them all at once, it takes some time....
I would like to thank all of my staff for all the hard work and pressure they've been facing to accomplish this little miracle of ours. It is a small passionate team that, like me, is not ready to give up the privilege of doing something different, that can change the life of a young talent.
If we were to have at ITS the worst and most unpolite guests and only one single talent, one single jewel coming up to us with a smile saying "thank you, this is all amazing, I owe you so much, I will never forget" it would be worth it. One out of more than 400. It still would be worth it.
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