[Elfsea] Questions that need to be asked...

[Jhan Knebel]

Your Grace,

Your letter troubles me as the Minister of Arts and Sciences of the
Barony of Elfsea, as well as a Baronial Candidate. I can only speak from
my time as MoAS, which has been just over a year, in which I have been
working on developing our artisans. I have not once in my tenure of
service been approached and told that "we" (meaning the Barony, and/or
me as the leader for Arts and Sciences activities) have not been
providing opportunities for the everyday artisan. 

During the last year the Barony has hosted:

Baronial College: A full event devoted to developing our artisans. Many
tracks of classes, a body of work competition for titled artisan, Past
artisans always recognize a favorite (this year every participant in the
competition was recognized), the option of putting your work out "for
display only" and a Remnant War, which was insanely successful, and I
have been begged to repeat it next year.

Defender Last Year: Arts and Sciences were for display only, as it was
the weekend before Laurel's Prize tourney. I felt that most artisans
were gearing up for LPT, and comments would be more helpful than a full
fledged competition, allowing people to get feedback (and possibly some
largesse) so that they could refine their entries before LPT. I only had
2 people display. There was also a heraldic display competition.

Defender XXV: HL Brigit is organizing the Middle Eastern dance
competition and a full slate of classes to complement the competition. I
feel that supporting this effort is very, very important, and therefore
will not be running another A&S competition or slate of classes. 

Monthly Arts and Sciences classes focused on all aspects of the society,
including costuming, dance, medicine, knitting, weaving, enameling,
beadmaking, basic sewing skills (to name a few).

Our guilds include:
Middle Eastern Dance: Weekly
Herald, Scribes and Illuminators: Once a month
Cooks Guild: Monthly
Clothier's Guild: inactive, but in the process of reforming
Glass guild: Twice a month, until interest failed. I still teach this on
a moments notice if someone wants it.

Informal Arts activities hosted by individuals (both in the Barony and
Her Cantons and Colleges):

Lord Timothy and Dama Anezka host game night once a month at their
house. 
Wednesday night sewing: I've been doing this at my home since many of
the fighters are beating on each other at the Bedford Boys Ranch during
this time. It is open to anyone. I don't think my son and I have been
alone on a Wednesday night in 6 months.
Kragenworth Keep Bardic
HL Eleanor and Master Darius have recently started a Bardic practice
night. 
HL Philip hosts the White Academy of Dance twice a month.

I try and make myself available to any and all people at all times. Our
class schedule is posted through September on the Website, and I
announce it at both business meeting and populace meeting. Every month I
ask for more teachers, and always have Arts and Sciences classes
scheduled several months in advance. If there is more you feel that we
can do to foster our Arts and Sciences community in Elfsea, please
discuss this with me.

In Service to Ansteorra, Elfsea and the Arts,

Honorable Lady Rixende de Rouen


From: willow Taylor
Sent: 7/8/2003 9:31:16 PM
To: timothy at elfsea.net;elfsea at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Elfsea] Questions that need to be asked...

Dear Potential Barone/ess

How would deal with these problems? I think these are more serious than
the Cantons. Most of the people I talked to were from Steppes and Elfsea
area.

In the last year I have been approached by many members of the
population. As nobles we are a valid pathway for complaints. It started
with artisans . Not your top 10%, going to be a Laurel someday, but your
everyday artisan. They were complaining that nobody was doing anything
for them any more. They said that in the past the kingdom helped
everyone
learn and get better and people were given reinforcement for their
accomplishments. In the past years this had changed and now only the
best
artisan were given any attention. They complained that all the artistic
attention was being given to high power competitions. 

I then started giving reports that the autocrats in my local area were
have problems getting workers. I went to the people I knew used to be
worker and traditionally recruited workers. They told me that they were
not getting recognized, there were not many fun activity for them and
there were a lot of stand offish people in the SCA who thought they were
too good for these individuals. They said that a lot of the things they
enjoyed were not fun any more. When they went to Art activities the
really good artisans made them feel like second class citizen. There
were
no performers coming around performing for them. They also stated that
the nobles and peers were no longer walking around giving encouragement.
They said that they had lost their sense of community. In a nut shell
they were not happy and they were not going to work and they were going
to advise people not to work. 

I also got a lot of reports that the values of courtesy and graciousness
were dying out. The people said that people were being rude and snide.
They claimed that people were walking around with their noses in the
air.
They flat out told me that I (as a noble) was not working hard enough to
fix the problem. They blamed the knights and Laurels for not teaching
their squires and apprentices. They blamed not having a mentor system.
They stated that the older people were not being leaders.

As leaders of a Barony how would you address these problems?

Duchess Willow de Wisp


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