[SCA-BMDL] New Post On Storfrettir: Spotlight: A&S Activities at Events

[Elss Augsburg]

Odrianna -- This is a very nicely written article that explains this very
well. While i am hopeful that this will bring in many volunteers to run A&S
displays, I would have preferred that you had made me the contact
person/mentor/adviser or at least listed my contact info in addition to
your own, as I have been talking about this very subject to people and
would not like to confuse anyone. Don't worry about it though as I will
have other articles in the future that clarify this.

Thanks, Elß

On Sun, Nov 26, 2017 at 12:26 PM, Stórfréttir Updates <
admin at debatablelands.org> wrote:

> There is new Baronial News at the Stórfréttir!
>
> Spotlight: A&S Activities at Events
>
>
>
> The Seneschal’s Spotlight is a monthly feature that highlights an aspect
> of the Barony and/or its people.
>
> At our recent Harvest Revel, there was a bid for an event called "Tavern
> in the Park" to be held on 10 February 2018, which is meant to encourage
> newer participants in the BMDL to volunteer to be in charge of the various
> aspects of making an event happen. What the autocrat, THLady Elß, is
> looking for are people who have considered volunteering to help run
> something at an event, but were nervous to do so. One of the areas that is
> looking for leadership is for an A&S activity like a competition, display,
> etc. You would have a mentor to help you navigate this role (me) and could
> choose from any form that appeals to you.
>
> First, let's talk about why doing something like this is meaningful to
> what we do in the Arts and! Sciences. Displaying your work in any context
> serves a few purposes; getting feedback on your work so you can improve
> your work, talking to people who do similar things, stretching yourself to
> the next level of achievement in your art or science, being able to show
> your incredibly cool thing to other people, and familiarizing people with
> your particular talent. For some people, having a deadline is what drives
> them to complete a particular project, for other people a deadline makes
> them crazy and they’d rather just finish things as they finish them. Not
> every venue is perfect for every artisan so it's best to focus on what is
> going to be most beneficial for your particular group or that works best
> with how you, personally, find benefit as it's easier to encourage people
> to join you in something when it's something that you personally care about.
>
> There are four modes of showing your work that are used most frequently in
> Æthelmearc, and all have their adv! antages and disadvantages. These
> advantages and disadvantages! are completely related to how the individual
> likes to show their work. There is no perfect mode, and there is no perfect
> situation that will suit absolutely everyone. This is not a definitive list
> and there are other forms of doing this, these are the ones that may be
> most familiar to you from attending events.
>
> The first venue is a competition. In a competition, there are winners and
> losers, and those who enter an item are there to do their best and to score
> as highly as possible within their category. This is the kind of venue that
> I personally prefer because the competitive aspect of it appeals to me and
> makes me stretch my skills, but, as stated earlier, this doesn't mean that
> it's a good choice for everyone. There are different kinds of competitions,
> most of which have some kind of theme (either in keeping with the overall
> theme of the event, or focusing on a specific time frame) and may have a
> limited set of categories that one can create entries for. ! There are also
> larger more involved competitions such as the Ice Dragon Pentathalon that
> have very broad categories and a number of categories that an item can be
> entered under.
>
> The second venue is the A&S Display. This is a non-competitive environment
> that is geared towards showing work that is being done by local Artisans
> and Scientists. As the name implies, you display your work along with any
> documentation that you may have so that people can look at what you’ve been
> doing. This is done without the presence of the artisan or scientist.
>
> The third venue is the Artisan’s Forum. The Forum is a lot like the
> Display, but ideally involves the person sitting with their work and
> talking about what they’ve done or answering questions. It’s an opportunity
> for people to talk more in-depth about their work and what they’ve been
> learning in an environment that is more of a dialog between people than a
> competition or display. This provides the gre! atest opportunity for an
> artisan to really educate people abou! t what th! ey’re doing, especially
> if it’s something very new to the person visiting your display.
>
> The final venue is the "Artisans' Playtime", this is when an artist or
> scientist puts together an interactive display where people can sit down
> and actually learn how to do your particular art or science. This,
> obviously, lends itself to more interactive arts and sciences, so it isn't
> suitable for all disciplines. The benefit to something like this is that
> anyone can participate. At one Artisans' Playtime my then six-year-old
> daughter had a table where you could look through books with various
> illuminated pieces and use those to make a bookmark (or not). It was was a
> good way to get an introduction to medieval illuminated manuscripts in a
> way that was fun and entirely at the pace of the person participating. I've
> seen people do make-and-take projects for leatherworking, embroidery, and
> even sewing. It is my preferred mode of sharing skills and information as
> it's so inte! ractive.
>
> There are advantages and disadvantages to each of these venues, and which
> venue you prefer is entirely personal, there is no “One True A&S Venue”
> that answers to all comfortability levels and addresses all of the needs of
> every artisan and scientist in the Kingdom.
>
> Now that you've had the opportunity to read about a few of the different
> ways that you can create a venue for people to share their work, please
> consider if creating this kind of opportunity is for you. If you're
> interested, please contact me, Odriana, at jenn(dot)strobel(at)gmail(dot)com.
> I would act as your mentor, which means that I am there to help you decide
> what form is most appealing to you and then making sure that you have the
> materials to be successful.
>
> Even if this event is not well timed for you, please consider perhaps
> running an A&S venue at another event. If you need a mentor, I am happy to
> be that for you. Even if you just need someone to walk through ! the
> process with you to decide whether or not this is somethin! g that yo! u'd
> like to do, please contact me.
>
>
> -----
>
> To see this post on the Stórfréttir, click here:
> http://debatablelands.org/blog/?p=1147.
>
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