In the last few years, the Dutch local AEGEE-Eindhoven wasn’t very active at the European level, but the new board decided to make a change and discover AEGEE beyond their own city again. Last November, they already organised a European event for their 25th anniversary, and now they got selected to host one of the upcoming Spring Network Meetings (NWM). We spoke to European Affairs responsible Roos-Anne Kniest to find out more about their plans!
The AEGEEan: First of all, can you tell us a bit more about your local? When were you founded, how many members do you have and what kind of activities do you do? What’s special about your local?
Roos Anne: AEGEE-Eindhoven was founded on 22 November 1989, so this year we celebrate our 25th birthday! We have around 120 members at this moment and around 40 of them are active. We organise weekly dinners and drinks and try to have a bigger local activity once in a while. We have around five weekend exchanges per year and invite other locals if there are interesting activities in Eindhoven (like Glow, a light art festival taking place in Eindhoven every year) or a national festival (like Kingsday, a national celebration in honor of our King). Besides that we had a Summer University each year, in the last few years, and we’d like to keep organising one every summer. Our antenna has a mix of different people and diverse cultures and those members make us special. The connection between the board and our members and the connection between the members themselves is very strong and remarkable and our members help the board with a lot of stuff. They are creative and have original ideas. During our history, our members were very active as well. For example AEGEE-TV was founded by AEGEE-Eindhoven members and AEGEE.fm [a web radio, ed.] was also set up by one of our members.
Why did you apply to organise the NWM? When did the idea come up?
In the last few years we haven’t been very active in the network and on the European level of AEGEE, and we wanted to change that. Since we have a European Affair responsible in the board this year, we thought it would be a good opportunity to show other antennae that we can mean something at the European level too! We also want to get our own members more involved at the European level and show them how important it is. The idea started at the end of summer: we had our 25th anniversary in November and wanted to combine that with the Autumn NWM 2014, but unfortunately we didn’t get selected. Luckily our anniversary year wasn’t over yet and we saw a new possibility, the Spring NWM 2015! We are really motivated and so happy that we can organise this NWM!
When will the NWM take place and how many participants are you looking for?
Our NWM will be from Friday 12 until Monday 15 of June. We had some problem with picking a good date but luckily we found one. We hope to have around 30 enthusiastic participants.
Do you already have plans for the NWM?
As said we have our 25th anniversary this year, so we want to combine it with the NWM. The activities will be related to our anniversary theme: In the Light. It’s already visible in the name of the NWM: City of Light (bulbs), referring to a product our city is known for, namely light bulbs.
Why should people apply for NWM Eindhoven? What makes you special?
We have a lot of experience in organising event and we love doing it. There are quite a lot of antennae that keep coming back to Eindhoven because they enjoy our events so much. We are really motivated to organise this NWM and we put as much time and effort in it as possible and we think this will be shown during the event. Besides that, we really want our NWM to be a complete and outstanding event, with a clear theme and vision connected to our anniversary. That’s what makes our NWM different than other NWMs.
Last autumn you had your anniversary. How did you celebrate it?
During our anniversary, we had an event with around 40 participants. We visited Glow and held a city tour with a typical Dutch tradition: the arrival of Sinterklaas [a saint whose birthday is each year celebrated in December with presents for the children, similar to Santa Claus ed.]. And of course we had traditional Dutch birthday games! We had beer tasting where the participants got their own special AEGEE-Eindhoven beer glass. On Saturday we had our big 25th birthday party: we rented a café, invited a DJ and a band and every AEGEE member was welcome. It was a huge success.
Next to all this, you are also organizing a Summer University. What is the plan for your SU, and how do you manage to combine the SU with the preparation for the NWM?
This year we organise the SU together with AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden and AEGEE-Darmstadt. We will try to visit as many amazing cities as possible, including Frankfurt and Amsterdam. We have a lot of new activities planned, like biking to Belgium and creating your own pizza. We have two different committees to organise the SU and the NWM. I am the only one who is in both committees, but as European Events Responsible of the board I feel I should be involved in both events. And of course it is a lot of fun to do it!
How is the cooperation with your Network Commission team going?
Really good! We have a lot of contact and get answers very quickly. We are really happy with our NetCom!
Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen