[Bards] The Right Questions

Michael Silverhands silverhands at sbcglobal.net
Wed Nov 8 11:56:34 PST 2006


On Nov 8, 2006, at 1:36 PM, Jay Rudin wrote:

> Gwyneth wrote:
>
> > I think if you would move as a group towards making bards more of  
> a part
> > of the mainstream A&S community you would make people more aware
> > of your talents then you as a group would become more aware of  
> others
> > talents and therefore get stronger.  If that happens, then the A&S
> > community as a whole, and therefore Ansteorra as a whole, gets  
> stronger.
> >  MY first step, if I were a bard, would be to make my spotlight  
> event
> > ligitimate by bringing it into the A&S venues.
>
> Yeah, I know -- that sounds so reasonable.  As Baron of the  
> Steppes, I had the exact same thought, and so we moved Steppes  
> Eisteddfod to the Steppes Artisan event.
>
> After doing it once, we moved it away.  The Eisteddfod requires the  
> absolute focus of all judges, from start to finish.  Nobody can  
> both judge the bardic competition (if it's of any size) and look  
> over all the tables.  That year I never got to look at the tables,  
> and the Baroness never got to hear the bards.
>

I've had the same experience trying to be Baron at Stargate Baronial,  
at which there are concurrent Chivalric, Rapier, Archery, Children's  
and Equestrian championships. At least the Bardic and A&S  
championships are held at another event than those.

> If Kingdom Eisteddfod were moved to Kingdom A&S, then I would never  
> get to see the tables at A&S, and would be further removed from the  
> static artists.
>
> I agree that it would ideally be at a kingdom venue rather than  
> Twelfth Night, but that venue should be a bardic one, not competing  
> with other arts for the attention of the kingdom.  When it was its  
> own event, it was a much bigger activity, and a much bigger part of  
> the kingdom.
>
> Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin

(consulting Kingdom Law...)

Here are the recurring Kingdom events that are listed. (By the way:  
would /somebody/, for heaven's sake, please edit the next edition of  
Kingdom Law to remove that non-word "reoccuring"? Thanks. *twitch*)

1 Academy of the Bow
2 Academy of the Rapier
3 Academy of the Sword
4 Coronation
5 Crown
6 Kingdom Arts and Sciences
7 Kingdom Heraldic & Scribal Symposium
8 Kingdom Warlord
9 King’s College
10 King's Champion
11 Kings Lancer
12 King’s Round Table (formerly Red Tape)
13 Laurel's Prize
14 Royal Huntsman
15 Queen’s Champion
16 Queens Children’s College
17 Eisteddfod

Do any of those shout "Oooh! Me! Pick me to partner with Eisteddfod!"?

King's College comes to mind, but only if it had a uniquely (or  
primarily) bardic theme to it. I could see doing that once -- King's  
College often has a theme of some sort -- but not every time; we'd  
lock out all of the other material suitable for King's College.

Hmmm...

Do we need another Kingdom event? Or else an extension to Eisteddfod?  
Maybe something like "Kingdom Bardic Workshop and Eisteddfod"? Would  
that be enough of a "draw", do you think? (Anyone? But especially  
Robin, Ihon and Gwyneth?)

Michael


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