[Sca-cooks] A & S question
lilinah at earthlink.net
lilinah at earthlink.net
Thu Aug 7 11:53:00 PDT 2003
I can't help AEllin, but i thought i'd add my thoughts to the conversation...
It appears to me that there are vast differences among kingdoms.
Things have been rather sleepy A&S-wise where i am, both the
Principality (Mists) and the Kingdom (West).
We have people around doing stuff and some even good stuff. But
people don't seem to enter A&S competitions much. I don't care for
'em myself - heck, i lost a lot of sleep for 3 weeks before the one i
entered 2 weekends ago. On top of that, i am the Arts Minister for
The Principality of the Mists. Puts me in something of a quandary.
My Sciences co-officer and i spent a lot of time brain storming to
come up with other ways to get people's work "exposed" to more
people. Sure, i hear some folks say, "I just do it and wear/use it."
But that makes for rather random and patchy notice, and i think if
someone is doing good work, it deserves notice.
So the goal is to find a way to allow people who are doing "stuff" to
have a way for folks to see their "stuff".
COMPETITIONS
We have inherited pre-planned competitions in our first year in
office - now half over. We're considering doing away with them,
however, in our second year. We have made a change in the
competitions: Previously if there were not a minimum of three
entries, the competition didn't happen. Now we are judging all
entries, even if there are only one or two (if only one, it must get
a minimum of 2/3 of all possible points or there's no winner), which
seems to have encouraged folks to enter - so many had the experience
of working hard to produce "stuff" and documentation for a
competition, then have their work not get judged because there
weren't enough entries. And frankly, although i hear there are a few
rather "difficult" judges (and i know who they are), most folks
really do want feedback on their work.
DISPLAYS
We have added Displays along with the competitions - we encourage but
do not require documentation, and we offer optional comment cards so
folks can get feedback
BRANCH SPONSORSHIP
We've been having a particular sub-branch - such as shires and
cantons - sponsor the A&S pavilion at the two Principality camping
events - that branch presents a display of their stuff and provides a
teacher for a class, and a Laurel for "Ask-a-Laurel" (during which
anyone can come by to talk to the Laurel about the stuff the Laurel
knows - a way to disseminate specific info and help people get over
"peer fear". (So far we aren't asking Baronies, since they often
sponsor their own A&S weekends)
CLASSES
We also offer a class related to an upcoming competition. If we
decide to do away with competitions, we will probably still have a
class at each event.
NEXT YEAR
Next year, we'll have more displays, and we're considering sponsoring
things like "tastings" (there's a separate group that does cooking
competitions, but only the judges get to eat), "tours" of camp sites
to see people's wood carving, tent making, etc. skills...
And, we're still open to more ideas, so if anyone has any...
Anahita
Principality of the Mists Minister of Arts
Principality of the Mists Gold Key (i hope i'll be passing this along
at 12th Night and taking up the mantle of Kingdom Gold Key)
Province of the Mists Exchequer
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