{"id":20108,"date":"2016-10-17T12:00:19","date_gmt":"2016-10-17T10:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/avo-blog.nl\/?p=20108&lang=en"},"modified":"2018-01-29T20:25:34","modified_gmt":"2018-01-29T19:25:34","slug":"face-behind-avo-francisca-hagen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/en\/2016\/10\/face-behind-avo-francisca-hagen\/","title":{"rendered":"The face behind AVO: Francisca Hagen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since AVO has already existed more than 13 years and AVO Magazine more than 4 years, it was definitely time for an interview with the founder:\u00a0Francisca Hagen<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

AVO: You’ve kept AVO Magazine and Forum standing for quite a while, mostly by yourself. What is your motivation to keep putting so much time into this?
\n<\/strong>Francisca: My perseverance has gotten me very far. I\u2019m not the kind of person that throws in the towel and walks away when things get tough. I never thought I\u2019d still be running a forum after 13 years. In all honesty, I never thought about the responsibilities involved when starting a forum, but eventually, they grew. AVO is a name I want to make even more well-known and I\u2019m willing to fight for that. The fact that AVO isn\u2019t known to everyone, is a reason to keep going. By now I\u2019ve put blood, sweat, tears and money into AVO, which makes me want success for AVO even more. And AVO isn\u2019t just a forum anymore, this shows there\u2019s more to me than just an admin.<\/p>\n

AVO: AVO Magazine has a broad audience with a lot of different interests. How do you keep everybody interested?<\/strong>
\nFrancisca: This has to do with the fact that I have a lot of interests myself. I\u2019ve always seen this as a disadvantage when I had to decide what to study. I didn\u2019t have any idea which direction I wanted to head in, because I could go in many directions thanks to my many interests. I chose a study that I thought would make it easy for me to go to Japan: Tourism. Pretty na\u00efve of me, since I ended up not going to Japan until this year. Teachers of that study thought I should do something with computers, because I always helped them solve problems. Eventually, I ended up at a Multimedia study. Because other people kept telling me I was a good writer I even studied journalism for a little while. But eventually I ended up doing what I like: writing, photography, organizing events, presenting and I try to take on as many new challenges as possible! This immediately shows that it was simply impossible to pick 1 study, because there were so many interesting options. On top of that the world is ever-changing when it comes to work, often I see people who have to go back to college because their branch doesn\u2019t have a lot of job opportunities. So I encourage people to have several interests and hobbies, this keeps you open minded. I share all sorts of things on AVO Forum, because these things seem interesting to me and that\u2019s exactly the same as what I do for AVO Magazine. I enjoy discovering new things and hope people discover new things because of my articles.<\/p>\n

\"Francisca<\/p>\n

AVO: <\/strong>Every workday AVO Magazine has new articles, the subjects are very diverse. Are there specific subjects we can expect in the future?
\n<\/strong>Francisca: Of course there are a lot of ideas, AVO Magazine is always evolving. If you look at how AVO Magazine looked in the beginning and what it\u2019s like now, you see very big differences. I think it\u2019s a good thing AVO Magazine keeps changing, I view this as growth. Standing still is moving backwards, in my opinion. I try to offer more and more when it comes to the journey to Tokyo 2020. I also want a lot more balance for the website, at the moment you mainly see a lot of my expertise shine through: music. This has to do with my activities in the music world, I organize concerts in the Netherlands with AVO Events & Promotion. This way I meet new people who can contribute something to AVO. So at the moment a team is busy to review more anime, manga and games for the website. But I also want to do more interviews, tell more about the country Japan and give more attention to a few subjects that haven\u2019t been in the spotlight. I\u2019m still looking for serious people who would like to write for a website like AVO! On top of all this I want to expand our Youtube channel.<\/p>\n

AVO: What would you like to see in AVO Magazine\u2019s future?
\n<\/strong>Francisca: What mainly keeps me busy at the moment, is expanding AVO Magazine. At the moment the website is mostly known in the Netherlands. But making it more known in Belgium hasn\u2019t worked out yet after all these years, even though I have (had) several Flemish writers. On top of that, I want to look beyond the borders. The name AVO has been mentioned several times in Japan, thanks to my activities for AVO Magazine and AVO Events & Promotion, but the website still mainly publishes in Dutch. What if I offer a complete English version?<\/p>\n

AVO: AVO Forum<\/a>\u00a0has more than 300 members and is active, despite the fact that more and more forums fall silent. How do you keep it so active?
\n<\/strong>Francisca: I\u2019m known for being perseverant – as I mentioned before – I don\u2019t give up very easily. I make sure that I post some messages in the morning, afternoon and evening. This makes it easier for me. I\u2019m active on the social media and get news this way, sometimes I get tips from other people. This enables me to post a message pretty quickly. I make sure to start discussions every now and then, because these create extra activity! The website has been more active in the past, but has also been very quiet for a period of time. At the moment the website is active, the core being a set group of people who respond to several subjects. I\u2019m glad the website is still going, despite forums being outdated. Especially because of social media. But there are still plenty of people who visit the forum and post there. On top of that the forum has already existed for a long time and there have been plenty of members who came back after years of inactivity to experience that AVO-vibe again, that they miss on social media. On Facebook you sometimes get a few reactions as well, maybe a few on twitter, but on the forum a lot of people choose to respond. I offer a very diverse subjects and I\u2019m always open for new subjects, which makes people stay a lot quicker.<\/p>\n

\"Francisca<\/p>\n

AVO: On top of AVO Magazine and Forum you also started AVO Events & Promotion<\/a>\u00a0in late 2014, where you help organize music events with Japanese artists. What was your motivation behind starting AVO Events & Promotion?<\/strong>
\nFrancisca: I\u2019d already kept myself busy with organizing concerts in the Netherlands for two years at that time and I thought it was time to put the AVO label on it. Organizing concerts is something I happened upon, because a Japanese band I\u2019ve been supporting for years first asked me if I wanted to organize a concert for them in the Netherlands. Eventually I got a request to become partners with a European tour organization and ever since I organize concerts. I didn\u2019t even know if it was something that I\u2019d enjoy, but by now I\u2019m sure it is. It\u2019s as if I accidentally stumbled upon something that fits with me perfectly. By now I provide of several concerts in the Netherlands, also at conventions, events and conventions ask me to advise them and I managed to present an event myself as well. I never thought it\u2019d work out this way and I still feel like I\u2019m in the starting phase of this.<\/p>\n

AVO: With AVO Events & Promotion, you\u2019ve already been able to get quite a few musicians to come to the Netherlands, among which\u00a0NIA<\/a>,\u00a0Satsuki<\/a>,\u00a0ADAMS<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0REMNANT<\/a>, to name the most recent. Has anything ever gone wrong? <\/strong>
\nFrancisca:\u00a0The job I have is to make sure everything runs smoothly. This starts with a clear planning, worked out agreements and maintaining communication at all times. After that it\u2019s important to be able to fix possible problems in a flexible way, but also as good as possible, without panicking. If the latter would happen, then you\u2019re not cut out for this job. During a job I\u2019m always very focused and I try to keep cool, no matter what happens. During conventions I run into a lot of familiar faces who want to have a chat with me, but if I\u2019m working then I\u2019m focused on work and can\u2019t chat for very long. This is a downside, since I do enjoy talking to the people I run into. But there\u2019s no time, I have to continue!<\/p>\n

AVO: Which musicians would you like to get to perform in the Netherlands in the future?
\n<\/strong>Francisca:\u00a0There are quite a few I\u2019d like to see coming to the Netherlands. Do you have a moment? To make it easier I\u2019ll name a few: GOATBED,\u00a0emmur\u00e9e,\u00a0cali\u2260gari, THE NOVEMBERS, Lillies and Remains and FOXPILL CULT. Most of these bands I got to enjoy live during my first trip to Japan with the idea that I wouldn\u2019t get to see them in the Netherlands any time soon. I think it\u2019d be really amazing to get them to come to this cold little country. The band that made it possible for me to do the things I do now, lloy, I\u2019ve never been able to get them to come to the Netherlands. I\u2019d still like to do this sometime!<\/p>\n

AVO: AVO\u2019s birthday gets celebrated in a grand way every year, this year with <\/strong>video<\/strong><\/a> submissions<\/strong>\u00a0of artist and a giveaway.<\/strong> Can you give us a hint as to what we can expect next year?<\/strong>
\nFrancisca:\u00a0I thought it was great that so many people submitted a video to congratulate AVO, this makes you feel good! At the work that was put into this is taken seriously. Next year everyone is welcome to send in something like that again. But secretly I\u2019m also already busy with 15 years AVO. After AVO J-Rock Fesival ended in 2013 I got a lot of questions about when the next edition would be. Could it be?<\/p>\n

\"Francisca<\/p>\n

AVO: AVO Community currently exists out of AVO Forum, AVO Magazine and AVO Events & Promotion. Can we expect more expansion of the AVO Community in the future?<\/strong>
\nFrancisca: I\u2019m deep in thoughts right now. After making AVO Forum I didn\u2019t think there would be a blog. But the blog seemed like logical next step to strengthen AVO Forum. AVO Events & Promotion seemed like a logical next step after the work I did as a promoter, I thought it was better to give a name to it. At the moment I\u2019m not specifically busy with something that doesn\u2019t have the AVO label yet. But I don\u2019t know what the future might bring!<\/p>\n

AVO: Thank you for this interview. Is there anything else you\u2019d like to tell the readers of AVO Magazine?
\n<\/strong>Francisca: I\u2019m going to do this the same way Japanese musicians often do: Thank you for this interview and thank you for reading this interview. I hope you keep supporting me and the work I do with AVO, but I also hope you keep supporting AVO. I think it\u2019s important that as many people as possible get to know about AVO. I\u2019m also open to feedback, so please voice your opinions. And lastly, I\u2019d like to say that without your support I wouldn\u2019t have gotten this far. Of course, I have a lot of perseverance, but you should see this as an engine that works on gasoline. Without gasoline it won\u2019t run. You are the gasoline I need to keep going. Follow AVO, but also me personally and come visit AVO\u2019s stand at one of the many events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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