Od ovog je ljeta Istra Inspirit ekipa bogatija za dvije izuzetne i (multi)talentirane osobe koje su nam se pridružile na našim putovanjima kroz vrijeme kao glazbena i glumačka podrška. Supružnici Anka Kovač-Augustiny i Samuel Augustiny neumorno su radili cijelo ljeto ne bi li našim dragim gostima, zajedno s ostatkom naše theatre & gourmet ekipe, priuštili nezaboravne doživljaje.

Anka Kovač-Augustiny i Samuel Augustiny, vječno nasmijan dvojac koji je pratio Istra Inspirit ovo ljeto… Predstavite nam se ukratko. Čime se sve bavite i kako izgleda vaš život kada nema Inspirita?

Mi smo zaista jedan veseo i razigran dvojac bez kormilara ;-). Samuel je inženjer građevine, dobrovoljni vatrogasac, spasioc na vodi, strastveni motorist i glumac amater po rođenju. Ja sam magistirica glazbe – smjer fagot, uskoro magistrica prava sa specijalizacijom u međunarodnim odnosima, life coacher i glumica amaterka od 6. godine života.

Kad nismo dio super Istra Inspirit tima, živimo punim plućima, putujući barem jednom godišnje na neku novu za nas neotkrivenu destinaciju.

Samuel piše članke za njemačku Wikipidiju i strastveni je sakupljač poklopaca od vrhnja za kavu koji se u Švicarskoj proizvode s različitim motiva, od prirode i životinja do znamenitosti neke regije ili država. Osim toga, na magisteriju je iz mehanike budući da nije tipični građevinar, već pomalo neobičan i zainteresiran za aereonautiku i industriju satelita.

Ja sam trenutno jako usmjerena na razvoj programa „El Sisteme“u Hrvatskoj kroz udrugu SO-DO*, te svog programa za učenje stranog jezika uz pomoć glazbe za predškolsku djecu pod nazivom Rin Tin Tin. Osim toga, održavam solističke i komorne koncerte, pomažem ljudima kroz life coaching, puno čitam, učim za pravo, radim na jednom patentu vezno uz ekologiju…

*Udruga SO-DO (Sustav Orkestara Djece i Omladine, www.so-do.hr ) je udruga koja promiče u Republici Hrvatskoj socijalno-glazbeni program poznat u svijetu pod nazivom El Sistema. El Sistema je projekt nastao prije 40 godina u Venezueli i od tad do danas se proširio po cijelom svijetu. Temelj El Sisteme je okupiti djecu i mlade iz svih društvenih strukutra (različitog imovinskog stanja, vjere, sposobnosti) i omogućiti im kvalitetan razvoj socijalnih vještina kroz glazbu, točnije kroz simfonijsko muziciranje. Svjedoci smo svakodnevog otuđivanja mladih, vjerske nesnošljivosti, izrazene nacionalne netrpeljivosti, netolerantnosti prema različitom, povećanja ovisnosti o drogama i alkoholu među sve mlađom populacijom, problema vršnjačkog nasilja, trgovanja ljudima… SO-DO svojim programom pomaže integraciji djece i mladih kroz glazbeno stvaralaštvo, uči ih socijalnim vještinama, kvalitetnom komuniciranju i slušanju, brizi jedno za drugo, prihvaćanju ljepote različitosti, te stvaranjem mladih lidera koji znaju što žele i brinu se ne samo za vlastiti razvoj, nego i za dobrobit šire zajednice.

Anka, koje sve instrumente svirate i kako se rodila ljubav prema njima?

Završila sam srednju glazbenu  školu za flautu, ali sam svoje glazbeno putovanje započela s blok flautom. U četvrtom razredu srednje škole zaljuibila sam se u fagot, ali sam bila uvjerena da sam prestara za početak sviranja istog. Stoga sam nekoliko godina kao svoju tihu patnju skrivala tu ljubav. Školske godine 2002./2003. sam u Zagrebu počela učiti fagot, budući da u Puli još uvijek ne postoji mogućnost učenja fagota u glazbenoj školi. Nakog svega 2 godine upisala sam muzičku akademiju na kojoj sam i magistrirala. Osim toga, zaljubila sam se u okarine preko svoje drage prijateljice Nataše Dragun. Najdraža okarina mi je bass okarina zbog topline zvuka. Najnovija ljubav mi je handpan drum, vrsta melodijskog limenog udarala, u kojeg sam se zaljubila kad sam slučajno preko YouTube-a čula predivnu skladbu Hang Massive – Once Again.

Fotografija govori bolje od riječi. Handpan drum

Rodom ste iz Pule, ali živite u Švicarskoj. Kako izgleda vaš tipičan radni dan kada ste u Švicarskoj?

Moj radni dani su sve samo ne tipični. Kod mene nema rutine – svaki dan je izazov za sebe. Kako sam sama sebi šef, tako se i svaki moj radni dan razlikuje ovisno od toga što je u tome trenutni prioritet.

A kako je to bilo u Inspiritu?

Ovo ljeto s Inspiritom je bilo zaista nezaboravno. I Samuelu i meni je osjećaj kao da smo se ponovno susreli s obitelji koja živi po svijetu. Jutarnje probe na otvorenom, poslijepodnevna uzbuđenja kroz pripreme za večernju izvedbu, predstava i druženje uz pivu nakon svega. Sve to učinilo je ovo ljeto nezaboravnim iskustvom, za koje se nadamo da će se i sljedećih sezona ponavljati.

Koje trenutke iz Inspirita ćete posebno pamtiti? Možete li izdvojiti neki detalj ili Inspirit doživljaj koji se posebno urezao u sjećanje?

Svaki novi projekt koji smo radili s Inspiritom bio mi je poseban na svoj način. Prema svakom od njih imam neku posebnu emocijonalnu vezu i baš ako se jako potrudim mogu reći da mi je Morganovo blago onako intimno najdraži projekt. Ali, onda se sjetim Crispa, moje prve suradnje s Istra Inspiritom, pa  Kupelwiesera na Brijunima, Vodnjanskih štorija, Jules Verna u Pazinu… i više nisam baš sigurna.

Što vam je davalo snagu u težim i stresnim trenucima?

Moram priznati da stres i težinu kroz cijelo vrijeme suradnje nisam osjetila. Istra Inspirit je zaista dobro uigrana ekipa. Bile su to sve tekuće sitnice nesporazuma oko ponekog vremena probe ili nekih preklapanja događaja na koja se jedva stizalo, ali sve u svemu ništa neuobičajeno za velike projekte kao što je Inspirit koji uključuju puno ljudi različitih vještina.

Kakvi su Anka i Samuel kada uspiju naći vrijeme za sebe? Što volite, što vas najviše inspirira i motivira u životu?

Samuel i Anka su dvoje velike razigrane djece koja znaju kako uživati u životu i veseliti se malim stvarima. Obožavamo putovati i upoznavati nove ljude, družiti se. A najviše volimo debatirati, što se ponekom usputnom promatraču čini raspravljanjem, ali nama je to samo gimnastika za mozak.

I za kraj, može jedna poruka za naše čitatelje… Podijelite s nama vaš životni moto i tajnu vaših uvijek nasmijanih lica

Tajna je vrlo jednostavna i stane u četiri rečenice.

1. Ne čini drugima ono što ne želiš da drugi čine tebi.
2. Nema problema – ima samo izazova.
3. Budi iskren prema sebi i drugima.
4. I najvažnije, nikad ne odustaj od svojih snova.

Hvala Istra Ispiritu za ostvarenje nekih naših snova. <3

Fotografije: privatna arhiva Anke Kovač-Augustiny i arhiva Istra Inspirita

Post Iza kulisa Inspirita – intervju s Ankom Kovač-Augustiny je prvi puta viđen na Istra Inspirit Blog.

Post Quote of the day #kupelwieserbrijuni je prvi puta viđen na Istra Inspirit Blog.

It’s Wednesday, 25th of August 2014. After many of the rainy days we had in this weird unexpected summer season, the sunshine has finaly found its way to us.:) You just wanted to lay down and finally start a vacation! But, this strange word ‘vacation’ is something Inspirit team is not really familiar with. We were still working, preparing for our newest event – Morgan’s treause in Dvigrad.

Are all the costumes here? When does the makeup sart? Do we have enough oil for the torches? Is everybody here?  Where will we hide the treasure, and where the maps?

It was crazy:) Among the pile of questions slowly rising in our heads, we did not even notice that Saša’s table started to have the ”post-it-colour”. Those were the names of the guests who booked their tickets. We had to start counting, cause the places were limited. Yup, it was true, the show was sold out. Just like that! In matter of minutes, hours, just one day of not looking and you have a table full of bookings. Everything was clear – the pirates conquered our audience before they even started:)

And really, Morgan’s treasure turned out to be the fastest sold event of the season. Aaand – an event people still talk about months later, with the same excitement we started dancing and singing with, while letting the pirates take us away. It was awsome:) The audience clapping and singing:) It was worth doing a musical – it gets people going:) We were so proud, going in our minds through all things we’ve been through trying to put this together, fighting the rain and the logistics:) At this moment we knew we revived one more legend and presented the ruins of a beautiful medieval town in a new way:)

It was Dvigrad’s turn

It all started one rainy autumn day when Inspirt team was getting back from Zagreb, where we had a presentation. We started to talk about Dvigrad and its legends realizing this little town had so much to offer. It had to be Inspirit place:) We started researching, networking and talking to everyone who could get this story and be related to it. A big help and encouragement came to us from the Općina Kanfanar and its chief Sandro Jurman, who carried the same idea about Dvigrad as we did:) They were with us 100% , all the way. They recognized this opportunity as chance to promote their municipality and as a chance for valorization of their tangible and intangible heritage. But not just that – it was a way to get more tourists, and more people in this unknown place.

Together we got this Inspirit story up and included the little ones form Kanfanar kindergarten, letting them feel the pirate passion themselves, and also the folklore group ”Dvigrad’‘ who performed some traditional dances before the actors came to the scene. They showed us some dances which were danced before the plague ruined this town. Having our great art-director Petra Blašković again, we had no doubts this story will get big. We could finally see the final product:). Her imagination and knowledge proved once again her greatness:)

Why is Morgan special?

In the third year of our existence, we still revive the legends and stories through our Inspirit events, and for the end of the season we wanted to do a step further, something that will elevate this story on a complitely new level. Morgan’s treasure had to be that – something different. And it was – the first INSPIRIT MUSICAL  in which original music took the spotlight. We are not talking about a Brodway musical, but an Istrian themed interactive show, done in Inspirit way, that made people sing with us:) 

”What will we do with the drunken sailor? What will we do with the drunken sailor? What will we do with the drunken sailor early in the morning?”

And so this show included fire-eaters, breakdance dancers and parkour artists, and musicians! We did not let the audience be passive; our pirates turned them into their fellow crew-man and asked them to dance and sing, play games and in the end – even find the treasure by themselves! Many surprises in the show triggered different reactions; from getting empathy for the turbulent life of Henry Morgan to getting really surprised when the actors jumped over their dinner tables, playing in their – what would usualy be – ‘audience zone’. There is no audience zone and no stage in Inspirit – the whole world is a stage:) Of course, we cannot forget the one true pirate dinner – a menu created for this purpose, which fitted perfectly into the story.

Today, when the new season is so close, we still laugh remembering the faces of our audience, while going through beautifly reviewed events. We are satisfied! We revived another legend, another forgotten place got its new role. And you? Do you want to know how do the ‘‘Pirates of the Caribbean” look when done in Istrian way? See you this year on Morgan’s treasure!!!

If you wish to join us in 2015 on Morgan’s treasure, klick

here

and you can reserve or book your tickets :)!

DATES: 

25.06.2015 – 19:30 18.08.2015 – 19:30

Post How did Morgan end up in Dvigrad je prvi puta viđen na Istra Inspirit Blog.

Ladies and gentlemen, please make yourself comfortable. We are about to start a story about Tourism forum of Istria, organized by the Tourist Board of Istria and retelled from Istra Inspirit’s perspective.
The congress hall of Lone hotel is filled with numerous representatives of tourist institutions, local tourist boards, the winners of „Zlatna koza – Capra d’oro“ award, and reporters ready with their cameras to catch the most important moments of this annual reunion of employees in tourism.

Minister of Tourism Darko Lorencin and president of The Region of Istria Valter Flego held the introductory speech – a look back to the tourist season behind us. They emphasized the challenge this season represented due to the fact that we had 40 rainy days (I believe this is a sufficient reason to stop relaying on the famous 3S concept – sea, sun and sand – of tourism development; isn’t it?). After, Mr. Milo Sršen greeted everybody and the „Zlatna koza – Capra d’oro“ award was handed over to this year’s winners. That little golden goat took us back to the end of 2012, when Istra Inspirit was awarded with the same prize just after the very first season of our experiences.  The official part was done but but many interesting presentations were yet to come. The first one was one of Želimir Kramarić, the assistant of Minister of Tourism, who presented possibilities of achieving co-financing from EU funds. Intoxicated with all those euros he talked about, we were relaxed during the next presentation, the one about diffuse hotels, which was presented by Klara Trošt Lesić and Marinela Dropulić Ružić from the Institute of Agriculture and Tourism in Poreč. This interesting and innovative approach in creating an tourist offer can be very well applied in some places in Istria, such as Svetvinčenat or Završje, who are already thinking about similar ideas. We can see a good practice example on Sicily where diffuse hotels are already very much developed. But, there is something that we do not have an example for, something that is unique and impossible to copy… Guess what? Istra Inspirit, of course.

And there was Manuela, proudly walking up to the podium, still not sure if the presentation will turn out to be just oral – you know, the way peopel used to give presentations centuries ago. After all, historical stagings are one of the key elements of Istra Inspirit and Manuela would probably find a connection which would explain it all with much sense :-). Our journey began. We started our time machine with „Travel through time“ video and Istrian history was once again revived. An then… double-clicking the mouse to open Prezi…To be or no to be?

To be!!!

Using the most imaginative way, we  introduced the audience with all the achievements in the Istra Inspirit project since the beggining until today. We ended the presentation the same way we started it – with a video. This time it was Petra Blašković, out art director, who presented what Istra Inspirit means to her and what is the difference between these and other theatrical performances.

You can watch the video here.

Listening to Manuela and realising the affection with which she is talking about Inspirit, we realised – all the trouble with Prezi, and all the sleepless nights were worth it. If it would be necessary, we could do it all over again. (In Power point of course! :-)) But this highlight of the Frum (:-)) did not end here, because we stayed and listened to a number of presentation afterwards – one very interesting about candidating Pula and Istra for the European Capital of Culture of 2020. (Vlatka Kolarević) and also  the presentation about the effects of the visual content on the Internet we should always think about (Philippe Boutié).

After an interesting morning and afternoon, we continued to hang over lunch, and then … a surprise for all of us! Above our heads two heads have emerged – two actual giants came out of nowhere to invite us to the afterparty. I quickly realised these were not any giants but Istra Inspirit giants – Miro i Sedina Cerovac – not even I knew they were coming. The atmosphere in the nightclub was ‘the crazy seventies’ and I believe everybody pressed some kind of button in their head – a switch mood button. There was a lot of dancing, singing and an occasional cocktail :-). With a lot of fun we ended this year’s Forum and we congratulate again to the Tourist Board for the great organization.

I guess we’ll see each other next year!

Post Tourism forum of Istria – The Moment of Truth je prvi puta viđen na Istra Inspirit Blog.

“The feeling one has no time to get anything done provides the pressure that guarantees one does get some things done.” ― Alain de Botton

Surely you have experienced that because of the amount of your current commitments you get a feeling that you will not be able to get anything done. In these situations the clock somehow goes faster, deadlines are screaming out of every door at once, and all of a sudden there is the face of Mr Edward Aloysius Murphy with the evil smile, because his famous law says that ”Everything that can go wrong, probably will”. And again, it does. When you are getting ready for a number of things and you are wondering how in the world you will make it all, the usual thing that happens is – more tasks – and ofcourse they are new, unplanned and urgent.

Such moment are common in Istra Inspirit, and we have trully become doctors of science when it comes to dealing with stress or converting stress into motivation. When I think I will not be able to coordinate all of my obligations in college with those at work there is an image instantly creating in my head – the image of our boss Manuela at 3 after midnight, hitting her laptop keys and writing some project, because the inspiration catches her in the weirdest hours and, well, she has no time during the day for this. And the interesting part is, the more work she has, the faster and better she performs.

This time it was about preparing the presentation which Manuela will give on 12th of December on the Tourism forum of Istria to present all the achievements of Istra Inspirit since the beggining of the project to this date. Aware that Manu is not a person who will follow the boring structure of Power Point presentation and slides full of texts, we decided to make a presentation in a new programe called Prezi, which allows creating a more dynamic and attractive presentation. The fact that we have never used Prezi before – we thought – wouldn’t be problem. And then it all started. We put a sign ”Crazy with Prezi until Friday” and we started our adventure. Parallel to this, my own personal adventure started – creating a presentation for my next class in college – on the most interesting but highly controversial custom of decapitating oxes on the Island of Korčula.

Well, at least it was supposed to begin…

What did begin were our troubles with Prezi: when we put down all the topics Manu will talk about (and realised they already take almoust two A4 pages), we started designing the ”slides” shaped in circles, which will represent these topics. This limited area had to be filled with no less than 83 images that will show what we did in these last 3 years. Also, we experienced the problems with the diacritic characters and ‘saving’ the presentation according to the principle ”a piece on-line – a piece on-computer” (and as you imagine – the internet failed repeatedly), impossibility to adjust fonts or font size, working late hours and early mornings…..these were just some of the benefits of working with Prezi. Then Thursday arrived, the day before the ”D-Day”. We had the major rehearsal to see if Prezi presentation will work on Friday. As I feared – it did not work on any computer other than the one it was made one. Without any hope that I will find a solution by Friday morning, I moved my thoughts away from Prezi. The oxes of Korčula were still waiting for me at home. Of course, by this time, the thought of doing a presentation for my class tomorrow did not even have the courage to cross my mind. I sold my professor the story of how the Power Point presentations, or any presentations for that matter, were the thing of the past, and started explaining to the class, using my arms and legs, and what ever I could find to be useful, how these poor creatures used to be beheaded. Was this brave or crazy? I don’t know. In any case, I hope my professor will not be reading this and if he does – ”Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental”. The rest of my day, evening and night was again reserved for adjusting the Prezi that maybe would not even work the day after…

At 4:55 AM I was awakened by Ognjen’s e-mail. He managed to edit and finish the video of our art director Petra and the final preparation for Manu’s presentations could begin….

A few hours later we were standing at the Lone hotel , still uncertain whether this all will work and me trying to hide my panic. We listen to the opening remarks, the awards ceremony for the „Zlatna koza – Capra d’oro“ reward, speeches on EU Structural Funds,  on diffused hotels….

And then the moment of truth came…

„In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.“ – Bill Cosby

(to be continued…)

Post Tourism forum of Istria. Part 1: getting ready je prvi puta viđen na Istra Inspirit Blog.

The best way you can color the greyness of the autumn days is to laugh, have fun, hang out with friends and play. All this was a part of a study trip to Europa-park last year – one of the biggest and most famous european amusement parks. Why did we go? To get inspired for our own big, mega-fun theme park Inspirit Fantasy park, a project that is being created as we speak.

However, to get to this point, it was necessary to do a lot more. One of the activities in preparing for the park was this study trip to Europa-park. This high quality themed amusement park is one of the largest in Europe (right after Disneyland). Its themes are different countries in Europe and it counts over 100 attracitons and shows, 11 rollercoasters and 13 thematic units, which altogether attracts nearly five million visitors a year. The little town of Rust experinced a real renaissance, young people found good employment opportunity in various areas (finance, marketing, maintainance, acting, animation), and the local residents got the opportunity to sell their products and the possibility of filling their accomodation capacities. (Wouldn’t it be great if we could encourage the development of our Istrian peninsula in the same way?)

Apart from many adrenaline attractions and interesting performances, what amazes me in Europa-park is the care for details; taking care that the visitor feels perfect in every moment. How to achieve that?

We visited Europa-park in the winter and we were concerned that the cold might undermine the impression of the park. Great ideas were stopping this from happening. Everywhere around the park you could find a large trunk of wood in which the fire was burning, and around it guest gathered to talk about their experiences in the park (in some places you could cook your sausage on this fire, which also made a special atmosphere). But, honestly, it is the good company that guarantees good time!

Frozen cheeks and being able to see our breaths in the cold while laughing and talking, fitted perfectly with the Cristmas atmosphere, which defines the park – lights, decorated Christmas trees, artificial and real snow, different caracters and amusement park dolls created this European fairy tale that you do not want to exit. It was impossible to even get bored while waiting in line for a particular attraction because all of the numerous mechanized, very convincing and detailed dolls greeting you and talking to you. Also, there is a large number of actors and entertainers who constantly wander around the park and invite you to take a photo with them.

The Euro-mouses – mascots of the park, were present in every step of the way in many different forms and hardly anyone left the park without one pendant, pen, shirt, cap or any other souvenir with the Euro-mouse’s face on it. This little things will also remind us of the adventures in Europa-park. Crazy rides, exciting attractions and screeming, things that mark each park of this type, are neatly contrasted with Christmas songs and peaceful, happy holiday story between each attraction.

When we started our trip, each person got a paper on which we had to put our ideas and expectations we had of the Europa-park, and also the future Istrian amusement park. Before heading back home, we finished those papers adding all the new ideas we picked up at our adventure. With all the new impressions, ideas were now pouring like water. However, the variety of ideas was interconnected by several key observations about this park: it gives great attention to details – every little ambient element, situation or doll are carefully thought through; also, it is made sure that there are attractions available to all guest profiles; the importance of always giving your guest a chance for interaction was perfectly clear; and last but not least – they created an unforgettable and recognizable brand…

Which new ideas did we get? What will our future amusement park in Istria be like? Wich stories and legends will we guide you trough? No, these are the things we will not yet reveal. Following this blog, our events and experiences, you will discover the future Inspirit Fantasy Park – piece by piece…

Thanks to the help and support of the Croatian National Tourist Board, the University of Pula, the City of Pazin and the Municipality Vrsar we were able to organize this trip.

The study trip was organized due to the preparations for Inspirit Fantasy park – amusement theme park which will be built near Lindar (Pazin). This year The Ministry of Tourism approved funding forpreparing the documentation needed for applying this project on EU funds. Follow information about current activities of Inspirit Fantasy park project on this blog.

Post Europa-park (Rust) – A study trip je prvi puta viđen na Istra Inspirit Blog.