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Your Grace,<br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
During the last year the Barony has hosted:<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
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).<br>
<br>
Our guilds include:<br>
Middle Eastern Dance: Weekly<br>
Herald, Scribes and Illuminators: Once a month<br>
Cooks Guild: Monthly<br>
Clothier's Guild: inactive, but in the process of reforming<br>
Glass guild: Twice a month, until interest failed. I still teach this on a moments notice if someone wants it.<br>
<br>
Informal Arts activities hosted by individuals (both in the Barony and Her Cantons and Colleges):<br>
<br>
Lord Timothy and Dama Anezka host game night once a month at their house. <br>
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.<br>
Kragenworth Keep Bardic<br>
HL Eleanor and Master Darius have recently started a Bardic practice night. <br>
HL Philip hosts the White Academy of Dance twice a month.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
In Service to Ansteorra, Elfsea and the Arts,<br>
<br>
Honorable Lady Rixende de Rouen<br>
<br>
<br>
From: willow Taylor<br>
Sent: 7/8/2003 9:31:16 PM<br>
To: timothy@elfsea.net;elfsea@ansteorra.org<br>
Subject: Re: [Elfsea] Questions that need to be asked...<br>
<br>
Dear Potential Barone/ess<br>
<br>
How would deal with these problems? I think these are more serious than<br>
the Cantons. Most of the people I talked to were from Steppes and Elfsea<br>
area.<br>
<br>
In the last year I have been approached by many members of the<br>
population. As nobles we are a valid pathway for complaints. It started<br>
with artisans . Not your top 10%, going to be a Laurel someday, but your<br>
everyday artisan. They were complaining that nobody was doing anything<br>
for them any more. They said that in the past the kingdom helped everyone<br>
learn and get better and people were given reinforcement for their<br>
accomplishments. In the past years this had changed and now only the best<br>
artisan were given any attention. They complained that all the artistic<br>
attention was being given to high power competitions. <br>
<br>
I then started giving reports that the autocrats in my local area were<br>
have problems getting workers. I went to the people I knew used to be<br>
worker and traditionally recruited workers. They told me that they were<br>
not getting recognized, there were not many fun activity for them and<br>
there were a lot of stand offish people in the SCA who thought they were<br>
too good for these individuals. They said that a lot of the things they<br>
enjoyed were not fun any more. When they went to Art activities the<br>
really good artisans made them feel like second class citizen. There were<br>
no performers coming around performing for them. They also stated that<br>
the nobles and peers were no longer walking around giving encouragement.<br>
They said that they had lost their sense of community. In a nut shell<br>
they were not happy and they were not going to work and they were going<br>
to advise people not to work. <br>
<br>
I also got a lot of reports that the values of courtesy and graciousness<br>
were dying out. The people said that people were being rude and snide.<br>
They claimed that people were walking around with their noses in the air.<br>
They flat out told me that I (as a noble) was not working hard enough to<br>
fix the problem. They blamed the knights and Laurels for not teaching<br>
their squires and apprentices. They blamed not having a mentor system.<br>
They stated that the older people were not being leaders.<br>
<br>
As leaders of a Barony how would you address these problems?<br>
<br>
Duchess Willow de Wisp<br>
<br>
<br>
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