<div>These are great suggestions but remember a couple of things:</div> <div>Right now, Eistedfodd is being hosted by the Steppes, not by the bardic community. You can make suggestions to them about thier event, but I think it is a delicate subject to offer advice w/o manpower. I'm not saying that's what you have in mind, just that I would think that to get the event the way the community wants it, there would have to be LOTS of communication with the people already in charge.</div> <div>The other thing to remember is that any two groups can get together and put a date on the calendar. It's a multi regional event and it won't count against anyone.</div> <div>Your only limitation is how close you are to other events already scheduled and of course, Crown and Coronation.</div> <div>Just an FYI,</div> <div>gwyneth<BR><BR><B><I>Melody Soice <melodysoice@hotmail.com></I></B> wrote:</div> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px;
MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">managed to make this a regional <BR>or kingdom event I think it would be both a great opportunity for small <BR>groups and a boon to the bardic, music, and dance communities. I know the <BR>bardic themed Westgate Winter Collegiums that we've held have been very <BR>successful.<BR><BR>Ok, there's my brilliant (?) suggestions. <G><BR><BR>Melody<BR>><BR>>Many of my "moments" in the SCA include the bardic arts and I support you <BR>>coming together to add strength and vision to our Dream. I think in <BR>>general, games play better if they don't have too many rules. I think the <BR>>bardic community will find more acceptance if they work to find ways to <BR>>achieve thier goals within the framework we already have in place here in <BR>>Ansteorra for recognizing our best.<BR>> I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure <BR>>Eistedfedd is at Steppes because no one wanted to host
it as a stand alone <BR>>because they couldn't make thier money back. Inside venues are expensive <BR>>(at least, here in Austin they are). My recomendation is that people who <BR>>feel strongly about this get together, find a site and put in a bid. Just <BR>>my 2 cents, but I think the turnout would be better if you have a colligium <BR>>with classes at the same event with the competition and perhaps even have a <BR>>hosting group do thier bardic also. For example, we had the competition <BR>>for Bryn Gwlad Artisan at Candlmas and also chose Gulf War <BR>>competitors...when you signed in you made a note on your judging sheet what <BR>>you wanted to be considered for. Steppes Twelfth Night is a big deal, but <BR>>if you were to piggy-back on a shire Yule, the Eistedfed would get more <BR>>attention.Another possibility is a multi-regional event such as the Lysts <BR>>at Castleton. I remember when this<BR>> competition was a big deal
and all the top bards in Ansteorra turned out <BR>>to compete for the title...did that change just because we stopped having a <BR>>Bardic College?<BR>> Just some thoughts,<BR>> gwyneth<BR>><BR>>Alden Drake <ALDEN_DRAKE@SBCGLOBAL.NET>wrote:<BR>> To collegiate, or not to collegiate....<BR>><BR>>While I'm a relatively new voice among bards, I think the root of the <BR>>problem among bards is that somewhere in the past, we lost sight of being a <BR>>community, and instead became individual bards with no real connection to <BR>>eachother outside of our own local areas. I've seen discussions on this <BR>>list, and spoke to a few experienced bards about the fact that people seem <BR>>to be passionate about either a) being a college, or b) not being a <BR>>college, but I think we can go a long way to being a strong bardic <BR>>community without involving politics, heirarchy, hoopla, etc. that some <BR>>people associate with a
bardic college.<BR>><BR>>As far as signs of experience and heirarchy, we already have that in the <BR>>form of our kingdom awards. Laurels, Irises, and Thistles go a long way in <BR>>our kingdom to indicate which individuals have been recognized for specific <BR>>areas of interest. We should be encouraging those people to be our <BR>>teachers, and funnel newcomers to our community to those teachers who <BR>>specialize in areas of interest to the newcomers. Something I started <BR>>putting together for the website is a list of bards, what they are willing <BR>>to teach, and what they want to learn, for the purpose of pairing people <BR>>together.<BR>><BR>>Mentoring - the approach to mentoring and teaching is up to the individual. <BR>>While I'm willing to teach anyone what I know, I have a bardic student who <BR>>I pay particular attention to as a mentor. I encourage her to learn from <BR>>others besides just me, but I try to
fill the role of being her academic <BR>>advisor and primary go-to person. I in turn have a mentor/primary teacher. <BR>>Just because we become mentors doesn't mean we necessesarily stop having a <BR>>mentor of our own. I suppose at a certain point, we replace a mentor with <BR>>peers (not capital P Peers, but peers being equals).<BR>><BR>>I think we could do a lot just in the structure of being a guild if we can <BR>>come up with ways of coming together as a community. We have recently been <BR>>given our own Deputy A&S Minister, whose focus should be encouraging our <BR>>efforts in that direction. We have a Kingdom Bard who, in service to the <BR>>Crown, should be the epitome of what our guild has to offer in talent and <BR>>service to our community. It is our duty as performers to support them, and <BR>>bring the bardic arts to the people of our kingdom.<BR>><BR>>For starters, we should look at what we have kingdom-wide to
bring us <BR>>together. We have Eisteddfod and the Ansteorran Bardic Collegium. These are <BR>>*OUR* events. Do we make the most of them? What can we do to improve them? <BR>>Looking at Eisteddfod, I found that Eisteddfod is a kingdom calendar event. <BR>>Steppes Twelfth Night is not. Steppes typically hosts Eisteddfod and tacks <BR>>their event onto it, which is fine, but it seems to me (by what I saw last <BR>>year) that the Steppes event overshadows Eisteddfod. So what can we do to <BR>>make Eisteddfod bigger and better? What about combining Eisteddfod and the <BR>>Bardic Collegium? Do classes in the morning and afternoon, and then <BR>>Eisteddfod in the evening? What can we do in addition to these two things? <BR>>Have a bardic sponsored tournament to determine the "Bardic Defender"? Have <BR>>an A&S competition of original bardic compositions? The archery community <BR>>had a Bard of the Archers competition some time ago, how
cool is that!? Can <BR>>we do it a<BR>>gain? C<BR>>an we do it in other martial venues? What about organizing a Bardic Feast, <BR>>where the whole point *IS* dinner theater? Gulf Wars - HL Gerald of <BR>>Leesville hosted an outstanding bardic circle in front of the Ansteorran <BR>>Gate. What can we do to make it bigger and better? These are just some <BR>>ideas to get the ball rolling.<BR>><BR>>I remember a quote that goes, "When all is said and done, more will be said <BR>>than done." But let's get *something* done.<BR>><BR>>In service,<BR>>HL Alden Drake<BR>>_______________________________________________<BR>>Bards mailing list<BR>>Bards@lists.ansteorra.org<BR>>http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/bards-ansteorra.org<BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>>---------------------------------<BR>>Get your own web address for just $1.99/1st yr. We'll help. Yahoo! Small
<BR>>Business.<BR><BR><BR>>_______________________________________________<BR>>Bards mailing list<BR>>Bards@lists.ansteorra.org<BR>>http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/bards-ansteorra.org<BR><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Bards mailing list<BR>Bards@lists.ansteorra.org<BR>http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/bards-ansteorra.org<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><p> 
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