[Sca-cooks] alternatives to A&S competitions

[Stefan li Rous]

  Adamantius commented about A&S competitions:
> ...and thought there was a significant, if non-vocal portion of the
> populace who didn't want to participate in them, but who were doing
> some really noteworthy A&S work.
Yes, from what I've heard over the years, there are a significant 
number of folks that believe this way. I generally believe this myself, 
although I can also see some pluses to such events, along with many 
problems and fallacies.
> We established several alternative,
> non-competitive formats, ranging from the static display at many of
> our RP events and others, to my own pet, preferred format, the Expo
> or interactive display, essentially a trade show with artisans
> working at their craft and responding to questions from passersby.
> While not a Laurel's Prize Tourney, these Expos tend to get a lot of
> Laurels participating on various levels.
I've seen some displays like this, but the artist has really been there 
to answer questions from the judges, not the populace. I've also seen 
such expos done instead of classes and less formally than you seem to 
describe here for the populace. ie: no judging. I was impressed with 
the active displays at this last year's Lillies War for instance and 
they seemed to be starting something like this at the last Gulf Wars.

How do you mean that these Expos tend to get a lot of Laurels 
participating? Do you mean as the artisans? At least in the formal 
competitions it seems like the Laurels are actively discouraged or 
prevented from entering these. But hopefully after someone is given a 
Laurel they don't stop doing the arts they got the award for. Hopefully 
they continue to expand the arts they do. However, there often doesn't 
seem to be any public format for them to display what they've done.

I would love to have an article for the Florilegium describing these 
various different A&S formats, the pros and cons of each and useful 
information for people thinking about running them. Or even an article 
on just these Expo events.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****