Inspired to post by some comments over in roswtr's LJ

[callistotoni]

Getting this out of my system. On re-imagining A&S in the SCA/West:

I have made no secret of the fact that I hate A&S competitions at a cellular level. But I'm a reasonable, rational adult and I accept that
A) For some people, A&S competions are an important vehicle to strive for excellence, to serve as an artistic challenge, and as an excuse to impose on one's self a project dealine. And
B) That the idea of A&S competitions, *especially* in support of determining a kingdom A&S champion-- to serve alongside all the other kingdom champions-- is an accepted and expected part of worldwide SCA culture.
So I accept that A&S competions are Here To Stay.

Because of the ad hoc way the SCA grew and the organizational models people had in their heads at the time the SCA was created, competions became the organizational bedrock for the office of SCA Arts Minister. Yes, there have always been classes and collegiums, but the A&S office was not organized around those, but, instead around the expectation that there would be A&S competions at each SCA event. I call this the "country fair" model of organization.

As time has gone on the idea of living history has become more popular and more familiar with the general public and with at least a subset of the SCA membership. Over the years we've gotten better at exploring medieval and renaissance material culture, and more and more you see people manifesting that interest in the way they play in the SCA (in personal kit, encampments, cooking setups, merchant wares, etc.) There has also been a growth in incorporating period practices in the way we play, with the most obvious example being the Perfectly Period Feast(s), with it's subsquent fostering of handwashing, period carving, and serving practices.

I hear repeatedly how hard it is to get people to enter competitions and how hard it is to find judges. But all you have to do to see how the Arts are thriving in the West is to look around at individual encampments or to talk to people. There is a lot going on! But it's being done at a private, personal, interest group, or household level, rather than being sponsored at the Kingdom level.

So I wonder if the following would be possible, desirable, and/or feasible: What if there were 2 organizational groups under the kingdom A&S umbrella. One would be cogniscent over the whole competion/A&S championship infrastructure. This organization/organizational structure would serve the needs of those who like and thrive with A&S competitions, and would keep us in line with the rest of the SCA and their championships.

The second group would foster the "living history"/exploration of period art and material culture/art in situ-model of A&S within the SCA. Now, what exactly a Kingdom-level office/group would actually do to foster this is not crystal clear to me right now. At a minimum I would think the Kingdom could provide a centralized clearinghouse of networking information (who is doing what). As Veronica has already proposed, there could be encampments marked with a flag that would welcome visitors in to talk about Stuff, and tours through these encampments could be offered.

I know I see the world through my own personal filter, as do we all. So I wouldn't suggest instituting anything before doing some basic research. I think I would start with a survey of the people of the West regarding what are they doing in the Arts/Sciences? What do they think they need or would like to see from the Kingdom that would support their Art? To network? To share information, resources, and constructive critiques/feedback? How public or private to people/households really want to be? Obviously, the Kingdom is the sum of its parts, so that every piece of Art/Science contributes to the overall wealth of the Kingdom (the "just look around" factor), but is there a way for the Kingdom to better incorporate these individual efforts to create a more supportive and cohesive whole? (Hard to articulate that last point. I guess I'm trying to get at is the vibe I get that we are an atomized Kingdom with a bunch of people doing a bunch of cool things, instead of doing these things as part of the Kingdom of the West, if that makes any sense...)

Of course, the idea of 2 A&S organizations begs the question of competition of resources. Do we have the personal available that would be able and willing to do both? I get the vibe that it is hard to find officers, given that everybody has incredibly busy lives and their personal bandwith is already maxed out. Which brings up another factor that I think is playing into a lot of our problems as a Kingdom, and that is the dearth of newcomers. But that's a separate post, surely...

EDITED TO ADD: I've just remembered that we already have a forum in-place to network and share information, the West Kingdom Arts Network: http://west-arts.ning.com/ . I should go and join that, finally...

Comments

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Oh, you mean the forum that is such a pain to navigate that no one talks to each other on it?

I don't see anything wrong with art going on at a personal, private level, particularly as I've made a choice to work in a niche that pretty much nobody else in this kingdom currently displays any interest in. I don't need or want someone standing over me in an official capacity Fostering My Art (TM). I make stuff. I teach. That's plenty.

[ornerie.livejournal.com]

I'd be really interested to have you come to Antirs kingdom A/S event and see what you thought.

sometimes it takes a neighbors eyes to see :)

[ermine-rat.livejournal.com]

I think lots of people have different expectations from what they want to get from our current A&S model.

Establishing yourself in a pecking order, arts awards, and chasing a Laurel all seem to be common themes.

I'm not saying those things are all bad, but they do not motivate me to create art.

[beanolc.livejournal.com]

This.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

One of the issues as I see it is our ad hoc history. Why is Collegium separate from the A&S ministers and structure even though there's a lot of overlap? Because it was created that way by someone (<LJ user=loupnoir, I think) who had a vision and Made it Happen. Like much of our structure, it grew spontaneously rather than from a plan.

[duchessletitia.livejournal.com]

Yes, Keegan and I had a vision and we had a plan. It actually worked. We wanted to foster classes. We wanted groups to hold classes. It grew and it changed. What I see is the small, local collegiums have taken over the small basic classes. Now we need to move collegium in a new direction.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

I meant that there was no plan from a Kingdom-wise structural sense, much like our awards and groups - not that there was no Collegium plan. As one would expect, things evolved rather than springing fully formed from Brahma's head.

[vittoriosa.livejournal.com]

Well, as of this past Twelfth Night, Collegium is no longer separate from the A&S ministers & structure -- we're now one big A&S-organizing team. :-) I am optimistic that this will make good artsy things happen.

[hunrvogt.livejournal.com]

OK assuming that "Living History Model" means using arts in context, I don't think we need any office to encourage that. I've always assumed we had a whole branch of the Peerage whose job it is tp do that and you know what to look around and see the cool things going on the Laurels seem to be doing a good job. If anything I see many non-Luarels extending the Living History model to things beyond material goods. The extension to arts as culture is very cool.

[despair-bear.livejournal.com]

Right there with you on the A&S competitions. Nothing against them, some people really enjoy them. But it is not my thing, I have very little interest in working on projects for such (to my mind) is a limited scope. When I make cool stuff I want to see people "use" it, I do not want to haul it around and enter it into competitions. Although due to this I have very little of my work on hand to show people, but I am getting better about pictures.

There is very little official recognition of the living history aspect of A&S. It is very hard to quantify as much of it. As it is so specific to a given person, it is hard for an outsider to judge how good a representation is being made. Very few people know enough to understand the significance of the smallest items in an authentic camp. Unless you are well versed in 14th cent. tinned and chased rivet heads you can easily skip over an incredibly authentic accent that has huge amount of work behind it. Recognizing these efforts is a laudable goal, but takes a good effort on the part of all artisans to be aware of what your fellows are doing outside of the competitions and to bring it to the awareness of the powers that be who have the ability to praise such work. I think that hunrvogt brings in a good view, we have a peerage who's "job" it is to keep an eye on these things but it is also up to the little people (Like myself) to point out to our peers who out there is doing some great work.

[valgards.livejournal.com]

Now, as you know, I am *not* a reenactor. I am not that into living history, though I do like a good stage set. I am an old school "SCA hippie" as I learned to be in the West. William the Lucky is my idea of a good SCA roll model.

All that being said I have a bone to pick with the both the idea of classes and the idea of competitions. They are not particularly apropos for what we do. Why, for instance, would you have an "arts" competition at a Crown Tourney? Or classes? Yes, I know, they are SCA, but they are certainly NOT period--at least not in the form we do them in. How often would we gather for a class on spinning at a war? Truthfully: if this were the middle ages people whose station it was to spin would know how to spin from the age of six or eight, and those whose station it was not wouldn't bother to learn it at all.

I really like and support the county fair model for the SCA as a general organizing principle, and events like Collegium and A&S are great and I love to go and learn and teach there. But I do have to ask myself how often you'd find a dance contest at a war or a tournament.

Just random thoughts.