[Ansteorra] Participation vs. Recruitment (long)

Bree Flowers evethejust at gmail.com
Thu Jan 26 10:38:37 PST 2012


On Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 1:48 AM, Cionaodh O'Hosey
<CionaodhOHosey at verizon.net> wrote:
>
> On Jan 26, 2012, at 12:54 AM, Jeffrey Clark wrote:
>>
>>
>> The issue in question is simply put: why is the calendar event the
>> be-all-end-all of life in the SCA? It would be like my saying that you are
>> only supporting the arts if you go see the MET, your local opera company
>> doesn't count. An opera put on by a high school is just as valid an artistic
>> endeavour as one done in Vienna, and opera is not the only facet of art.
>>
>*snip snip*
>The MET supports art like the SCA
> supports historical study, but supporting historical study is not the same
> thing as supporting the SCA, if none of us go to the Calendar events, they
> too will dust over and close, it is already happening, lower attendance
> means we have to find cheeper sights that are not always as nice, and fewer
> volunteers mean we can't have as many activities at the events (fewer
> teachers = fewer classes, no MOS = no children activities, fewer fighters =
> less entertainment, and so on and so on) This affects the quality of our
> events which then makes getting new people even harder which contributes to
> even smaller events, and down we go. My points are not about how can we
> better support historical study (the arts) but rather how can we better
> support the SCA (the MET).
>
> Cionaodh O'Hosey

But again, we have the problem of your definition of the SCA not being
the same as everyone else's definition. If you want to define optimal
participation as someone who is willing to drive a long way to make a
big event even bigger, then my regular attendance at Estrella and
Pennsic would make me a great member! But since I rarely attend
anything else lately I would beg to differ. On the other hand, I host
guild nights and teach my skills, and I host a website that teaches
these skills to people all over the known world, to me this is a
better contribution than driving 20 hours each way to go to some big
wars. For that matter, right now, with 2 small children in tow, I
consider my contributions at guild nights to be far greater than any
contribution that I could make at an event. At home I can share my
skills and socialize. At an event I just show up late (because turns
out you can't get anywhere on time with 2 little ones) and spend all
my time chasing toddlers around, talking to no one and contributing
nothing other than the site fee and another body in the hall. If you
want to talk quantity vs quality, my mere presence at an event is
purely a quantity contribution.

Now as for your "smaller events are inherently flawed and less
valuable" argument... yes, fewer people in attendance means a
different size of site, but guess what, there's some really COOL sites
that can only accommodate a certain number of people, so having
smaller, focused events gives us an OPPORTUNITY to use sites that we
otherwise could not use. Some of my favorite eventing experiences have
been at these smaller events where the focus is on something that I am
interested in instead of every activity taking a back seat to
fighting, again.

And don't even get me started on the "fewer fighters = less
entertainment" point... believe it or not, some of us are bored of
seeing people hit each other with sticks. Some of us consider other
things like bardic activities, theater performances or instrumental
music and dancing to be valid forms of entertainment as well! Some of
us even go to events where there is NO FIGHTING! *shock awe*

And I am saying that as a fighter (but not lately, so yeah I know you
guys are going to look at the name and go "I've never seen her on the
field" but pregnancy and fighting don't mix, see that above remark
about multiple kids under 3). It's not my primary identity in the SCA,
but it is an activity I participate in, so I'm not anti-fighting. I
just think that it's not the be-all and end-all.

The better way to state your SCA-MET comparison would be to say "My
points are not about how we can further historical study (the arts),
or better support the SCA (art galleries), but rather how we can
better support large, general-interest calendar events (the MET)."
YOUR SCA may include only events with large attendance that include
fighting, but some of us find value in other types of event
experiences.

~Eve



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