Otaniemi in Espoo will serve as the Athletes' Village for both games, accommodating more than 4,000 athletes and other delegates.

Seven students of hospitality management have been recruited as guides to serve visitors in the Athletes' Village in Otaniemi and Tapiola as well as during the disabled games at the Leppävaara Stadium. In addition, a map of services in the area will be produced and guided tours of Tapiola will be arranged for athletes and the media. The Tapiola Guide project is implemented by Espoo Convention & Marketing.

"The Tapiola Guides will stand out from the crowd with their retro-spirited lime-green outfits based on the old guides' uniform. The original Tapiola Guides served visitors to the Garden City from the end of the 1950s to the late 1970s," explains Project Manager Lea Rintala from Espoo Convention & Marketing.

In addition to assisting visitors, the purpose of the project is to utilize the attention received by the games to strengthen the image of Tapiola and Espoo in general as an interesting city that is well worth a visit. The games will attract visitors from more than 200 countries.

The Tapiola Guide project is sponsored by the local newspaper Länsiväylä-lehti, the Tapiola entrepreneurs' association Tapiola Toimii ry, Voglia, the City of Espoo and the joint education authority for the Espoo region (ESPA).

www.helsinki2005.fi

www.espoo2005.fi  

Special offer for groups (minimum 10 persons):

Museum visit & dinner at Tarvaspää & Organ Night and Aria Festival’s concert
From EUR 59 per person

The offer is valid for Thursday evenings between Jun 16 and Sep 1, 2005.
Bookings must be made no later than three weeks before the date desired.

Bookings:
Organ Night and Aria Festival, tel. +358 9 8674 4120, e-mail: [email protected]

See below the information about Organ Night and Aria Festival and the exhibition at the Gallen-Kallela Museum.

Organ Night and Aria Festival
Jun 9 to Sep 1, 2005

Our 20^th festival will pamper the visitor with a diverse and high standard summer programme. The concerts at 22.00 on Thursdays at the medieval grey stone Espoo Cathedral will provide an atmospheric setting for both recitals and major works. Visitors can expect to see and hear star performers, talented young artists and international guests, among others operasingers Matti Salminen, Jaakko Ryhänen, Dilbèr and Nicolai Gedda, organists Rolf Henry Kunz and Kalevi Kiviniemi, and violinist brothers Pekka and Jaakko Kuusisto. 
See the programme on the festival’s homepage at www.urkuyofestival.fi.

Organ Night and Aria Festival
Pappilantie 2, FI-02770 Espoo, Finland
tel. +358 9 8674 4120
fax +358 9 863 0082
e-mail: [email protected]
www.urkuyofestival.fi

Far from the World and its Deceits – Artists’ Studios from Log Cabins to Boudoirs
10 June -11 September 2005
The Gallen-Kallela Museum

”It is a rare pleasure to see a strong personality placed in a strong setting. The images of primal times that came to mind within those rough-hewn timber walls! The visions from afar that would come to the soul in this wonderful wilderness.” (Emil Cedercreutz)

This exhibition explores the mysterious world of artists’ homes, from log cabins in the wilderness to the Bohemian salons of the cities. The exhibition features, among other artists, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Elin Danielson, Albert Edelfelt, Pekka Halonen, Eero Järnefelt, Helene Schjerfbeck and Emil Wikström.

The Gallen-Kallela Museum is open:
Summer (15 May - 31 Aug) daily 10-18
Winter (1 Sep - 14 May) Tue-Sat 10-16, Sun 10-17

Tel. +358 9 541 3388
Gallen-Kallelan tie 27, FI-02600 Espoo, Finland
[email protected]
www.gallen-kallela.fi

The new premises will be located on the tenth floor of the landmark Keskustorni tower at the centre of Tapiola.

The new address will be Keskustorni, 10th floor, FI-02100 Espoo.
All the other contact information will remain the same.

Part of the HUT student village in Otaniemi will be turned into the Athletes' Village, and the Dipoli Congress Centre will be the village's service centre.

The World Championships organizers have signed a lease agreement for Dipoli with HUT and Dipoli, a catering agreement with Sodexho, a lease agreement for Otahalli with Otahalli Oy and an agreement concerning a number of student flats with the Helsinki Area Student Housing Foundation.

All 3,000 participating athletes and other team members will be housed in student flats in Otaniemi. Dipoli will provide the catering and various other services required by the teams, including meeting facilities. The Otahalli hall and the Otaniemi sports grounds will serve as the athletes' training arena.

For students of HUT, the games will mean the completion of six new blocks of student flats five years earlier than anticipated.

"The World Championships project accelerated the City of Espoo's planning procedures to the point where building work on the flats began well ahead of schedule," explains Rauli Oikarinen, Secretary General of the HUT Students' Union.

The HUT Students' Union is delighted to host the athletes in Otaniemi. Espoo has provided the location for the Athletes' Villages on four previous occasions.

"HUT students form a significant group in the World Championships organization and they work in various voluntary tasks in the Athletes' Village. It's only natural - the students know the village, and many of the athletes are of a similar age and students themselves," Oikarinen says.

Just a few days after the conclusion of the 10th IAAF World Championships in Athletics next summer, the Athletes' Village in Espoo's Otaniemi will be occupied by athletes and other delegates of the IPC Athletics Open European Championships.

The world's largest sports event for physically disabled and visually impaired athletes in 2005 will bring together 750 athletes from 50 countries. The 200 competition events will take place at Espoo's refurbished Leppävaara stadium.

Organized by Finnish Athletics, the Finnish Paralympic Commitee, the IAAF World Championships 2005 Organization, the City of Espoo and the Athletics Clubs of Espoo, Espoo 2005 will be a pioneering event in the organization of non-disabled and disabled games by the same organizing commitee outside the Olympic or paralympic level.

"A joint organization naturally brings significant synergy benefits. But above all, Espoo 2005 will send out a message of pluralistic sports culture. One of the aims of these games is to help disabled athletes become part of athletics on the wider scale in addition to promoting awareness and appreciation of paralympic sports," explains Katariina Järveläinen, Coordinator for the IPC Athletics Open European Championships.

Finland's recent succes in the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games has raised general domestic interest in paralympic sports at just the right time.

"Athletics in Finland's strongest area in disabled sports, and our Paralympic medallists in wheelchair racing, javelin and shot-put are looking forward to entering their home games in their best form. The results they achieved and the surrounding publicity are likely to encourage more disabled people to participate in top-level sports in Finland even further", Järveläinen says.

The festival will be opened by a Finnish premiere of Aleksi Salmenperä’s drama comedy Lapsia ja aikuisia. Other top premieres at the festival include Walter Salles’ The Motorcycle Diaries (United States / Germany / Great Britain / Argentina 2004), Jaak Kilmi and Rene Reinumägi’s Sigade revolutsioon (Estonia / Finland 2004) and Ken Loach’s Ae Fond Kiss (Great Britain / Italy / Germany / Spain 2003). Sweet Sixteen (Great Britain / Germany / Spain) from 2002 is another Loach film included in this year’s Espoo Ciné programme.

Richard Stanley retrospective

A foreign guest to Espoo Ciné confirmed at this early stage is the legendary horror film director Richard Stanley, whose work is presented in the form of a retrospective at the festival. The series includes the modern cult classics Hardware (Great Britain 1990) and Dust Devil (Great Britain / South Africa 1992) as well as three documentary films: The Voice of the Moon (Great Britain 1990) is a lyric recording of Afghan rebels fighting the Russians in late 80s, The Secret Glory (Great Britain 2001) deals with Nazi occultism and particularly SS officer Otto Rahn’s attempts to find the Holy Grail, and The White Darkness (Great Britain 2002) records the Haitians’ voodoo culture and the American troops’ crusade-like invasion of the country.

Méliès d'Argent competition series

As a member of the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation, in 2004 Espoo Ciné arranges a Méliès d'Argent (Silver Méliès) competition for European fantasy films for the sixth time. Films to be screened in the competition series include for example Julian Richards’ horror piece The Last Horror Movie (Great Britain 2003) as well as María Ripolli’s stylish fantasy thriller Utopía (France / Spain 2003) starring Tchéky Karyo (Nikita, Dobermann) and Najwa Nimri (Abre los ojos, Lucía y el sexo). The competition series consists of at least five new European genre films and as many short films of the fantasy genre. In addition, the Espoo Ciné fantasy series presents other interesting novelties of the field.

Documentaries

Besides fiction films, Espoo Ciné also offers a miniature series of a few interesting documentaries, featuring for example Morgan Spurlock’s controversial MacDonalds documentary Super Size Me (USA 2004) as well as Eyal Silvan and Audrey Maurion’s Aus Liebe zum Volk (I Love You All, Germany 2004), a film depicting the revolution in a former Stasi agent’s conception of the world. Finnish documentaries presented at the festival are Erja Dammert’s award-winning Sotalapset (2003) and Veikko Aaltonen’s Työväenluokka (2004).

Pink Zone

In recent years, an annual look at the gay genre has become a regular part of the Espoo Ciné festival programme, and this year is no exception. This series of screenings includes for example Mark Rucker’s camp drag-Technicolor-melodrama Die Mommie Die (USA 2003) and John Greyson’s Proteus, a Jarmanesque story about gay love on a South African prison island in the 18th century.

For children and youth
 
In honour of the Filmihillo theme year, the traditional children’s series at Espoo Ciné in 2004 is even more extensive and international than before. The series features for example Petter Naess’ Bare Bea (Norway / Sweden 2004), an outspoken depiction of the first sexual experiences of 16-year-old girls; Teresa Fabik’s Hip hip hora (Sweden / Finland 2004), an investigation into young people’s need for the acceptance of others; Dominique Standaert’s Hop (Belgium 2002), an original story of an African boy’s efforts to retrieve his deported father; and Ineke Houtman’s Polleke (Netherlands 2003), a delicate portrayal of the first love of 11-year-old Polleke and the clashing of cultures. The festival has received Filmihillo support for the series from the Ministry of Education, and the programme has been realised in co-operation with the Espoo Cultural Board. In addition to films, children are offered film critique workshops at the festival.
 

Ticket prices according to screening 5,50/3,50 euros (serial card 45 euros, incl. 10 tickets and a catalogue). The price of the catalogue bought separately 4,50 euros. Advance ticket sales 2 – 23 August tel. (09) 8165 7215.

Espoo Ciné films are transported by DHL.

Festival web pages at www.espoocine.org

More information: tel. (09) 466 599, [email protected]

All rights to programme changes are reserved.

A new national study:
Meetings in the first quarter attracted over 1.2 million participants

It is estimated that more than 1.2 million delegates participated in international and domestic meetings arranged in Finland during the first quarter.
 
The estimation is based on a national meetings market study commissioned by the Finland Convention Bureau (FCB) and the Bureau’s first quarterly review.

Of the total number of participants, 94.4 per cent took part in domestic meetings and the remaining 5.6 per cent in international ones. The number of international and domestic meetings totalled 29,530. Of this total, domestic meetings represented 94.5 per cent and international meetings 5.5 per cent.

The study, which was conducted by Taloustutkimus, was launched this January. Data is collected on a monthly basis from 780 commercial meetings venues: congress centres, hotels and other meetings facilities throughout Finland. All types of meetings are compiled in the statistics: congresses arranged by international organizations, other international meetings such as company meetings, and all domestic meetings.

The replies received in the first quarter covered 63 per cent of the total capacity of the venues recruited for the study. This coverage percentage has been used to estimate the proportion of those who didn’t submit a reply and to approximate the above-mentioned total numbers of meetings and participants.

When comparing participant numbers in international meetings, the Uusimaa province takes first place, followed in statistics by the provinces of Lapland and Varsinais-Suomi. Uusimaa’s share of the total number of domestic participants at meetings is approximately 29 per cent. The next largest proportions were attained by the provinces of Varsinais-Suomi and Päijät-Häme.

Largest numbers of international meetings in Espoo

When comparing the number of international meetings in FCB’s member cities, Espoo charges past Helsinki into first place. Helsinki takes pole position in participant numbers at international meetings, followed by Espoo and Turku. Helsinki had the largest number of participants in domestic meetings, at approximately 31 per cent of the total for the whole country. The runner-ups were Lahti and Espoo.

Participant average of 42

The average size of domestic and international meetings was 42 delegates. The duration of domestic meetings was 1.4 days on average and that of international meetings 1.3 days.

The first comprehensive study of the Finnish meetings market

The Finland Convention Bureau is an organization that coordinates marketing for Finnish meetings and congresses. Currently 20 cities and approximately 80 companies that offer meetings and congress services participate in the bureau’s activities.

FCB has previously only compiled statistics for international organizations’ congresses held in Finland. During this year, the number of domestic and international meetings and the impact of meetings activities on the economy and employment will be assessed for the first time on the national level. The next quarterly review will be released in August.

www.fcb.fi

The event's theme is "A Creative City - Quality Services".

The TERVE-SOS 2004 training event is expected to have 2000 participants, and over 6000 visitors are expected to attend the exhibition. The training event will be organised in cooperation between STAKES and the City of Espoo. The exhibition will be organised by Helsinki Fair Ltd Wanha Satama.

The event's preliminary programme (in Finnish) will be available in January 2004. The seminars will be mainly in Finnish.

Further information in Internet: http://www.stakes.fi/tervesos/espoo/index_en.html

Dipoli Congress Centre: http://www.dipoli.hut.fi/english/index.html

Otahalli: http://www.otahalli.fi/

The mediaeval greystone Espoo Cathedral will provide a perfect atmospheric setting for vocal and instrumental performances and for major works of sacred music. The festival performers will include leading international artists, choirs, orchestras and ensembles.

Enquiries:

Organ Night and Aria Festival
Pappilantie 2, FI-02770 Espoo
Tel. +358 (0)9 8674 4120
Fax. + 358 (0)9 863 0082
[email protected]
www.urkuyofestival.fi  

World Wide Web Inventor recieves one million euros prize from Finnish Technology Award Foundation

World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee was today named recipient of the first-ever Millennium Technology Prize. The honour, which is accompanied by one million euros, is bestowed by the Finnish Technology Award Foundation as an international acknowledgement for an outstanding technological innovation that directly promotes people's quality of life, is based on humane values, and encourages sustainable economic development.

"The Web has significantly enhanced many people's ability to obtain information central to their lives," says Pekka Tarjanne, former secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union and chairman of the International Award Selection Committee. "The Web is encouraging new types of social networks, supporting transparency and democracy, and opening up novel avenues for information management and business development."

Work on the Web continues
Berners-Lee, with a background in system design in real-time communications and text-processing software development, invented the Web while working at CERN, world's largest particle physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. The web was first made available to the public in 1991. Berners-Lee created the first server, browser, and protocols central to the operation of the Web: the URL address, HTTP transmission protocol and HTML code.

Currently Berners-Lee works at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), in Boston. He was born in London, UK in 1955 and graduated from Oxford University in the UK. In 2003, Berners-Lee was named a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his pioneering work.

Open nomination procedure
Seventy-eight innovators from 22 countries were nominated for the Millennium Technology Prize 2004 in four technological fields: health care and life sciences; communication and information; new materials and processes; and energy and the environment.

Berners-Lee's selection was made unanimously by the board of the Finnish Technology Award Foundation at an April 14 meeting based on the recommendation of the International Award Selection Committee. Berners-Lee will be lauded at an award ceremony at Helsinki's Finlandia Hall on June 15, 2004, held in conjunction with the inaugural Millennium Technology Conference, "Future Society - Future Technology."

The Finnish Technology Award Foundation is an independent fund established in 2002 and funded by the Finnish public and private sectors in partnership. Future prizes will be awarded biennially.

The Millennium Technology Conference in Dipoli Congress Centre 13-15 June, 2004
The Millennium Technology Conference provides an international forum for interaction between decision makers, leaders of opinion, scientists and specialists working in different disciplines. The aim is to generate new insights and future scenarios based on ground-breaking technological paradigms. Innovations based on scientific research which improve quality of life, support human values and lead to favourable economic development will be the subject of specific attention.

The conference also celebrates the world's biggest recongnition for technological innovation, the Millennium Technology Prize, which will be awarded for the first time on 15th June 2004.

The conference takes place from 13th June to 16th June 2004.

Further information:
www.dipoli.hut.fi/english/index.html
www.technologyawards.org

The exhibition sheds light on the breathtakingly rich cultural diversity of China. Featuring dresses, jewellery, adornments and ornaments, masks and instruments, borrowed from the Yunnan Museum in southwest China, the exhibition represents 55 minority nationalities living in China.

The diverse selection of items covering half of the immense land area of China explores the ethnic origin, history, religious beliefs, aesthetic preferences and other complex issues which make up a people's cultural identity - a condition of survival for minority cultures.

The exhibition is a token of the uniquely rich material heritage of China's ethnic minorities.

In connection with The Lotus and the Dragon exhibition, do not forget to visit the museum shop specialising in Chinese textiles and jewellery.

Espoo Art Museum Gallery Otso
Ahertajankuja 4, Tapiola
02100 Espoo

tel. +358 (0)9 8165 7512

http://weegee.espoo.fi/otso

Digital television, multimedia and mobile phones are a few examples of new everyday applications made possible by the development of signal processing in the last decades. In medicine, new methods for finding relevant information hidden in large volumes of data are being introduced to areas such as medical imaging and genome research. Signal processing methods are even tested in the analysis of economic trends to find previously unnoticed regularities.

Signal processing research in several fields in the Nordic countries sits among the best the world has to offer. The Finnish mobile communications success story of Nokia, for example, would never have been possible without leading-edge technical knowledge. The world's first ever NMT and GSM phone calls were made in Finland, and vigorous research into fourth-generation mobile devices is already underway.

One important mobile phone related line of research in Espoo is multi-antenna technology, which is studied at Helsinki University of Technology's (HUT) Smart and Novel Radios Research Unit SMARAD. The unit is a Centre of Excellence in Research, appointed by the Academy of Finland.

All-inclusive facilities at Meripuisto

The nordic signal processing community gets together every two years at the Nordic Signal Processing Symposium NORSIG. This year's congress will be the sixth to date and will be held in Espoo for the second time. The General Chair of the congress is Professor Paavo Alku from HUT.

"We're expecting about 120 participants from around the Nordic countries and beyond, mainly the USA. The event is particularly interesting to younger researchers", says Professor Iiro Hartimo from the HUT Signal Processing Laboratory.

The conference papers to be presented at NORSIG 2004 are currently under review. Close to a hundred papers will be selected, representing all aspects of signal processing theory, design and application. "The aim is again to offer a thorough presentation of the state of the signal processing science in the Nordic countries", Hartimo says.

NORSIG 2004 will take place on 9-11 June at the Congress Hotel Meripuisto. Meripuisto provides both the required conference venues and accommodation for the participants.

"With conferences like NORSIG we take total responsibility for organizing practicalities such as accommodation, venues and catering. This way the conference organizer can focus fully on the essential, the content of the conference", says Sales Manager Anne Miilumäki from Meripuisto.

Meripuisto's facilities are superb for events the size of NORSIG, particularly in the summer when it is possible to utilize the hotel's own grounds or the surrounding nature for outdoor get-togethers and other activities. Meripuisto enjoys excellent traffic connections and has a total of 40 congress and meeting facilities of varying sizes. The hotel has 139 beds in 105 rooms.

www.meripuisto.fi

-Espoo Convention & Marketing News 1/2004-   

At maximum capacity, the 1999-built LänsiAuto Areena can host events for up to 9 000 people. On the other end of the scale, Areena's fine restaurant and club facilities and the 2001-built seminar facilities also make it a practical venue for even the smallest meetings and get-togethers. Good traffic connections and a generous number of free parking spaces add to the appeal.

"Companies are a fast-growing customer group. We host sales meetings, seminars, exhibitions, fairs and pre-Christmas celebrations for employees", describes LänsiAuto Areena's Marketing Manager Juha Schmidt.

So far, the number of big concerts held at Areena has remained on the level of four to five each year. The Espoo Blues play around 30 home games there each season.

New Openings in Ball Games

Over the years, LänsiAuto Areena has steadily strengthened its position as one of the key Finnish venues for indoor ball games. Areena has hosted a number of international basketball, volleyball and floorball games. This season it will also be the venue for the games played by Finnish champion basketball team Tapiolan Honka against the continent's top teams in the FIBA Europe League. And in December, Areena will host both the men's and women's Finnish cup finals in basketball, volleyball and floorball - a total of six games during three days.

"Negotiations for further cooperation with the national sports federations for basketball, volleyball and floorball are currently underway. We hope to become the official home ground for these sports' national teams", Schmidt says.

"We're also working on deals concerning a couple of other major sports events. If all goes well, we'll see some really top-level sports in Espoo this coming winter", he reveals.

Further information:
www.lansiauto-areena.com  

-Espoo Convention & Marketing News 3/2003-

Tapiola is famous for its architecture and urban construction. As a garden city, Tapiola is a widely known concept. Yet Tapiola is also a lot else. Above all, it is a landscape of memory and mind, the home of thousands of Tapiola folk, a district full of people and life. Everyday life, celebration, childhood and youth in Tapiola, a model landscape of urban planning and architecture in post-war Finland, these are the themes of Espoo City Museum's exhibition.

The exhibition is about life in Tapiola. It consists of the memories, tales and accounts of Tapiola people, past and present. The narrow-gauge films borrowed from private individuals and the wide-screen film produced from photographs, known as polyvision, gives viewers a glimpse of life in Tapiola forty years back.

The sounds of Tapiola are included, with examples of Tapiola's lively music life. Classical or rock, performances by professionals or amateurs can be listened to at the exhibition in the orange ball chair - just as they could in the music store situated in Heikintori in the 1970s.

What did a real Tapiola home look like in the 1950-60s or what did the model homes of interior design exhibition look like then? Tapiola homes and their interiors and fittings can be viewed in both the exhibition and in the workshop run in connection with it, an interior designer's office. The exhibition features a 47,7-square-metre two-room flat in Tapiola.

In the interior designer's office workshop visitors and groups can acquaint themselves with the interior design and decoration plans of the 1950s-1960s. You can also design layouts for Tapiola apartments.

Espoo City Museum
Ahertajantie 5
Tapiola

Open: Tue, Thu, Fri 9-16, Wed 9-19, Sun 11-18. Entrance fee EUR 4, free to under 18s.

For inquiries and reservations, please call +358 9 8165 7052.

http://weegee.espoo.fi/museo   

Scandic Espoo, at the junction of Turku highway and Kehä II (ring road II), has been completely renovated.

96 renovated rooms from floor to ceiling are functional and comfortable, responding to the needs of the modern traveller.

Room facilities:

• adjustable air conditioning
• parquet floors
• remote control TV/radio system and satellite channels
• minibar
• telephone, modem and in some rooms wireless broadband connection to internet
• safe deposit box
• iron and ironing board
• hair dryer, vanity mirror and underfloor heating in the bathroom

Colonial Bar & Kitchen restaurant has a diverse menu which will take you on a journey around the flavours of the world in a relaxed atmosphere. Pop into the comfortable Colonial Bar & Kitchen after work or bring your family for a weekend lunch - the little ones have their own Children's Menu. The restaurant is open from morning until evening and ideal for both intimate dinners and large dinner parties.

Scandic Espoo is an ideal meeting venue. Latest conference technology and modern design satisfy the needs of even the most demanding delegates. Meeting room capacity is 2-64.

Saunas and the swimming pool department are on the top floor and benefit from excellent views. Morning and evening saunas are included in the room rate: 4 saunas for 4-20 people can also be hired out.

Scandic Espoo is ideally located, with the centre of Helsinki only fifteen minutes away and good connections e.g. to everywhere in Espoo and to Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport. In the hotel's vicinity you can find Serena Aqua Park, Ikea and Glims Farmstead Museum as well as Leppävaara and Tapiola sports grounds and LänsiAuto Areena.

Welcome to Espoo!

Scandic Espoo
Nihtisillantie 1
FIN-02630 Espoo, Finland
Tel. +358 (0)9 525 311
Fax +358 (0)9 502 1132
E-mail: [email protected]
www.scandic-hotels.com  

Call and book now!
Scandic Reservation & Customer Service +358 (0)800 0 6969

"The cars go up with a ski lift and come down as fast as the driver dares. The speed is controlled with brakes. Every run is timed and the time is displayed right away on the scoreboard," explains Managing Director Eero Mattila from Serena.

A maximum of ten cars can run the track at the same time. According to Mattila, the most skilled drivers can reach the finishing line in 40 seconds. A lot of risk-taking, however, may give a result of 20 minutes if the car runs into the car-tyre walls on every corner.

Groups can hire the track on an hourly basis. During the summer season, the center is also open to the general public when it hasn't been booked in advance by a group. The activity is suitable for anyone over 12 years of age and 150 centimetres in height.

Further informationa: Tel. +358 9 8870 550 or www.serena.fi

eCross offers challenge and running experiences for everybody. eCross is a part of a new series called Nordic Cross, which brings the whole Nordic Elite to this competition. Here the large masses and the elite meet.

Invest in your well-being and join the cross-country happening or Nordic Walking! eCross turns all into active outdoor sports enthusiasts on their own level.

The organizers are Athletics Club Sjundeå IF from Siuntio, Orienteering Club Espoon Suunta from Espoo, Sydväst Polytechnic School of Sports Studies and the City of Espoo.

The running and walking surface at eCross is very pleasant as it varies between grass, gravel, paths, meadows, fields, sawdust and small roads in the forests. Running is the most simple and a very cheap form of physical activity and on top of all that it is very effective from the health perspective. Nordic Walking is suitable for anyone despite the level of physical performance or pace offering a perfect moment of all-round physical activity in the terrain.

Class / Distance:

• Classic 18 km
  - Men: up to 39, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60
  - Women: up to 39, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60
• Business Class 7 km
  - Teams of four members
• Economy Class 7 km
• Nordic Walking 7 km
• Mini Cross 1 km
• Junior 7 km
  - Boys: 17, 19
  - Girls: 17, 19
• Junior 2 km and 4 km
  - 2 km: boys 9, 11, girls 9, 11
  - 4 km: boys 13, 15, girls 13, 15

The courses go along small roads, paths and trails in the recreational park and woods in Leppävaara as one loop. The starts take place at the grass field just east of Leppävaara Stadium. The finish is at the stadium.

The official eCross hotel: Hotel Meripuisto, address Tyrskyvuori 4, FIN-02320 Espoo.
Tel. +358 (0)9 819 251, internet: www.meripuisto.fi

The entry fee includes: participation, medal, t-shirt, service before, during and after the race, insurance, swimming and sauna, expo, product package, ice cream, free parking and additional programme.

The entry fees are to be paid to eCross' Finnish bank account:
Nordea Bank Espoo Tapiola 111230-333192.

Entry: You can enter directly on the internet at www.ecross.info

"Visitors coming to Espoo can now reserve a rental car by using a web form available on the Espoo Convention & Marketing website. They receive confirmation by return and the car is delivered without extra charge directly to the hotel," explains Station Manager Timo Kropsu from Hertz Espoo.

More information on the service, including prices, can be found here. 

The complete player field of Nordea Nordic Light Open 2003 will be presented after the sign-in deadline in June 2003. The tournament is proud to already now present five of the participating players:

Patty Schnyder (SUI)
No. 19 on the WTA Tour Rankings and one of few who beat both Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport in 2002. Wants to improve her quarterfinal finish in Nordea Nordic Light Open 2003:
- I love the finnish bread and I am more than happy to return to the tournament, which is managed in a very professional manner, says Schnyder.

Clarisa Fernandez (ARG)
The young argentinian made it all the way to the semifinal in French Open last year, in her first ever Grand Slam! She will play for the first time in Nordea Nordic Light Open:
- I love the clay, as all argentinians, and look forward to come to Scandinavia for the first time, says Fernandez.

Iroda Tulyaganova (UZB)
The asian champion played in the WTA Tour Championships in 2001 and suffered from lots of injuries last year. She is now looking for a top 20 ranking again and reached the quarterfinals in Berlin last week:
- I am aiming at returning to top 20 this year, says Tulyaganova.

	Photo: Nordea Nordic Light Open, Åsa Svensson

Åsa Svensson (SWE)
The best player of the nordic countries over the last ten years and the captain of Nordea Tennis Team. Åsa is injured in her foot at the moment and hope to recover before the tournament:
- It was great to be here today at the press conference and see the huge media interest for women´s tennis in Finland, says Svensson.

Emma Laine (FIN)
Emma Laine is the rising star from Finland. She reached the semifinals in Australian Open juniors and she is no 14 on the ITF Juniors Ranking:
- My tennis is much better than last year and it would be such a great thing to win a match in Nordea Nordic Light Open. I really hope that the spectators will help me in my "home tournament", says Laine.

Read more www.nordiclightopen.com

SAS is a significant player in the congress and incentive travel trade in Finland. Today, almost half of the congress organizers in major Finnish cities utilize the company's services. In addition to flights, SAS offers accommodation packages through its affiliated company, the Radisson SAS hotel chain.

According to Tom Karlsson, Commercial Director in charge of SAS Norhteast European operations, Espoo offers a rare combination of some of the best assets for congress and incentive travel: "Espoo provides a modern, urban setting near real nature and only a stone's throw from the capital. What's more, Espoo has excellent congress facilities, a wide range of accommodation and extensive possibilities for additional activities", Karlsson sums up.

With the opening of the Radisson SAS Espoo Hotel in June 2001, Espoo received a long awaited alternative for first-class accommodation. The hotel is situated by the seafront in Otaniemi, close to the Dipoli Congress Centre and the services of Tapiola.

Connections at the top of agenda

In Karlsson's view, easy connections are at the top of agenda for most travellers, especially for busy congress guests.

"In this respect, Espoo's location is superb. There are smooth connections to the airport and harbour, and from these places you can connect to practically anywhere."

Membership in the Star Alliance is among the advantages SAS has in the competition between airlines. With its partners, particulary Lufthansa, the company offers a highly competitive range of destinations and services. An SAS-affiliated company, Air Botnia, provides connections to domestic cities such as Turku, Tampere, Vaasa and Oulu.

http://www.scandinavian.net/

The main venue for the event will again be the Espoo Cultural Centre in Tapiola. This year’s programme boasts
a number of internationally acclaimed stars, like Joe Zawinul and his band and the Jan Garbarek Group - an April Jazz favourite from a couple of years back.

Iiro Rantala, the Finnish ambassador of jazz, will indulge the audience with the first-ever performance of his piano concerto. As the host, the Espoo Big Band will accompany Stacey Kent, who has been named the UK’s best female jazz vocalist for 2002 and 2003. In the main sponsor’s (Helsingin Sanomat) tent next to the Cultural Centre, the programme will be built around traditional jazz, Latin rhythms and blues.

The artists will include The Jive Aces, representing traditional British rhythm and blues, Society Syncopators from Australia and the popular ethno artist Richard Bona. Also making an appearance in the tent will be the Finnish favourite
Lenni-Kalle Taipale and his band, Antti Sarpila and the young local star Joonas Kasurinen.

The programme at the festival club at Tapiola Garden will focus on the
more traditional Cotton Club style jazz. The stars on stage will include
Alexandre Cavaliere, Antti Sarpila, Johanna Iivanainen & Unit 6, Lenni-Kalle
Taipale and Anne Ducros, the receiver of the French Billie Holiday award.

Among this year’s special April Jazz
highlights will be two performances
given by the Spanish flamenco
group Compañia Maria Serrano, on
Saturday 26 April. Entitled “Ritmo”,
the performance features 12
Spanish and Cuban dancers and six
musicians in a whirl of fiery
flamenco.

Further information and the full festival programme can be found at
www.apriljazz.fi

News 03/2002 can be ordered free of charge from Espoo Convention & Marketing.

You may use the order form below or visit our office in Tapiola (address: Pohjantie 3, 6 th floor).

Order form

At Korpilampi customers can combine a range of services to meet their needs - it’s possible to arrange a fitness test for conference guests and compile individual fitness programmes, for example.

Hotel Korpilampi has been completely refurbished with the completion of renovation work this June, from the pipework, air-conditioning
and basic structures to floors, wallpapers and other finishings. The meeting rooms have been modernized and the lobby now has a new look with a lighter atmosphere. A fast wireless local area network connects guests to the Internet in all public facilities.

Naturally, the hotel’s existing strengths remain. A 300-seat auditorium, a sufficient number of meeting rooms, free parking, natural surroundings, a clean pond and a range of activity options provide an opportunity for doing and seeing or enjoying peace and quiet in an
empowering environment.

Päivi Kaasalainen was appointed as the hotel’s Marketing Manager and member of the management team in June. She has previously worked as Marketing Manager at Spies and as Product Manager at Fritidsresor Finland.

Contact for more information:

Hotel Korpilampi
Korpilammentie, Lahnus, 02970 Espoo
Tel: +358 (0)9 613 8411
Fax +358 (0)9 6138 4220
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet: www.lomaliitto.fi/korpilampi

A thangka is a Buddhist painted scroll framed with brocade, which depicts a spiritual idea, such as a Buddhist deity or an abstract doctrine. Buddhist painting has a long history in Tibet: thangkas have been made in the Buddhist areas of the Himalayas for over a thousand years. The tradition of making thangkas has remained vital to the present day.

The Thangka exhibition consists of thangka paintings and related ethnographic material. On show are eleven thangka paintings, an ethnographic photo exhibition and a slideshow, which illuminates the social and religious context of the paintings. We will also be showing a documentary film on a Tibetan artist, which will be premiering at the opening of the exhibit.

Thangka explores the historical, religious and philosophical dimensions of Tibetan art. In addition the history and contemporary culture of Tibet are present in the exhibition, as part of presenting the Buddhist worldview. The exhibition offers a chance to experience the everyday life of Buddhist Tibetans living in India.

Since being invaded by China in the 1950s Tibet has been in a difficult situation. Material and spiritual culture was decimated by the destruction of buildings and objects and the pressure on Tibetans to give up their Buddhist faith and cultural heritage. Despite the historical and political situation Tibetan culture has remained vital – especially among the Tibetans living in exile.

All the exhibited thangkas are made by young Tibetan artist Bhuchung Tsering, who lives in Dharamsala in India. The exhibition has been produced by anthropologist Maija Butters from Helsinki, who has been doing research for some years among the Tibetans living in Northern India. The associated documentary Thangka-  A Living Tradition (25 min.) has been made by Sonja Lindén and Lotta Kupiainen (University of art and Design/Department of Film and Television). The architect for the exhibition is Uula Kohonen.

Further information:

Helinä Rautavaara Museum
Ahertajantie 5, Tapiola
02100 Espoo
Tel. +358 (0)9 412 9439
www.helinarautavaaramuseum.org

As a part of Baltica Cup tournament, Finland will be facing Slovakia in LänsiAuto Areena on Monday 16 December at 6.30 p.m.
Baltica Cup is part of Euro Hockey Tour. Baltica Cup will be played in Moscow, Russia, 16-22 December.

Tickets 25/22/16/10 € can be bought from Lippupalvelu tel. 0600 10800 or www.lippupalvelu.fi.

www.lansiauto-areena.com
www.finhockey.fi

Scenes from Other Countries illustrates a Central Espoo of many ways.
The event is part of a project which in different ways intends to strengthen a multicaltural local identity.

Thursday 14 Nov at 7.30 p.m.
Férid Boughedir
Un été à La Goulette / Halk-el-wad (Kesä Gouletten rannalla)
Tunisia/France 1996  100 min
Language Arabic, French, Italian (Finnish and Swedish subtitles)

Saturday 16 Nov at 3.30 p.m.
Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Gabbeh
Iran 1995   75 min
Language Farsi (Finnish and Swedish subtitles)

Saturday 16 Nov at 5.30 p.m.
Idrissa Ouedraogo
Samba Traoré (Samba Traorén lyhyt onni)
Burkina Faso/France 1992   85 min
Language French (Finnish and Swedish subtitles)

Movie for Children on Sunday 17 Nov at 3.30 p.m.
Michel Ocelot
Kirkou et la sorcière (Kirikou ja paha noita)
France 1998   74 min
Dubbed in Finnish

Sunday 17 Nov at 5.30 p.m.
Xie Fei
Xian hun nu (Nainen tuoksujen järveltä)
China 1993   106 min
Language Mandarin (Finnish and Swedish subtitles)

Tickets 5 €

Kino Tuomarila
Palotie 31
Tel. (09) 805 6411

Inquiries: Espoo Cultural Office, tel. (09) 8165 7515 / Auli Jaatinen
www.espoo.fi/elokuva

The competition, founded on the initiative of The Paulo Foundation and Professor Arto Noras, has been presented twice, in 1991 and 1996. The Paulo Cello Competition is one of the most important competitions of today.

The repertoire of the competition has always been exciting and demanding including music of our time as well as the earlier masterpieces of cello music. The third Paulo Cello Competition consists of recital programmes of the contestants' choice and of four different concertos. The concertos will be played with the Tapiola Sinfonietta, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The competition will be held at The Helsinki Conservatory of Music, Tapiolasali Hall and Finlandia Hall.

The competition is open to cellists of all nationalities born between 1969 and 1986.The first prize of the competition is 15 000 Euros and the total of other prizes is 27 000 Euros.

In addition two special prizes, Raphaël Sommer Memorial Prize of 2 000 euros and a prize of 1 000 euros donated by The Finnish Broadcasting Company, will be awarded in the competition.

www.cellocompetitionpaulo.org

News 03/2002 can be ordered free of charge from Espoo Convention & Marketing.
You may use the order form below or visit our office in Tapiola (address: Pohjantie 3, 6 th floor).

Order form

Painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865-1931) was well known in the Paris-based Nordic community of artists known as the Young Finnish circle. He also had a strong presence as an organizer of the Finnish Pavilion at the Paris World Fair of 1900, in the art circles of Germany, Italy and Hungary, and even in American art projects in his late years.

The exhibition "Alone Together - Akseli Gallen-Kallela and Communities of Artists" features works by Gallen-Kallela and his artist friends such as Albert Edelfelt, Elin Danielson, Pekka Halonen, Hugo Simberg and Ville Vallgren.

The exhibition is open from 27 April to 1 January 2003.

Further information: www.gallen-kallela.fi/english.html

We have also two Open to the World competitions at the same time for Junior II and Youth. Junior II will compete in Standard and Youth will compete in Latin.

The competition venue LänsiAuto Areena is located in Espoo (15 km from Helsinki). Tickets can be booked in advance from Lippupalvelu tel. +358 600 10 800 (1e/min + local network charge)

The following judges will be adjudicating the competitions:

Carol Kimmins - Austria
Johann Pauritsch - Austria
Oleg Yedlin - Canada
Asis Khadjeh-Nuori - Germany
Tommy Shaughnessy - Ireland
Lalla Dell'Orto - Italy
Imants Rihters - Latvia
Svein Rotvold - Norway
Margit Sollmann - Finland

Chairman: Hans Spaeker - IDSF Sports Director

Finnish Dance Sport Association is glad to welcome you to Finland!

Further information:

www.tanssiurheilu.fi
Suomen Tanssiurheiluliitto r.y.
Stadion Eteläkaarre
FIN-00250 Helsinki
 puhelin: +358-(0)9-348 9000
faksi: +358-(0)9-348 9002
 
 

For ten years now the Leppävaara Street Carnival (Raittikarnevaalit) has been held on the first Thursday of September. After the Night of Events (Tapahtumien ilta) last year the organizers noticed that one day just isn't enough for experiencing all that Leppävaara has to offer.

The local communities have united their strength with the city of Espoo and this year the event lasts throughout an entire week. There are several interesting performances, exhibitions, seminars and different activities for people of all ages.

Come along to experience fantastic moments or to offer them to others!

Further information and entries: 
Tel. +358 9 816 57 954, +358 400 483 829 / Eine Kuismin Event coordinator
[email protected]
www.leppavaaraviikko.info

"8 femmes" is featuring world-famous French actresses such as Cathrine Deneuve and Emmanuelle Béar.

The festival will end with Tom Tykwer's "Heaven", a film that has already gained repute around the world. Espoo Ciné's themes inclulde new European cinema, gay cinema, fantasy, children's cinema and new Finnish films.

Festival catalogue and tickets are available at Espoo Cultural Centre (Kulttuuriaukio, Kaupinkalliontie 10).

Espoo Ciné festival office
PO Box 95, 02101 Espoo
Tel: +358 9 466 599, fax +358 9 466 358
[email protected]

Festival programme and more in Internet

This year's Choral Espoo will for the first time take place during the bright Nordic summer, on 4-9 June. The arranger has also changed: the City of Espoo has transferred the organizing responsibility to the association Espoon Musiikkifestivaalit ry.

According to the association's Executive Director Hannele Granö, the new time opens many new possibilities: "Now the festival can make the most of Tapiola's settings in the form of outdoor events and, as the summer holidays will have already started, we hope to increase the number of visitors from outside the capital region."

Music in the service of peace

The special theme of this year's event, "Songbridge", is based on a concept created by the founder of the Tapiola Choir, Professor Erkki Pohjola. The idea is to use music as a tool to promote international cooperation and peace.

The Tapiola Choir and children's and youth choirs from South Korea and Venezuela have each had a new piece of music composed for them by a Songbridge composer, and the choirs will practice and perform together during the event. Finnish and international veteran choirs, too, will have their own Songbridge concert.

Other highlights of the programme include a joint concert with the Organ Night and Aria, featuring the Stockholm Bach Choir and the Drottningholm Baroque ensemble, a concert of medieval Brigittine songs in the Espoo Orthodox Church, performances by a variety of ensembles and an event which is titled "Male energy" and features the Polytech Choir from Espoo and the Harvard Glee Club from the United States.

Espoo is a city of choirs

Over the years, Choir Espoo has established itself as a valued international meeting place both for amateurs and professionals of choral music. A variety of teaching events and discussions take place behind the limelight, in addition to a competition for Finnish choir conductors. In recognition of its merits, this year's festival has been especially chosen by the International Federation of Choral Music to celebrate the organization's 20th anniversary.

As the home of many internationally renowned choirs - the Tapiola Choir, Candomino and Dominante among others - Espoo is a natural host for such a significant choir event. Based on two decades of involvement in Espoo's choral scene, Hannele Granö believes that the city's strength lies in strong musical education.

"Due to the availability of high-standard education in music on all school levels and in two specialist colleges, there are many local young people with good singing skills. They also find it easy to advance further as we have very good choirs for singers of all ages," Granö explains.

Further information about the festival programme: www.choralespoo.fi

Spain's Arantxa Sanches-Vicario, Croatia's Iva Majoli, Sweden's Åsa Svensson, Denmark's Eva Dyrberg, and Italy's Silvia Farina-Elia are among the entrants. The only confermed Finnish representative is 15-year-old Emma Laine, who will receive a wild card to the tournament.

Arantxa Sanches-Vicario (former # 1 in the world) has four Grand Slam titles to her name, and Iva Majoli (former # 4 in the world) won the French Open championship in 1997. Farina-Elia is currently ranked 13th in the world, Sanches-Vicario 18th, and Majoli 33rd.

Nordea Nordic Light Open is a clay-court tournament and it will be played in Tapiola Tennis Park. Tournament has prize money of 140.000 US dollars and a draw of 32 players. It is the largest women's tennis tournament to be held in a Nordic country for the past twenty years. A WTA tour event has never before been organised in Finland.

Further information:

Nordea Nordic Light Open / ATS
Tuulikuja 1, Tapiola
FIN-02100 Espoo
Tel: +358 9 412 2102, fax +358 9 455 2717

[email protected]
www.nordiclightopen.com

Held only a couple of weeks before the US Open, the Nordic Light Open provides a perfect opportunity for the stars to put a final polish on their skills.

The Nordic Light Open is the first women's Sanew WTA Tour event in the Nordic countries in more than two decades. The tournament's prize money totals $140 000. It will become an annual event, arranged in the capital region of a Nordic country.

"The new event is a significant advancement for women's tennis in all Nordic countries. We're very proud that the first Nordic Light Open will take place in Finland", says Managing Director Mika Bono from the Finnish Tennis Association.

15 000 visitors, TV spectators all over the world

According to Mikael Larsson, Managing Director of the tournament organizer and owner ATS (Alandia Topshow Ab), Espoo is a perfect complement to what the Nordic Light Open stands for:

"We want to create a friendly, feminine and Nordic event with the best possible tennis. The green and friendly Tapiola Tennis Park - surrounded by Espoo's Nordic touch of design close to the archipelago - is a magnificent setting for such an event!"

The tournament will bring an estimated 15 000 visitors to Espoo, and the TV coverage will be broadcast in approximately 80 countries.

"The stars will stay at the official player hotel, Radisson SAS Espoo. We believe that all Espoo's hotels will be booked to capacity and some of the hotels in Helsinki will also be needed for the spectators", Larsson estimates.

A new boost for the visitor trade

For the tournament's arrangements, ATS works in close cooperation with Espoo Convention & Marketing. Their forces are combined particularly in promotional activities.

"We're delighted to receive such a high-profile event in Espoo. The city is already a regular host of high-standard cultural events such as April Jazz and the Organ Night and Aria, but - like most other cities in the Nordic countries - Espoo has not yet been host to an international sports event of this scale. The tournament will be a significant boost for the visitor trade", says Managing Director Kai Mattsson from Espoo Convention & Marketing.

Further information: www.nordiclightopen.com and www.sanexwta.com 

For information on accommodation in Espoo see our Accommodation pages.

Nordic Light Open 3 - 11 August 2002

Contact information:
ATS - Alandia Topshow Ab
Tuulikuja 1, FIN-02100 Espoo
Tel. +358 (0)9 412 2102, fax +358 (0)9 455 2717
E-mail: [email protected]
www.ats.aland.fi

News 02/2002 can be ordered free of charge from Espoo Convention & Marketing. You can use the order form below or visit our office in Tapiola (address: Pohjantie 3, 6th floor).

Order form

April Jazz has become established as the largest annual jazz event of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. Its top class international events at the Espoo Cultural Centre, versatile programme of merrymaking in the Helsingin Sanomat marquee and laid back, late-night jam sessions at the Tapiola Garden Hotel have made April Jazz the most eagerly awaited spring happening in Finland.

Highlights of the Espoo Cultural Centre programme will include the Indian percussion guru Trilok Gurtu, performing both with his own ensemble and as a soloist with the Espoo Big Band. Jazz guitar virtuoso John Abercrombie's quartet and Charlie Haden's ensemble Nocturne are packed with famous names. Allan Harris a renowed singer in the jazz clubs of New York, and the Latin spiced Chico Freeman will add a dash of colour to the festivities. The American guitarist Cornell Dupree will perform as a soloist with Finland's very own Trio Töykeät, while other home-grown talent will include the Aleksi Tuomarila Trio with Jukka Perko and the U-Street All Stars. The Cultural Centre concert programme will end on a high point on the festival Saturday with a veritable cult band: The Kronos string quartet.

The programme for the Helsingin Sanomat marquee will be based on traditional jazz and Latin American music. Performers will include Andy Cooper's Euro Top 8 ensemble from the UK, Pibo Marquez' large Latin group from Venezuela and the wild US funk band Defunkt. Always full of surprises, the children's jazz performers led by Joonas Kasurinen will complete the versatile marquee programme. The Swedish Swing Society with soloist Antti Sarpila, the DDT Jazzband, Jenny Robson & Pekka Toivanen and the Lenni-Kalle Taipale Group will also appear at the á la Garden restaurant of the Tapiola Garden Hotel, where late night international jam sessions until the small hours will provide an extra treat for die-hard jazz enthusiasts.

April Jazz Espoo 24 - 28 April 2002

www.apriljazz.fi

New contact information:

Pohjantie 3, 6^th floor
FIN- 02100 Espoo

Tel. +358 (0)9 8164 7230
Fax +358 (0)9 8164 7238

E-mail: [email protected]
Internet: www.espootravel.com

The university's campus area was designed by Alvar Aalto, one of the most highly regarded architects of the twentieth century.

Today, HUT has 13 500 students and a staff of 3 000. It is the largest technical university in Finland and among the country's five largest academic establishments. The university's top fields of expertise include information technology, low temperature physics, new materials, scientific calculation, pulp and paper technology, and new design methods, among others.

A boost for business and industry

Together with its neighbour, the Technical Research Centre of Finland VTT, HUT is a powerful stimulus for business and industry. The research conducted at HUT and VTT and the resulting innovations benefit large companies such as Nokia as well as emerging new enterprises.

"We cooperate in research with practically every major company in Finland, and we also work together in education. New enterprise is forwarded by a variety of business support and incubator services. HUT is one of the players in the background of Innopoli and the Otaniemi Science Park, which are providers of these services in Espoo", says Rector of HUT Paavo Uronen.

Virtual studies and active building

In accordance with a national programme, all technical universities in Finland have in recent years significantly increased their student intake in hot fields related to information technology. Another national programme, the virtual university, launched this spring and coordinated by HUT, aims to make versatile study opportunities available to all Finnish students.

"In addition to these large-scale initiatives, the first years of the new millennium at HUT are an active time for building", Uronen says. The most sizeable building projects currently underway include a new auditorium for 600 people, the Microelectronics Centre in conjunction with VTT and a new building for the departments of Industrial Engineering and Management and Automation and Systems Technology.

Close contact with Europe, the USA and Japan

On an international scale, HUT has particularly strong contact with EU countries, the United States and Japan. Student and research exhange is increasing and currently involves 700 students and researchers each year. A new and promising opening was made this spring when the National Technology Agency Tekes signed an agreement for Finnish-American cooperation with the University of Berkeley. The first researchers from HUT have already started their projects in this famous American university.

HUT is one of the largest conference arrangers in Espoo. The events take place most often at Dipoli Congress Centre. Dipoli's professional organizers handle the practical arrangements for each event, and the university's professors take care of the scientific programme.

"Sometimes it seems that I'm asked to open a conference every week!" Uronen notes.

(Espoo Convention & Marketing News 2/2001)  

The room accommodates up to 60 people and it can be flexibly divided to suit a variety of purposes. In addition to meetings and conferences, the room is well suited for receptions, weddings and other festivities.

Hotel Kuninkaantie
Lakelankatu 1, Espoo centre
FIN-02770 Espoo
Tel. +358 (0)9 859 191
Fax +358 (0)9 805 7848
E-mail: [email protected]
www.hotellikuninkaantie.com

At Solvalla, bathers can choose from five different saunas, including the lakeshore sauna and the saunas in the main building and the villa. A hole will be kept open in the ice for winter swimmers.

The sports grounds at Solvalla have also had a facelift, including new lighting and artificial grass. Already in use, the facilities suit track and field, football and handball. The changing rooms and showers are located in the hall for ball games.

Solvalla Sports Institute
Nuuksiontie 82, Solvalla
FIN-02820 Espoo
Tel. +358 (0)9 867 8430
Fax +358 (0)9 8678 4321
E-mail: [email protected]
www.solvalla-finns.fi

National-level ice hockey in Espoo celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year, an the Espoo Blues have set their sights on reaching the top four in the Finnish championship league, SM-liiga. The club hasn't missed the playoffs in four years.

"Our long-term goal is to establish a position among the top teams. At the same time, we strive to provide opportunities for our own junior players to prove themselves on the highest level," says Christian Ruuttu, General Manager of Blues Hockey Ltd.

Espoo Blues plays its home games at LänsiAuto Areena, a multipurpose venue in the Tapiola Sports Park. In addition to ice hockey, LänsiAuto Areena serves as a setting for sports such as figure skating, floor ball and basketball.

"LänsiAuto Areena has also become a popular venue for various company events. Only a stone's throw from Helsinki's city centre and with a capacity of 8,000, it also provides a tremendous alternative for large-scale concerts. Two to three big concerts every season would be a good pace," says Ruuttu, who also acts as GM of LänsiAuto Arena Ltd.

Ruuttu perceives his dual role to be highly constructive: "Communication between the venue and its principle user couldn't get any smoother!"

Espoo Blues home games at LänsiAuto Areena

28.12.2004 Blues - HPK
02.01.2005 Blues - Kärpät
04.01.2005 Blues - Lukko
15.01.2005 Blues - Ilves
18.01.2005 Blues - Tappara
21.01.2005 Blues - TPS
27.01.2005 Blues - HIFK
03.02.2005 Blues - JYP
15.02.2005 Blues - Pelicans

www.lansiauto-areena.com
www.blues.fi

The technical equipment installed in the cabinet includes S-VHS and DVD players and a Panasonic XGA data/video projector. Thee meeting table incorporates electricial outlets and connections for Internet (100 Mbit/s), VGA and sound. A control panel drives the screen an surround sound systems. All domestic TV channels, international satellite channels and digital TV are also available.

With the meeting table, the cabinet can host events for up to 18 persons. Lunch can be served for 20.

www.dipoli.hut.fi/english/index.html

More than 14,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students are studying for a university degree in technology within the Helsinki University of Technology (HUT) campus area in Otaniemi. Otaniemi is also home to Finland's leading technology research institutions, which accommodate 6,000 people working in frontline research.

Almost 300 high-tech companies operate within Otaniemi's technological community, where companies, research institutes and the university collectively form the largest concentration of technology research and education in the Nordic countries.

For the needs of students, staff and visitors, members of the Otaniemi scientific community have published the map Explore Otaniemi.

Order the map free of charge by using the order form.

Active days at Serena, Europe's largest tropical water park, will soon be perfectly balanced with cosy nights in new holiday villas. The doors to the first of the well-equipped villas will open this summer.

The villas will be located in natural surroundings on land rising from the Serenalampi pond. Standard equipment includes a fridge-freezer, microwave and conventional oven, a dishwasher, washing machine and dryer plus air conditioning, an electrically heated sauna and gas-fired barbeque. Entertainment and the more technical equipment includes a television, VCR, CD player and a computer with internet connection. The villas are intended for round-the-year use.

Whether it's summer or winter, there's never a lack of things to do at Serena. The Serena Water Amusement Park is only a few minutes walk away from the villas, providing 2,000 m² of heated pools around the year. Summertime magnets include an additional 1,000 m² of outdoor pools, waterslides and tubes and a mountain cross track. In winter, Serena offers the closest ski slopes to the capital, of which there are five.

Nature lovers will find trails and berry or mushroom picking opportunities in the largest unbroken woodlands in the province. Orientation is easy with maps or even GPS navigators - both are available from Serena's reception desk. Fisherman's heaven is even closer as the Serenalampi pond is well stocked with lake trout, carp, perch, pike, pikeperch and bream. Visitors staying at the villas can fish for free with a hook and line, lure or fly.

www.serena.fi

-Espoo Convention & Marketing News 1/2004-

Innopoli has rapidly become a popular venue for a broad range of functions. The number of events has reached 2 500 to 3 000 a year, and the annual number of participants has risen to 50 000.

Innopoli comprises two buildings, Innopoli 1 and Innopoli 2, and is located in Otaniemi at the heart of the largest concentration of high technology in Finland. The nearest neighbours include Nokia, Helsinki University of Technology and VTT. Innopoli itself accommodates 300 technology and service businesses.

"We provide venues for a lot of meetings, aseminars and customer events, for both Innopoli-based companies and other business operating in Espoo. All in all, we host almost anything, from product launches to cocktail parties and concerts," says Tuija Tarkiainen, Cummunications Manager at Innopoli.

"At Innopoli we're able to offer an excellent venue for almost any need. You can choose from about 60 facilities, from auditoriums and lecture halls to seminar rooms, computer rooms and restaurants The professional arrangements and catering are guaranteed through services provided by Amica."

According to tarkiainen, the meetings held at Innopoli are most commonly for 16 to 20 or 70 to 120 participants. Innopoli's largest auditorium seats up to 200 people, and much larger functions are possible if they are divided into several simultaneously occurring events.

"The Eurotori square in Innopoli 1 offers a very flexible, high-ceilinged and well-lit- space, which is superb for functions like exhibitions and concerts. The restaurant facilities and seminar rooms are right next-door. We've even had cars driven into Eurotori for the launch of new models. There's also similar set-up, Innotori, in Innopoli 2," Tarkiainen says.

A sauna is an integral part of many kinds of get-togethers in Finland. Innopoli has five sauna departments, all of which provide state-of-the-art meeting facilities in addition to the steam room itself. The largest sauna can house an event for up to 40 people and offers a panoramic view from Innopoli's top floor.

Further information: www.innopoli.fi

The menu offers both Finnish and international delicacies, and true to its name - ranta being the Finnish word for shore - the restaurant will never run out of fresh Finnish fish.

Restaurant Ranta

Radisson SAS Hotel Espoo
Otaranta, Otaniemi
FIN-02150 Espoo
Tel. +358 (0)9 4358 6310

Open: Mon-Fri 11.30-24, Sat-Sun 12-24

www.radissonsas.com

The cosy villa is decorated in the art nouveau style of the early 20th century and surrounded by a unique garden of rare flora. 40 hectares of parkland provide ample opportunities for activities such as hiking and skiing. The area also has facilities for golf and tennis, and a renovated sauna on the lakeshore.

Villa Dalby is well suited for events such as meetings, celebrations and courses. Accommodation is available for up to 20 people in the manor itself and two cabins. The manor has a lecture room with the latest equipment for 16 people and a beautiful dining room for evening events. Villa Dalby is owned by the Folkhälsan association.

Enquiries: Hostess Taru Lundström, tel. +358 50 364 0519 or e-mail: [email protected]

In summer, I’ve bathed at its beaches, sailed off its coasts and wandered through its parks. In autumn, I’ve picked berries and mushrooms in its forests and enjoyed the glorious change of colors. In winter, I’ve skied along its trails, fished through the ice and got my face tanned from the bright reflection of the sun on the snow. In spring, I’ve bicycled and walked along its urban and rural paths watching nature come back to life. And I’ve enjoyed Espoo’s shops, restaurants, cafés, museums and cultural venues throughout the year.

Here are eleven suggestions for a visit to Espoo:

1. Go to the home of Finland’s most prominent artist at Tarvaspää.  The art nouveau style studio and villa of Akseli Gallen-Kallela was built in 1913. Here you can ponder the artist’s workspace, tools, and treasures collected on his world travels. The museum presents permanent and rotating exhibitions with themes featuring the works of Gallen-Kallela and his contemporaries.

2. Visit Espoo’s oldest building and most important landscape. Espoo Church dates back to the 15th century. Admire the brick ornamentation, the surrounding grounds, the beautifully restored murals, or, perhaps you would just like to spend some time in quiet meditation.

3. It all happens at Espoo Cultural Center, Tapiola. This impressive white edifice (called Moon Bridge) houses concert, theatre and exhibition venues, and has a full repertoire of happenings year ‘round. Just pick up a program and choose an event. And while you are thinking it over, visit the well-stocked library or observe the delightful outdoor fountain.

4. Whether you come to swim, sunbathe or picnic, Espoo’s Beaches offer you a clean, tranquil and safe place to relax.

5. Enjoy a splendid lunch while you marvel at the breathtaking seascapes and landscapes of Espoo. Haikaranpesä is family-owned restaurant located high atop a water tower. They serve a sumptuous buffet everyday of the week.

6. Watch the exquisite horses at Vermo Trotting Track. Lay your bets down and try your luck, or just appreciate the beauty of four-legs in motion.

7. Discover the history of Finnish time at the Horology Museum. This collection of 3500 timepieces is the only one of its kind in Scandinavia. Marvel at the notable displays of clocks, watches, watchmakers’ tools and gadgets as well as equipment and machinery used in making, repairing and checking these beautiful instruments.

8. Find the wet and wild experience at Serena Water Park consisting of both an outdoor park and a large enclosed area. It is like spending a day in the tropics without the bugs. Slide, glide, ride, drop, float, dive, bath, jump, splash and swim, or just relax and watch the human fish. In the winter you can also go downhill skiing at Serena. Five lighted slopes with four T-bar lifts are waiting to be enjoyed by you. 

9. Experience country living at Glims Farmstead Museum. See how gentlemen farmers lived in the past. Wander through farmhouses and admire furnishings and tools from the 18th century.

10. Be fascinated by the 2500 artifacts collected by a remarkable woman during her forty years of exploration journeys all over the globe. The Helinä Rautavaara's Ethnography museum contains works of art, ritual and utility articles, films, recordings and photographs. There are also revolving exhibitions featuring cultural life outside of Europe.

11. Walk around the pristine forests of Nuuksio National Park. Whether you are a Sunday stroller or a serious hiker, you’ll appreciate the serene trails, the hundreds of lakes and ponds, and the rich variety of flora and fauna. In the winter, it’s a terrific place for cross-country skiing. Professional guides are available on request.

-- Russell Snyder --

"Visitors coming to Espoo can now reserve a rental car by using a web form available on the Espoo Convention & Marketing website. They receive confirmation by return and the car is delivered without extra charge directly to the hotel," explains Station Manager Timo Kropsu from Hertz Espoo.

More information on the service, including prices, can be found here. 

Highlights include Finnish singers Lilli Paasikivi, Jorma Hynninen, Gabriel Suovanen and Johann Tilli, plus foreign guests such as tenor Attila Fekete and organist-pianist István Ruppert from Hungary, soprano Gintaré Skeryté from Lithuania and trumpeters Jüri Leiten and Alexei Saks and organist Pille Mettson from Estonia. Moreover, the festival will feature a cavalcade of fine organists — Kalevi Kiviniemi, Rolf-Henry Kunz, Harri Viitanen, Henrico Stewen, Juhani Romppanen and Clive Driskill-Smith.

The festival will also include the premiere of a commissioned work for baritone and organ by Timo-Juhani Kyllönen. The premiere will be given by baritone singer Juha Kotilainen and organist Kari Jussila at a concert dedicated to works by Kyllönen and featuring the composer himself as accordion soloist.

The most expansive work to be performed this summer is Bach’s Mass in B minor, with the Turku Castle Chamber Choir and the Soli Deo Gloria orchestra conducted by Juhani Lamminmäki, and with Anna-Kristiina Kaappola, Riikka Rantanen, Tom Nyman and Arttu Kataja as soloists. The Rajaton vocal ensemble will be giving a Midsummer concert, and the by now traditional concert of Orthodox sacred music will be given by the Uspensky Cathedral male voice choir under Aleksiy Mirolybov, with Ilkka Hämäläinen and Martti Wallén as soloists.

The festival will showcase numerous young artists. The Latymer Chamber Choir and Orchestra from London will be visiting the festival for the second time; the Cantores Minores Ensemble and the Ytybrass brass quintet will be making their début. The opening concert will feature the Tapiola Youth Symphony conducted by Markus Lehtinen, with baritone singer Raimo Laukka and organist Tapio Tiitu as soloists.

Continuing another tradition, the light installation entitled Kirkko ja maa (Church and earth) by Ekku Peltomäki will be displayed in the church park in connection with the concluding concert. The main sponsors of the Organ Night and Aria festival this year are Espoon Sähkö Oyj, the City of Espoo and the Federation of Espoo Parishes.

The Organ Night and Aria festival will be held between June 5 and August 28, 2003. The artistic director is director of music Matti Vainio. Advance ticket sales will begin on March 1, 2003 at Lippupiste.

Further information:
Organ Night and Aria association
tel. +358 9 8674 4120
[email protected]
www.urkuyofestival.fi

Training is available for private individuals and companies, which can have
an event or programme tailored to their particular needs.

Kirsikkapuisto's training events and programmes take place in a cosy environment in Willa Kirsikka, the company's hundred-year-old wood-built training centre located in the heart of Nuuksio National Park, 25 km from the capital.

In addition to training events, Willa Kirsikka makes a relaxing environment for a variety of meeting and evening gatherings.

Further information:

www.kirsikkapuisto.com

Tel. +358 (0)9 888 6400

The surfaces and floors have been refurbished in both the restaurant and seminar facilities, and the soundproofing in the largest, 250-person meeting room has been improved.

Meripuisto has also been the first congress hotel in Espoo to take into use Telia's wireless Internet service, HomeRun. Customers of Meripuisto can now take advantage of improved facilities for congress and training events.

www.meripuisto.fi

The museum's collections include approximately 3500 clocks dating from the 17^th century to the present day in addition to an abundance of other items related to clock making. The museum also has a reference library and archive.

June 5 - Aug 31

Finnish clock production - the time of shortage
An exhibition on the production of Finnish clock factories and clockmakers during the decades that followed the Second World War. Due to import restrictions, the period was a time of exceptionally vigorous clock production in Finland.

Master clockmaker Lauri Helske - the enigma of the granule clock
"Kronos under a glass cover. Under a glass cover in the honorary hall of the international handicraft exhibition is - the time. Second by second, minute by minute it goes without sound, without end. Ad infinitum. Perpetum mobile - one step closer." This is how the newspaper Deutche Allgemeine Zeitung wrote about master clockmaker Lauri Helske's precision pendulum clock in 1938. The clock achieved an award in an international art and craft exhibition in Berlin the same year, and a year before it received a gold medal in the world exhibition in Paris. But what was the granule clock? How did it work and how did Helske develop it?

Opening hours:
In June: Wed 14-20 and Sun 12-16
In July-August: Wed 14-20, Thu-Sun 12-16
Also open by prior arrangement

Entrance fee:
Adults EUR 3
Children under 16 free of charge

The Finnish Museum of Horology
Opinkuja 2, Tapiola, FIN-02100 Espoo
Tel. +358 (0)9 4520 688, fax +358 (0)9 4520 5656 

Otaniemi in Espoo will serve as the Athletes' Village for both games, accommodating more than 4,000 athletes and other delegates.

Seven students of hospitality management have been recruited as guides to serve visitors in the Athletes' Village in Otaniemi and Tapiola as well as during the disabled games at the Leppävaara Stadium. In addition, a map of services in the area will be produced and guided tours of Tapiola will be arranged for athletes and the media. The Tapiola Guide project is implemented by Espoo Convention & Marketing.

"The Tapiola Guides will stand out from the crowd with their retro-spirited lime-green outfits based on the old guides' uniform. The original Tapiola Guides served visitors to the Garden City from the end of the 1950s to the late 1970s," explains Project Manager Lea Rintala from Espoo Convention & Marketing.

In addition to assisting visitors, the purpose of the project is to utilize the attention received by the games to strengthen the image of Tapiola and Espoo in general as an interesting city that is well worth a visit. The games will attract visitors from more than 200 countries.

The Tapiola Guide project is sponsored by the local newspaper Länsiväylä-lehti, the Tapiola entrepreneurs' association Tapiola Toimii ry, Voglia, the City of Espoo and the joint education authority for the Espoo region (ESPA).

www.helsinki2005.fi

www.espoo2005.fi  

Special offer for groups (minimum 10 persons):

Museum visit & dinner at Tarvaspää & Organ Night and Aria Festival’s concert
From EUR 59 per person

The offer is valid for Thursday evenings between Jun 16 and Sep 1, 2005.
Bookings must be made no later than three weeks before the date desired.

Bookings:
Organ Night and Aria Festival, tel. +358 9 8674 4120, e-mail: [email protected]

See below the information about Organ Night and Aria Festival and the exhibition at the Gallen-Kallela Museum.

Organ Night and Aria Festival
Jun 9 to Sep 1, 2005

Our 20^th festival will pamper the visitor with a diverse and high standard summer programme. The concerts at 22.00 on Thursdays at the medieval grey stone Espoo Cathedral will provide an atmospheric setting for both recitals and major works. Visitors can expect to see and hear star performers, talented young artists and international guests, among others operasingers Matti Salminen, Jaakko Ryhänen, Dilbèr and Nicolai Gedda, organists Rolf Henry Kunz and Kalevi Kiviniemi, and violinist brothers Pekka and Jaakko Kuusisto. 
See the programme on the festival’s homepage at www.urkuyofestival.fi.

Organ Night and Aria Festival
Pappilantie 2, FI-02770 Espoo, Finland
tel. +358 9 8674 4120
fax +358 9 863 0082
e-mail: [email protected]
www.urkuyofestival.fi

Far from the World and its Deceits – Artists’ Studios from Log Cabins to Boudoirs
10 June -11 September 2005
The Gallen-Kallela Museum

”It is a rare pleasure to see a strong personality placed in a strong setting. The images of primal times that came to mind within those rough-hewn timber walls! The visions from afar that would come to the soul in this wonderful wilderness.” (Emil Cedercreutz)

This exhibition explores the mysterious world of artists’ homes, from log cabins in the wilderness to the Bohemian salons of the cities. The exhibition features, among other artists, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Elin Danielson, Albert Edelfelt, Pekka Halonen, Eero Järnefelt, Helene Schjerfbeck and Emil Wikström.

The Gallen-Kallela Museum is open:
Summer (15 May - 31 Aug) daily 10-18
Winter (1 Sep - 14 May) Tue-Sat 10-16, Sun 10-17

Tel. +358 9 541 3388
Gallen-Kallelan tie 27, FI-02600 Espoo, Finland
[email protected]
www.gallen-kallela.fi

The new premises will be located on the tenth floor of the landmark Keskustorni tower at the centre of Tapiola.

The new address will be Keskustorni, 10th floor, FI-02100 Espoo.
All the other contact information will remain the same.

Part of the HUT student village in Otaniemi will be turned into the Athletes' Village, and the Dipoli Congress Centre will be the village's service centre.

The World Championships organizers have signed a lease agreement for Dipoli with HUT and Dipoli, a catering agreement with Sodexho, a lease agreement for Otahalli with Otahalli Oy and an agreement concerning a number of student flats with the Helsinki Area Student Housing Foundation.

All 3,000 participating athletes and other team members will be housed in student flats in Otaniemi. Dipoli will provide the catering and various other services required by the teams, including meeting facilities. The Otahalli hall and the Otaniemi sports grounds will serve as the athletes' training arena.

For students of HUT, the games will mean the completion of six new blocks of student flats five years earlier than anticipated.

"The World Championships project accelerated the City of Espoo's planning procedures to the point where building work on the flats began well ahead of schedule," explains Rauli Oikarinen, Secretary General of the HUT Students' Union.

The HUT Students' Union is delighted to host the athletes in Otaniemi. Espoo has provided the location for the Athletes' Villages on four previous occasions.

"HUT students form a significant group in the World Championships organization and they work in various voluntary tasks in the Athletes' Village. It's only natural - the students know the village, and many of the athletes are of a similar age and students themselves," Oikarinen says.

Just a few days after the conclusion of the 10th IAAF World Championships in Athletics next summer, the Athletes' Village in Espoo's Otaniemi will be occupied by athletes and other delegates of the IPC Athletics Open European Championships.

The world's largest sports event for physically disabled and visually impaired athletes in 2005 will bring together 750 athletes from 50 countries. The 200 competition events will take place at Espoo's refurbished Leppävaara stadium.

Organized by Finnish Athletics, the Finnish Paralympic Commitee, the IAAF World Championships 2005 Organization, the City of Espoo and the Athletics Clubs of Espoo, Espoo 2005 will be a pioneering event in the organization of non-disabled and disabled games by the same organizing commitee outside the Olympic or paralympic level.

"A joint organization naturally brings significant synergy benefits. But above all, Espoo 2005 will send out a message of pluralistic sports culture. One of the aims of these games is to help disabled athletes become part of athletics on the wider scale in addition to promoting awareness and appreciation of paralympic sports," explains Katariina Järveläinen, Coordinator for the IPC Athletics Open European Championships.

Finland's recent succes in the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games has raised general domestic interest in paralympic sports at just the right time.

"Athletics in Finland's strongest area in disabled sports, and our Paralympic medallists in wheelchair racing, javelin and shot-put are looking forward to entering their home games in their best form. The results they achieved and the surrounding publicity are likely to encourage more disabled people to participate in top-level sports in Finland even further", Järveläinen says.

The festival will be opened by a Finnish premiere of Aleksi Salmenperä’s drama comedy Lapsia ja aikuisia. Other top premieres at the festival include Walter Salles’ The Motorcycle Diaries (United States / Germany / Great Britain / Argentina 2004), Jaak Kilmi and Rene Reinumägi’s Sigade revolutsioon (Estonia / Finland 2004) and Ken Loach’s Ae Fond Kiss (Great Britain / Italy / Germany / Spain 2003). Sweet Sixteen (Great Britain / Germany / Spain) from 2002 is another Loach film included in this year’s Espoo Ciné programme.

Richard Stanley retrospective

A foreign guest to Espoo Ciné confirmed at this early stage is the legendary horror film director Richard Stanley, whose work is presented in the form of a retrospective at the festival. The series includes the modern cult classics Hardware (Great Britain 1990) and Dust Devil (Great Britain / South Africa 1992) as well as three documentary films: The Voice of the Moon (Great Britain 1990) is a lyric recording of Afghan rebels fighting the Russians in late 80s, The Secret Glory (Great Britain 2001) deals with Nazi occultism and particularly SS officer Otto Rahn’s attempts to find the Holy Grail, and The White Darkness (Great Britain 2002) records the Haitians’ voodoo culture and the American troops’ crusade-like invasion of the country.

Méliès d'Argent competition series

As a member of the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation, in 2004 Espoo Ciné arranges a Méliès d'Argent (Silver Méliès) competition for European fantasy films for the sixth time. Films to be screened in the competition series include for example Julian Richards’ horror piece The Last Horror Movie (Great Britain 2003) as well as María Ripolli’s stylish fantasy thriller Utopía (France / Spain 2003) starring Tchéky Karyo (Nikita, Dobermann) and Najwa Nimri (Abre los ojos, Lucía y el sexo). The competition series consists of at least five new European genre films and as many short films of the fantasy genre. In addition, the Espoo Ciné fantasy series presents other interesting novelties of the field.

Documentaries

Besides fiction films, Espoo Ciné also offers a miniature series of a few interesting documentaries, featuring for example Morgan Spurlock’s controversial MacDonalds documentary Super Size Me (USA 2004) as well as Eyal Silvan and Audrey Maurion’s Aus Liebe zum Volk (I Love You All, Germany 2004), a film depicting the revolution in a former Stasi agent’s conception of the world. Finnish documentaries presented at the festival are Erja Dammert’s award-winning Sotalapset (2003) and Veikko Aaltonen’s Työväenluokka (2004).

Pink Zone

In recent years, an annual look at the gay genre has become a regular part of the Espoo Ciné festival programme, and this year is no exception. This series of screenings includes for example Mark Rucker’s camp drag-Technicolor-melodrama Die Mommie Die (USA 2003) and John Greyson’s Proteus, a Jarmanesque story about gay love on a South African prison island in the 18th century.

For children and youth
 
In honour of the Filmihillo theme year, the traditional children’s series at Espoo Ciné in 2004 is even more extensive and international than before. The series features for example Petter Naess’ Bare Bea (Norway / Sweden 2004), an outspoken depiction of the first sexual experiences of 16-year-old girls; Teresa Fabik’s Hip hip hora (Sweden / Finland 2004), an investigation into young people’s need for the acceptance of others; Dominique Standaert’s Hop (Belgium 2002), an original story of an African boy’s efforts to retrieve his deported father; and Ineke Houtman’s Polleke (Netherlands 2003), a delicate portrayal of the first love of 11-year-old Polleke and the clashing of cultures. The festival has received Filmihillo support for the series from the Ministry of Education, and the programme has been realised in co-operation with the Espoo Cultural Board. In addition to films, children are offered film critique workshops at the festival.
 

Ticket prices according to screening 5,50/3,50 euros (serial card 45 euros, incl. 10 tickets and a catalogue). The price of the catalogue bought separately 4,50 euros. Advance ticket sales 2 – 23 August tel. (09) 8165 7215.

Espoo Ciné films are transported by DHL.

Festival web pages at www.espoocine.org

More information: tel. (09) 466 599, [email protected]

All rights to programme changes are reserved.

A new national study:
Meetings in the first quarter attracted over 1.2 million participants

It is estimated that more than 1.2 million delegates participated in international and domestic meetings arranged in Finland during the first quarter.
 
The estimation is based on a national meetings market study commissioned by the Finland Convention Bureau (FCB) and the Bureau’s first quarterly review.

Of the total number of participants, 94.4 per cent took part in domestic meetings and the remaining 5.6 per cent in international ones. The number of international and domestic meetings totalled 29,530. Of this total, domestic meetings represented 94.5 per cent and international meetings 5.5 per cent.

The study, which was conducted by Taloustutkimus, was launched this January. Data is collected on a monthly basis from 780 commercial meetings venues: congress centres, hotels and other meetings facilities throughout Finland. All types of meetings are compiled in the statistics: congresses arranged by international organizations, other international meetings such as company meetings, and all domestic meetings.

The replies received in the first quarter covered 63 per cent of the total capacity of the venues recruited for the study. This coverage percentage has been used to estimate the proportion of those who didn’t submit a reply and to approximate the above-mentioned total numbers of meetings and participants.

When comparing participant numbers in international meetings, the Uusimaa province takes first place, followed in statistics by the provinces of Lapland and Varsinais-Suomi. Uusimaa’s share of the total number of domestic participants at meetings is approximately 29 per cent. The next largest proportions were attained by the provinces of Varsinais-Suomi and Päijät-Häme.

Largest numbers of international meetings in Espoo

When comparing the number of international meetings in FCB’s member cities, Espoo charges past Helsinki into first place. Helsinki takes pole position in participant numbers at international meetings, followed by Espoo and Turku. Helsinki had the largest number of participants in domestic meetings, at approximately 31 per cent of the total for the whole country. The runner-ups were Lahti and Espoo.

Participant average of 42

The average size of domestic and international meetings was 42 delegates. The duration of domestic meetings was 1.4 days on average and that of international meetings 1.3 days.

The first comprehensive study of the Finnish meetings market

The Finland Convention Bureau is an organization that coordinates marketing for Finnish meetings and congresses. Currently 20 cities and approximately 80 companies that offer meetings and congress services participate in the bureau’s activities.

FCB has previously only compiled statistics for international organizations’ congresses held in Finland. During this year, the number of domestic and international meetings and the impact of meetings activities on the economy and employment will be assessed for the first time on the national level. The next quarterly review will be released in August.

www.fcb.fi

The event's theme is "A Creative City - Quality Services".

The TERVE-SOS 2004 training event is expected to have 2000 participants, and over 6000 visitors are expected to attend the exhibition. The training event will be organised in cooperation between STAKES and the City of Espoo. The exhibition will be organised by Helsinki Fair Ltd Wanha Satama.

The event's preliminary programme (in Finnish) will be available in January 2004. The seminars will be mainly in Finnish.

Further information in Internet: http://www.stakes.fi/tervesos/espoo/index_en.html

Dipoli Congress Centre: http://www.dipoli.hut.fi/english/index.html

Otahalli: http://www.otahalli.fi/

The mediaeval greystone Espoo Cathedral will provide a perfect atmospheric setting for vocal and instrumental performances and for major works of sacred music. The festival performers will include leading international artists, choirs, orchestras and ensembles.

Enquiries:

Organ Night and Aria Festival
Pappilantie 2, FI-02770 Espoo
Tel. +358 (0)9 8674 4120
Fax. + 358 (0)9 863 0082
[email protected]
www.urkuyofestival.fi  

World Wide Web Inventor recieves one million euros prize from Finnish Technology Award Foundation

World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee was today named recipient of the first-ever Millennium Technology Prize. The honour, which is accompanied by one million euros, is bestowed by the Finnish Technology Award Foundation as an international acknowledgement for an outstanding technological innovation that directly promotes people's quality of life, is based on humane values, and encourages sustainable economic development.

"The Web has significantly enhanced many people's ability to obtain information central to their lives," says Pekka Tarjanne, former secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union and chairman of the International Award Selection Committee. "The Web is encouraging new types of social networks, supporting transparency and democracy, and opening up novel avenues for information management and business development."

Work on the Web continues
Berners-Lee, with a background in system design in real-time communications and text-processing software development, invented the Web while working at CERN, world's largest particle physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. The web was first made available to the public in 1991. Berners-Lee created the first server, browser, and protocols central to the operation of the Web: the URL address, HTTP transmission protocol and HTML code.

Currently Berners-Lee works at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), in Boston. He was born in London, UK in 1955 and graduated from Oxford University in the UK. In 2003, Berners-Lee was named a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his pioneering work.

Open nomination procedure
Seventy-eight innovators from 22 countries were nominated for the Millennium Technology Prize 2004 in four technological fields: health care and life sciences; communication and information; new materials and processes; and energy and the environment.

Berners-Lee's selection was made unanimously by the board of the Finnish Technology Award Foundation at an April 14 meeting based on the recommendation of the International Award Selection Committee. Berners-Lee will be lauded at an award ceremony at Helsinki's Finlandia Hall on June 15, 2004, held in conjunction with the inaugural Millennium Technology Conference, "Future Society - Future Technology."

The Finnish Technology Award Foundation is an independent fund established in 2002 and funded by the Finnish public and private sectors in partnership. Future prizes will be awarded biennially.

The Millennium Technology Conference in Dipoli Congress Centre 13-15 June, 2004
The Millennium Technology Conference provides an international forum for interaction between decision makers, leaders of opinion, scientists and specialists working in different disciplines. The aim is to generate new insights and future scenarios based on ground-breaking technological paradigms. Innovations based on scientific research which improve quality of life, support human values and lead to favourable economic development will be the subject of specific attention.

The conference also celebrates the world's biggest recongnition for technological innovation, the Millennium Technology Prize, which will be awarded for the first time on 15th June 2004.

The conference takes place from 13th June to 16th June 2004.

Further information:
www.dipoli.hut.fi/english/index.html
www.technologyawards.org

The exhibition sheds light on the breathtakingly rich cultural diversity of China. Featuring dresses, jewellery, adornments and ornaments, masks and instruments, borrowed from the Yunnan Museum in southwest China, the exhibition represents 55 minority nationalities living in China.

The diverse selection of items covering half of the immense land area of China explores the ethnic origin, history, religious beliefs, aesthetic preferences and other complex issues which make up a people's cultural identity - a condition of survival for minority cultures.

The exhibition is a token of the uniquely rich material heritage of China's ethnic minorities.

In connection with The Lotus and the Dragon exhibition, do not forget to visit the museum shop specialising in Chinese textiles and jewellery.

Espoo Art Museum Gallery Otso
Ahertajankuja 4, Tapiola
02100 Espoo

tel. +358 (0)9 8165 7512

http://weegee.espoo.fi/otso

Digital television, multimedia and mobile phones are a few examples of new everyday applications made possible by the development of signal processing in the last decades. In medicine, new methods for finding relevant information hidden in large volumes of data are being introduced to areas such as medical imaging and genome research. Signal processing methods are even tested in the analysis of economic trends to find previously unnoticed regularities.

Signal processing research in several fields in the Nordic countries sits among the best the world has to offer. The Finnish mobile communications success story of Nokia, for example, would never have been possible without leading-edge technical knowledge. The world's first ever NMT and GSM phone calls were made in Finland, and vigorous research into fourth-generation mobile devices is already underway.

One important mobile phone related line of research in Espoo is multi-antenna technology, which is studied at Helsinki University of Technology's (HUT) Smart and Novel Radios Research Unit SMARAD. The unit is a Centre of Excellence in Research, appointed by the Academy of Finland.

All-inclusive facilities at Meripuisto

The nordic signal processing community gets together every two years at the Nordic Signal Processing Symposium NORSIG. This year's congress will be the sixth to date and will be held in Espoo for the second time. The General Chair of the congress is Professor Paavo Alku from HUT.

"We're expecting about 120 participants from around the Nordic countries and beyond, mainly the USA. The event is particularly interesting to younger researchers", says Professor Iiro Hartimo from the HUT Signal Processing Laboratory.

The conference papers to be presented at NORSIG 2004 are currently under review. Close to a hundred papers will be selected, representing all aspects of signal processing theory, design and application. "The aim is again to offer a thorough presentation of the state of the signal processing science in the Nordic countries", Hartimo says.

NORSIG 2004 will take place on 9-11 June at the Congress Hotel Meripuisto. Meripuisto provides both the required conference venues and accommodation for the participants.

"With conferences like NORSIG we take total responsibility for organizing practicalities such as accommodation, venues and catering. This way the conference organizer can focus fully on the essential, the content of the conference", says Sales Manager Anne Miilumäki from Meripuisto.

Meripuisto's facilities are superb for events the size of NORSIG, particularly in the summer when it is possible to utilize the hotel's own grounds or the surrounding nature for outdoor get-togethers and other activities. Meripuisto enjoys excellent traffic connections and has a total of 40 congress and meeting facilities of varying sizes. The hotel has 139 beds in 105 rooms.

www.meripuisto.fi

-Espoo Convention & Marketing News 1/2004-   

At maximum capacity, the 1999-built LänsiAuto Areena can host events for up to 9 000 people. On the other end of the scale, Areena's fine restaurant and club facilities and the 2001-built seminar facilities also make it a practical venue for even the smallest meetings and get-togethers. Good traffic connections and a generous number of free parking spaces add to the appeal.

"Companies are a fast-growing customer group. We host sales meetings, seminars, exhibitions, fairs and pre-Christmas celebrations for employees", describes LänsiAuto Areena's Marketing Manager Juha Schmidt.

So far, the number of big concerts held at Areena has remained on the level of four to five each year. The Espoo Blues play around 30 home games there each season.

New Openings in Ball Games

Over the years, LänsiAuto Areena has steadily strengthened its position as one of the key Finnish venues for indoor ball games. Areena has hosted a number of international basketball, volleyball and floorball games. This season it will also be the venue for the games played by Finnish champion basketball team Tapiolan Honka against the continent's top teams in the FIBA Europe League. And in December, Areena will host both the men's and women's Finnish cup finals in basketball, volleyball and floorball - a total of six games during three days.

"Negotiations for further cooperation with the national sports federations for basketball, volleyball and floorball are currently underway. We hope to become the official home ground for these sports' national teams", Schmidt says.

"We're also working on deals concerning a couple of other major sports events. If all goes well, we'll see some really top-level sports in Espoo this coming winter", he reveals.

Further information:
www.lansiauto-areena.com  

-Espoo Convention & Marketing News 3/2003-

Tapiola is famous for its architecture and urban construction. As a garden city, Tapiola is a widely known concept. Yet Tapiola is also a lot else. Above all, it is a landscape of memory and mind, the home of thousands of Tapiola folk, a district full of people and life. Everyday life, celebration, childhood and youth in Tapiola, a model landscape of urban planning and architecture in post-war Finland, these are the themes of Espoo City Museum's exhibition.

The exhibition is about life in Tapiola. It consists of the memories, tales and accounts of Tapiola people, past and present. The narrow-gauge films borrowed from private individuals and the wide-screen film produced from photographs, known as polyvision, gives viewers a glimpse of life in Tapiola forty years back.

The sounds of Tapiola are included, with examples of Tapiola's lively music life. Classical or rock, performances by professionals or amateurs can be listened to at the exhibition in the orange ball chair - just as they could in the music store situated in Heikintori in the 1970s.

What did a real Tapiola home look like in the 1950-60s or what did the model homes of interior design exhibition look like then? Tapiola homes and their interiors and fittings can be viewed in both the exhibition and in the workshop run in connection with it, an interior designer's office. The exhibition features a 47,7-square-metre two-room flat in Tapiola.

In the interior designer's office workshop visitors and groups can acquaint themselves with the interior design and decoration plans of the 1950s-1960s. You can also design layouts for Tapiola apartments.

Espoo City Museum
Ahertajantie 5
Tapiola

Open: Tue, Thu, Fri 9-16, Wed 9-19, Sun 11-18. Entrance fee EUR 4, free to under 18s.

For inquiries and reservations, please call +358 9 8165 7052.

http://weegee.espoo.fi/museo   

Scandic Espoo, at the junction of Turku highway and Kehä II (ring road II), has been completely renovated.

96 renovated rooms from floor to ceiling are functional and comfortable, responding to the needs of the modern traveller.

Room facilities:

• adjustable air conditioning
• parquet floors
• remote control TV/radio system and satellite channels
• minibar
• telephone, modem and in some rooms wireless broadband connection to internet
• safe deposit box
• iron and ironing board
• hair dryer, vanity mirror and underfloor heating in the bathroom

Colonial Bar & Kitchen restaurant has a diverse menu which will take you on a journey around the flavours of the world in a relaxed atmosphere. Pop into the comfortable Colonial Bar & Kitchen after work or bring your family for a weekend lunch - the little ones have their own Children's Menu. The restaurant is open from morning until evening and ideal for both intimate dinners and large dinner parties.

Scandic Espoo is an ideal meeting venue. Latest conference technology and modern design satisfy the needs of even the most demanding delegates. Meeting room capacity is 2-64.

Saunas and the swimming pool department are on the top floor and benefit from excellent views. Morning and evening saunas are included in the room rate: 4 saunas for 4-20 people can also be hired out.

Scandic Espoo is ideally located, with the centre of Helsinki only fifteen minutes away and good connections e.g. to everywhere in Espoo and to Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport. In the hotel's vicinity you can find Serena Aqua Park, Ikea and Glims Farmstead Museum as well as Leppävaara and Tapiola sports grounds and LänsiAuto Areena.

Welcome to Espoo!

Scandic Espoo
Nihtisillantie 1
FIN-02630 Espoo, Finland
Tel. +358 (0)9 525 311
Fax +358 (0)9 502 1132
E-mail: [email protected]
www.scandic-hotels.com  

Call and book now!
Scandic Reservation & Customer Service +358 (0)800 0 6969

"The cars go up with a ski lift and come down as fast as the driver dares. The speed is controlled with brakes. Every run is timed and the time is displayed right away on the scoreboard," explains Managing Director Eero Mattila from Serena.

A maximum of ten cars can run the track at the same time. According to Mattila, the most skilled drivers can reach the finishing line in 40 seconds. A lot of risk-taking, however, may give a result of 20 minutes if the car runs into the car-tyre walls on every corner.

Groups can hire the track on an hourly basis. During the summer season, the center is also open to the general public when it hasn't been booked in advance by a group. The activity is suitable for anyone over 12 years of age and 150 centimetres in height.

Further informationa: Tel. +358 9 8870 550 or www.serena.fi

eCross offers challenge and running experiences for everybody. eCross is a part of a new series called Nordic Cross, which brings the whole Nordic Elite to this competition. Here the large masses and the elite meet.

Invest in your well-being and join the cross-country happening or Nordic Walking! eCross turns all into active outdoor sports enthusiasts on their own level.

The organizers are Athletics Club Sjundeå IF from Siuntio, Orienteering Club Espoon Suunta from Espoo, Sydväst Polytechnic School of Sports Studies and the City of Espoo.

The running and walking surface at eCross is very pleasant as it varies between grass, gravel, paths, meadows, fields, sawdust and small roads in the forests. Running is the most simple and a very cheap form of physical activity and on top of all that it is very effective from the health perspective. Nordic Walking is suitable for anyone despite the level of physical performance or pace offering a perfect moment of all-round physical activity in the terrain.

Class / Distance:

• Classic 18 km
  - Men: up to 39, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60
  - Women: up to 39, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60
• Business Class 7 km
  - Teams of four members
• Economy Class 7 km
• Nordic Walking 7 km
• Mini Cross 1 km
• Junior 7 km
  - Boys: 17, 19
  - Girls: 17, 19
• Junior 2 km and 4 km
  - 2 km: boys 9, 11, girls 9, 11
  - 4 km: boys 13, 15, girls 13, 15

The courses go along small roads, paths and trails in the recreational park and woods in Leppävaara as one loop. The starts take place at the grass field just east of Leppävaara Stadium. The finish is at the stadium.

The official eCross hotel: Hotel Meripuisto, address Tyrskyvuori 4, FIN-02320 Espoo.
Tel. +358 (0)9 819 251, internet: www.meripuisto.fi

The entry fee includes: participation, medal, t-shirt, service before, during and after the race, insurance, swimming and sauna, expo, product package, ice cream, free parking and additional programme.

The entry fees are to be paid to eCross' Finnish bank account:
Nordea Bank Espoo Tapiola 111230-333192.

Entry: You can enter directly on the internet at www.ecross.info

"Visitors coming to Espoo can now reserve a rental car by using a web form available on the Espoo Convention & Marketing website. They receive confirmation by return and the car is delivered without extra charge directly to the hotel," explains Station Manager Timo Kropsu from Hertz Espoo.

More information on the service, including prices, can be found here. 

The complete player field of Nordea Nordic Light Open 2003 will be presented after the sign-in deadline in June 2003. The tournament is proud to already now present five of the participating players:

Patty Schnyder (SUI)
No. 19 on the WTA Tour Rankings and one of few who beat both Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport in 2002. Wants to improve her quarterfinal finish in Nordea Nordic Light Open 2003:
- I love the finnish bread and I am more than happy to return to the tournament, which is managed in a very professional manner, says Schnyder.

Clarisa Fernandez (ARG)
The young argentinian made it all the way to the semifinal in French Open last year, in her first ever Grand Slam! She will play for the first time in Nordea Nordic Light Open:
- I love the clay, as all argentinians, and look forward to come to Scandinavia for the first time, says Fernandez.

Iroda Tulyaganova (UZB)
The asian champion played in the WTA Tour Championships in 2001 and suffered from lots of injuries last year. She is now looking for a top 20 ranking again and reached the quarterfinals in Berlin last week:
- I am aiming at returning to top 20 this year, says Tulyaganova.

	Photo: Nordea Nordic Light Open, Åsa Svensson

Åsa Svensson (SWE)
The best player of the nordic countries over the last ten years and the captain of Nordea Tennis Team. Åsa is injured in her foot at the moment and hope to recover before the tournament:
- It was great to be here today at the press conference and see the huge media interest for women´s tennis in Finland, says Svensson.

Emma Laine (FIN)
Emma Laine is the rising star from Finland. She reached the semifinals in Australian Open juniors and she is no 14 on the ITF Juniors Ranking:
- My tennis is much better than last year and it would be such a great thing to win a match in Nordea Nordic Light Open. I really hope that the spectators will help me in my "home tournament", says Laine.

Read more www.nordiclightopen.com

SAS is a significant player in the congress and incentive travel trade in Finland. Today, almost half of the congress organizers in major Finnish cities utilize the company's services. In addition to flights, SAS offers accommodation packages through its affiliated company, the Radisson SAS hotel chain.

According to Tom Karlsson, Commercial Director in charge of SAS Norhteast European operations, Espoo offers a rare combination of some of the best assets for congress and incentive travel: "Espoo provides a modern, urban setting near real nature and only a stone's throw from the capital. What's more, Espoo has excellent congress facilities, a wide range of accommodation and extensive possibilities for additional activities", Karlsson sums up.

With the opening of the Radisson SAS Espoo Hotel in June 2001, Espoo received a long awaited alternative for first-class accommodation. The hotel is situated by the seafront in Otaniemi, close to the Dipoli Congress Centre and the services of Tapiola.

Connections at the top of agenda

In Karlsson's view, easy connections are at the top of agenda for most travellers, especially for busy congress guests.

"In this respect, Espoo's location is superb. There are smooth connections to the airport and harbour, and from these places you can connect to practically anywhere."

Membership in the Star Alliance is among the advantages SAS has in the competition between airlines. With its partners, particulary Lufthansa, the company offers a highly competitive range of destinations and services. An SAS-affiliated company, Air Botnia, provides connections to domestic cities such as Turku, Tampere, Vaasa and Oulu.

http://www.scandinavian.net/

The main venue for the event will again be the Espoo Cultural Centre in Tapiola. This year’s programme boasts
a number of internationally acclaimed stars, like Joe Zawinul and his band and the Jan Garbarek Group - an April Jazz favourite from a couple of years back.

Iiro Rantala, the Finnish ambassador of jazz, will indulge the audience with the first-ever performance of his piano concerto. As the host, the Espoo Big Band will accompany Stacey Kent, who has been named the UK’s best female jazz vocalist for 2002 and 2003. In the main sponsor’s (Helsingin Sanomat) tent next to the Cultural Centre, the programme will be built around traditional jazz, Latin rhythms and blues.

The artists will include The Jive Aces, representing traditional British rhythm and blues, Society Syncopators from Australia and the popular ethno artist Richard Bona. Also making an appearance in the tent will be the Finnish favourite
Lenni-Kalle Taipale and his band, Antti Sarpila and the young local star Joonas Kasurinen.

The programme at the festival club at Tapiola Garden will focus on the
more traditional Cotton Club style jazz. The stars on stage will include
Alexandre Cavaliere, Antti Sarpila, Johanna Iivanainen & Unit 6, Lenni-Kalle
Taipale and Anne Ducros, the receiver of the French Billie Holiday award.

Among this year’s special April Jazz
highlights will be two performances
given by the Spanish flamenco
group Compañia Maria Serrano, on
Saturday 26 April. Entitled “Ritmo”,
the performance features 12
Spanish and Cuban dancers and six
musicians in a whirl of fiery
flamenco.

Further information and the full festival programme can be found at
www.apriljazz.fi

News 03/2002 can be ordered free of charge from Espoo Convention & Marketing.

You may use the order form below or visit our office in Tapiola (address: Pohjantie 3, 6 th floor).

Order form

At Korpilampi customers can combine a range of services to meet their needs - it’s possible to arrange a fitness test for conference guests and compile individual fitness programmes, for example.

Hotel Korpilampi has been completely refurbished with the completion of renovation work this June, from the pipework, air-conditioning
and basic structures to floors, wallpapers and other finishings. The meeting rooms have been modernized and the lobby now has a new look with a lighter atmosphere. A fast wireless local area network connects guests to the Internet in all public facilities.

Naturally, the hotel’s existing strengths remain. A 300-seat auditorium, a sufficient number of meeting rooms, free parking, natural surroundings, a clean pond and a range of activity options provide an opportunity for doing and seeing or enjoying peace and quiet in an
empowering environment.

Päivi Kaasalainen was appointed as the hotel’s Marketing Manager and member of the management team in June. She has previously worked as Marketing Manager at Spies and as Product Manager at Fritidsresor Finland.

Contact for more information:

Hotel Korpilampi
Korpilammentie, Lahnus, 02970 Espoo
Tel: +358 (0)9 613 8411
Fax +358 (0)9 6138 4220
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet: www.lomaliitto.fi/korpilampi

A thangka is a Buddhist painted scroll framed with brocade, which depicts a spiritual idea, such as a Buddhist deity or an abstract doctrine. Buddhist painting has a long history in Tibet: thangkas have been made in the Buddhist areas of the Himalayas for over a thousand years. The tradition of making thangkas has remained vital to the present day.

The Thangka exhibition consists of thangka paintings and related ethnographic material. On show are eleven thangka paintings, an ethnographic photo exhibition and a slideshow, which illuminates the social and religious context of the paintings. We will also be showing a documentary film on a Tibetan artist, which will be premiering at the opening of the exhibit.

Thangka explores the historical, religious and philosophical dimensions of Tibetan art. In addition the history and contemporary culture of Tibet are present in the exhibition, as part of presenting the Buddhist worldview. The exhibition offers a chance to experience the everyday life of Buddhist Tibetans living in India.

Since being invaded by China in the 1950s Tibet has been in a difficult situation. Material and spiritual culture was decimated by the destruction of buildings and objects and the pressure on Tibetans to give up their Buddhist faith and cultural heritage. Despite the historical and political situation Tibetan culture has remained vital – especially among the Tibetans living in exile.

All the exhibited thangkas are made by young Tibetan artist Bhuchung Tsering, who lives in Dharamsala in India. The exhibition has been produced by anthropologist Maija Butters from Helsinki, who has been doing research for some years among the Tibetans living in Northern India. The associated documentary Thangka-  A Living Tradition (25 min.) has been made by Sonja Lindén and Lotta Kupiainen (University of art and Design/Department of Film and Television). The architect for the exhibition is Uula Kohonen.

Further information:

Helinä Rautavaara Museum
Ahertajantie 5, Tapiola
02100 Espoo
Tel. +358 (0)9 412 9439
www.helinarautavaaramuseum.org

As a part of Baltica Cup tournament, Finland will be facing Slovakia in LänsiAuto Areena on Monday 16 December at 6.30 p.m.
Baltica Cup is part of Euro Hockey Tour. Baltica Cup will be played in Moscow, Russia, 16-22 December.

Tickets 25/22/16/10 € can be bought from Lippupalvelu tel. 0600 10800 or www.lippupalvelu.fi.

www.lansiauto-areena.com
www.finhockey.fi

Scenes from Other Countries illustrates a Central Espoo of many ways.
The event is part of a project which in different ways intends to strengthen a multicaltural local identity.

Thursday 14 Nov at 7.30 p.m.
Férid Boughedir
Un été à La Goulette / Halk-el-wad (Kesä Gouletten rannalla)
Tunisia/France 1996  100 min
Language Arabic, French, Italian (Finnish and Swedish subtitles)

Saturday 16 Nov at 3.30 p.m.
Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Gabbeh
Iran 1995   75 min
Language Farsi (Finnish and Swedish subtitles)

Saturday 16 Nov at 5.30 p.m.
Idrissa Ouedraogo
Samba Traoré (Samba Traorén lyhyt onni)
Burkina Faso/France 1992   85 min
Language French (Finnish and Swedish subtitles)

Movie for Children on Sunday 17 Nov at 3.30 p.m.
Michel Ocelot
Kirkou et la sorcière (Kirikou ja paha noita)
France 1998   74 min
Dubbed in Finnish

Sunday 17 Nov at 5.30 p.m.
Xie Fei
Xian hun nu (Nainen tuoksujen järveltä)
China 1993   106 min
Language Mandarin (Finnish and Swedish subtitles)

Tickets 5 €

Kino Tuomarila
Palotie 31
Tel. (09) 805 6411

Inquiries: Espoo Cultural Office, tel. (09) 8165 7515 / Auli Jaatinen
www.espoo.fi/elokuva

The competition, founded on the initiative of The Paulo Foundation and Professor Arto Noras, has been presented twice, in 1991 and 1996. The Paulo Cello Competition is one of the most important competitions of today.

The repertoire of the competition has always been exciting and demanding including music of our time as well as the earlier masterpieces of cello music. The third Paulo Cello Competition consists of recital programmes of the contestants' choice and of four different concertos. The concertos will be played with the Tapiola Sinfonietta, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The competition will be held at The Helsinki Conservatory of Music, Tapiolasali Hall and Finlandia Hall.

The competition is open to cellists of all nationalities born between 1969 and 1986.The first prize of the competition is 15 000 Euros and the total of other prizes is 27 000 Euros.

In addition two special prizes, Raphaël Sommer Memorial Prize of 2 000 euros and a prize of 1 000 euros donated by The Finnish Broadcasting Company, will be awarded in the competition.

www.cellocompetitionpaulo.org

News 03/2002 can be ordered free of charge from Espoo Convention & Marketing.
You may use the order form below or visit our office in Tapiola (address: Pohjantie 3, 6 th floor).

Order form

Painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865-1931) was well known in the Paris-based Nordic community of artists known as the Young Finnish circle. He also had a strong presence as an organizer of the Finnish Pavilion at the Paris World Fair of 1900, in the art circles of Germany, Italy and Hungary, and even in American art projects in his late years.

The exhibition "Alone Together - Akseli Gallen-Kallela and Communities of Artists" features works by Gallen-Kallela and his artist friends such as Albert Edelfelt, Elin Danielson, Pekka Halonen, Hugo Simberg and Ville Vallgren.

The exhibition is open from 27 April to 1 January 2003.

Further information: www.gallen-kallela.fi/english.html

We have also two Open to the World competitions at the same time for Junior II and Youth. Junior II will compete in Standard and Youth will compete in Latin.

The competition venue LänsiAuto Areena is located in Espoo (15 km from Helsinki). Tickets can be booked in advance from Lippupalvelu tel. +358 600 10 800 (1e/min + local network charge)

The following judges will be adjudicating the competitions:

Carol Kimmins - Austria
Johann Pauritsch - Austria
Oleg Yedlin - Canada
Asis Khadjeh-Nuori - Germany
Tommy Shaughnessy - Ireland
Lalla Dell'Orto - Italy
Imants Rihters - Latvia
Svein Rotvold - Norway
Margit Sollmann - Finland

Chairman: Hans Spaeker - IDSF Sports Director

Finnish Dance Sport Association is glad to welcome you to Finland!

Further information:

www.tanssiurheilu.fi
Suomen Tanssiurheiluliitto r.y.
Stadion Eteläkaarre
FIN-00250 Helsinki
 puhelin: +358-(0)9-348 9000
faksi: +358-(0)9-348 9002
 
 

For ten years now the Leppävaara Street Carnival (Raittikarnevaalit) has been held on the first Thursday of September. After the Night of Events (Tapahtumien ilta) last year the organizers noticed that one day just isn't enough for experiencing all that Leppävaara has to offer.

The local communities have united their strength with the city of Espoo and this year the event lasts throughout an entire week. There are several interesting performances, exhibitions, seminars and different activities for people of all ages.

Come along to experience fantastic moments or to offer them to others!

Further information and entries: 
Tel. +358 9 816 57 954, +358 400 483 829 / Eine Kuismin Event coordinator
[email protected]
www.leppavaaraviikko.info

"8 femmes" is featuring world-famous French actresses such as Cathrine Deneuve and Emmanuelle Béar.

The festival will end with Tom Tykwer's "Heaven", a film that has already gained repute around the world. Espoo Ciné's themes inclulde new European cinema, gay cinema, fantasy, children's cinema and new Finnish films.

Festival catalogue and tickets are available at Espoo Cultural Centre (Kulttuuriaukio, Kaupinkalliontie 10).

Espoo Ciné festival office
PO Box 95, 02101 Espoo
Tel: +358 9 466 599, fax +358 9 466 358
[email protected]

Festival programme and more in Internet

This year's Choral Espoo will for the first time take place during the bright Nordic summer, on 4-9 June. The arranger has also changed: the City of Espoo has transferred the organizing responsibility to the association Espoon Musiikkifestivaalit ry.

According to the association's Executive Director Hannele Granö, the new time opens many new possibilities: "Now the festival can make the most of Tapiola's settings in the form of outdoor events and, as the summer holidays will have already started, we hope to increase the number of visitors from outside the capital region."

Music in the service of peace

The special theme of this year's event, "Songbridge", is based on a concept created by the founder of the Tapiola Choir, Professor Erkki Pohjola. The idea is to use music as a tool to promote international cooperation and peace.

The Tapiola Choir and children's and youth choirs from South Korea and Venezuela have each had a new piece of music composed for them by a Songbridge composer, and the choirs will practice and perform together during the event. Finnish and international veteran choirs, too, will have their own Songbridge concert.

Other highlights of the programme include a joint concert with the Organ Night and Aria, featuring the Stockholm Bach Choir and the Drottningholm Baroque ensemble, a concert of medieval Brigittine songs in the Espoo Orthodox Church, performances by a variety of ensembles and an event which is titled "Male energy" and features the Polytech Choir from Espoo and the Harvard Glee Club from the United States.

Espoo is a city of choirs

Over the years, Choir Espoo has established itself as a valued international meeting place both for amateurs and professionals of choral music. A variety of teaching events and discussions take place behind the limelight, in addition to a competition for Finnish choir conductors. In recognition of its merits, this year's festival has been especially chosen by the International Federation of Choral Music to celebrate the organization's 20th anniversary.

As the home of many internationally renowned choirs - the Tapiola Choir, Candomino and Dominante among others - Espoo is a natural host for such a significant choir event. Based on two decades of involvement in Espoo's choral scene, Hannele Granö believes that the city's strength lies in strong musical education.

"Due to the availability of high-standard education in music on all school levels and in two specialist colleges, there are many local young people with good singing skills. They also find it easy to advance further as we have very good choirs for singers of all ages," Granö explains.

Further information about the festival programme: www.choralespoo.fi

Spain's Arantxa Sanches-Vicario, Croatia's Iva Majoli, Sweden's Åsa Svensson, Denmark's Eva Dyrberg, and Italy's Silvia Farina-Elia are among the entrants. The only confermed Finnish representative is 15-year-old Emma Laine, who will receive a wild card to the tournament.

Arantxa Sanches-Vicario (former # 1 in the world) has four Grand Slam titles to her name, and Iva Majoli (former # 4 in the world) won the French Open championship in 1997. Farina-Elia is currently ranked 13th in the world, Sanches-Vicario 18th, and Majoli 33rd.

Nordea Nordic Light Open is a clay-court tournament and it will be played in Tapiola Tennis Park. Tournament has prize money of 140.000 US dollars and a draw of 32 players. It is the largest women's tennis tournament to be held in a Nordic country for the past twenty years. A WTA tour event has never before been organised in Finland.

Further information:

Nordea Nordic Light Open / ATS
Tuulikuja 1, Tapiola
FIN-02100 Espoo
Tel: +358 9 412 2102, fax +358 9 455 2717

[email protected]
www.nordiclightopen.com

Held only a couple of weeks before the US Open, the Nordic Light Open provides a perfect opportunity for the stars to put a final polish on their skills.

The Nordic Light Open is the first women's Sanew WTA Tour event in the Nordic countries in more than two decades. The tournament's prize money totals $140 000. It will become an annual event, arranged in the capital region of a Nordic country.

"The new event is a significant advancement for women's tennis in all Nordic countries. We're very proud that the first Nordic Light Open will take place in Finland", says Managing Director Mika Bono from the Finnish Tennis Association.

15 000 visitors, TV spectators all over the world

According to Mikael Larsson, Managing Director of the tournament organizer and owner ATS (Alandia Topshow Ab), Espoo is a perfect complement to what the Nordic Light Open stands for:

"We want to create a friendly, feminine and Nordic event with the best possible tennis. The green and friendly Tapiola Tennis Park - surrounded by Espoo's Nordic touch of design close to the archipelago - is a magnificent setting for such an event!"

The tournament will bring an estimated 15 000 visitors to Espoo, and the TV coverage will be broadcast in approximately 80 countries.

"The stars will stay at the official player hotel, Radisson SAS Espoo. We believe that all Espoo's hotels will be booked to capacity and some of the hotels in Helsinki will also be needed for the spectators", Larsson estimates.

A new boost for the visitor trade

For the tournament's arrangements, ATS works in close cooperation with Espoo Convention & Marketing. Their forces are combined particularly in promotional activities.

"We're delighted to receive such a high-profile event in Espoo. The city is already a regular host of high-standard cultural events such as April Jazz and the Organ Night and Aria, but - like most other cities in the Nordic countries - Espoo has not yet been host to an international sports event of this scale. The tournament will be a significant boost for the visitor trade", says Managing Director Kai Mattsson from Espoo Convention & Marketing.

Further information: www.nordiclightopen.com and www.sanexwta.com 

For information on accommodation in Espoo see our Accommodation pages.

Nordic Light Open 3 - 11 August 2002

Contact information:
ATS - Alandia Topshow Ab
Tuulikuja 1, FIN-02100 Espoo
Tel. +358 (0)9 412 2102, fax +358 (0)9 455 2717
E-mail: [email protected]
www.ats.aland.fi

News 02/2002 can be ordered free of charge from Espoo Convention & Marketing. You can use the order form below or visit our office in Tapiola (address: Pohjantie 3, 6th floor).

Order form

April Jazz has become established as the largest annual jazz event of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. Its top class international events at the Espoo Cultural Centre, versatile programme of merrymaking in the Helsingin Sanomat marquee and laid back, late-night jam sessions at the Tapiola Garden Hotel have made April Jazz the most eagerly awaited spring happening in Finland.

Highlights of the Espoo Cultural Centre programme will include the Indian percussion guru Trilok Gurtu, performing both with his own ensemble and as a soloist with the Espoo Big Band. Jazz guitar virtuoso John Abercrombie's quartet and Charlie Haden's ensemble Nocturne are packed with famous names. Allan Harris a renowed singer in the jazz clubs of New York, and the Latin spiced Chico Freeman will add a dash of colour to the festivities. The American guitarist Cornell Dupree will perform as a soloist with Finland's very own Trio Töykeät, while other home-grown talent will include the Aleksi Tuomarila Trio with Jukka Perko and the U-Street All Stars. The Cultural Centre concert programme will end on a high point on the festival Saturday with a veritable cult band: The Kronos string quartet.

The programme for the Helsingin Sanomat marquee will be based on traditional jazz and Latin American music. Performers will include Andy Cooper's Euro Top 8 ensemble from the UK, Pibo Marquez' large Latin group from Venezuela and the wild US funk band Defunkt. Always full of surprises, the children's jazz performers led by Joonas Kasurinen will complete the versatile marquee programme. The Swedish Swing Society with soloist Antti Sarpila, the DDT Jazzband, Jenny Robson & Pekka Toivanen and the Lenni-Kalle Taipale Group will also appear at the á la Garden restaurant of the Tapiola Garden Hotel, where late night international jam sessions until the small hours will provide an extra treat for die-hard jazz enthusiasts.

April Jazz Espoo 24 - 28 April 2002

www.apriljazz.fi

New contact information:

Pohjantie 3, 6^th floor
FIN- 02100 Espoo

Tel. +358 (0)9 8164 7230
Fax +358 (0)9 8164 7238

E-mail: [email protected]
Internet: www.espootravel.com

The university's campus area was designed by Alvar Aalto, one of the most highly regarded architects of the twentieth century.

Today, HUT has 13 500 students and a staff of 3 000. It is the largest technical university in Finland and among the country's five largest academic establishments. The university's top fields of expertise include information technology, low temperature physics, new materials, scientific calculation, pulp and paper technology, and new design methods, among others.

A boost for business and industry

Together with its neighbour, the Technical Research Centre of Finland VTT, HUT is a powerful stimulus for business and industry. The research conducted at HUT and VTT and the resulting innovations benefit large companies such as Nokia as well as emerging new enterprises.

"We cooperate in research with practically every major company in Finland, and we also work together in education. New enterprise is forwarded by a variety of business support and incubator services. HUT is one of the players in the background of Innopoli and the Otaniemi Science Park, which are providers of these services in Espoo", says Rector of HUT Paavo Uronen.

Virtual studies and active building

In accordance with a national programme, all technical universities in Finland have in recent years significantly increased their student intake in hot fields related to information technology. Another national programme, the virtual university, launched this spring and coordinated by HUT, aims to make versatile study opportunities available to all Finnish students.

"In addition to these large-scale initiatives, the first years of the new millennium at HUT are an active time for building", Uronen says. The most sizeable building projects currently underway include a new auditorium for 600 people, the Microelectronics Centre in conjunction with VTT and a new building for the departments of Industrial Engineering and Management and Automation and Systems Technology.

Close contact with Europe, the USA and Japan

On an international scale, HUT has particularly strong contact with EU countries, the United States and Japan. Student and research exhange is increasing and currently involves 700 students and researchers each year. A new and promising opening was made this spring when the National Technology Agency Tekes signed an agreement for Finnish-American cooperation with the University of Berkeley. The first researchers from HUT have already started their projects in this famous American university.

HUT is one of the largest conference arrangers in Espoo. The events take place most often at Dipoli Congress Centre. Dipoli's professional organizers handle the practical arrangements for each event, and the university's professors take care of the scientific programme.

"Sometimes it seems that I'm asked to open a conference every week!" Uronen notes.

(Espoo Convention & Marketing News 2/2001)  

The room accommodates up to 60 people and it can be flexibly divided to suit a variety of purposes. In addition to meetings and conferences, the room is well suited for receptions, weddings and other festivities.

Hotel Kuninkaantie
Lakelankatu 1, Espoo centre
FIN-02770 Espoo
Tel. +358 (0)9 859 191
Fax +358 (0)9 805 7848
E-mail: [email protected]
www.hotellikuninkaantie.com

At Solvalla, bathers can choose from five different saunas, including the lakeshore sauna and the saunas in the main building and the villa. A hole will be kept open in the ice for winter swimmers.

The sports grounds at Solvalla have also had a facelift, including new lighting and artificial grass. Already in use, the facilities suit track and field, football and handball. The changing rooms and showers are located in the hall for ball games.

Solvalla Sports Institute
Nuuksiontie 82, Solvalla
FIN-02820 Espoo
Tel. +358 (0)9 867 8430
Fax +358 (0)9 8678 4321
E-mail: [email protected]
www.solvalla-finns.fi

Espoo’s general brochure contains tips for holidaymaking, arranging a company event or planning a meeting or a congress, for example.

The brochure is available in Finnish, Swedish and English.

Espoo Guide is a brochure on events and places to visit in the Espoo area, published by Espoo Convention & Marketing.

In addition to information on events and places to visit, the brochure lists accommodation in the area and provides the contact information needed by visitors.

You can now read Espoo Guide 2005 in Internet. See the pdf-file below.

Espoo Convention & Marketing News, published two times a year, tells about the latest news and events of the visitor and convention trade in Espoo.

Espoo Convention & Marketing
Keskustorni, 10^th floor, Tapiola
FI-02100 Espoo

Tel. +358 (0)9 8164 7230
Fax +358 (0)9 8164 7238

E-mail: [email protected]

Internet: www.espootravel.com

In addition to the company’s office, tourist brochures and information are available
at the following City of Espoo joint service points:

• Espoo Centre (Espoon keskus) joint service point
  Kirkkojärventie 4, FIN-02770 Espoo
  
• Matinkylä joint service point
  Iso Omena shopping centre, Piispansilta 11, FIN-02230 Espoo
  
• Tapiola joint service point
  Espoo Cultural Centre, Kulttuuriaukio, FIN-02100 Espoo
  
• Leppävaara joint service point
  Sello shopping centre, Leppävaarankatu 9, FIN-02600 Espoo
  
  

E-mail: [email protected]

Managing Director
Mr. Kai Mattsson
Tel. +358 (0)9 8164 7235

Conference & Conventions Manager
Ms. Ann-Britt Jukka
Tel. +358 (0)9 8164 7236
E-mail: [email protected]

PR Officer for Visitors
Ms. Leena Klem
Tel. +358 (0)9 8164 7234

Marketing Assistant
Ms. Hanna-Mari Järventaus
Tel. +358 (0)9 8164 7230

Communications Manager
Ms. Riina Kairulahti
Tel. +358 (0)9 8164 7237

Project Manager
Ms. Lea Rintala
Tel. +358 (0)9 8165 2199

The shareholders of Espoo Convention & Marketing (Espoon Matkailu Oy / Esbo Turism Ab):

• The City of Espoo
• Espoon Matkailukiinteistöt Oy (Waterpark Serena)
• Espoon seudun koulutuskuntayhtymä (Hotel Kuninkaantie)
• Kaikuva Oy
• Kongressi- ja koulutuskeskus Meripuisto Oy
• Otahalli Oy
• Savonlinnan Kylpylaitos Oy (Hotel Korpilampi)
• Scandic Hotels Oy
• Sokotel Oy (Sokos Hotels and Radisson SAS Hotels)
• Tapiolan Monitoimiareena Oy (LänsiAuto Areena)
• The Helsinki University of Technology HUT