[Artemisia] Kingdom Calendar Change Proposal (long)

[Jeanine Schlauch]

Greetings to the Kingdom,

I would like to restart the conversation around Master Braden's proposal to
change the dates of our Kingdom events.

We, the populace, are the Kingdom and we, the populace, have not been
attending events as much as we used to.  Of course, the economy is in part
to blame - less money, high gas prices, you betcha.  However, I firmly
believe that the current Kingdom schedule carries a lot of that burden.

To refresh everyone's memory, the Kingdom Calendar for past few years has
been Coronation in March; Crown in April; A&S in May and Coronation in
September; Crown in October;  Collegium in November; with various champion
tournaments spread out over the year at whatever event might have room.

*Current Problems*

  Not very many people can attend 3 Kingdom in a row - even if they weren't
spread out over such a huge distance.   A&S and especially Collegium suffer
the most, being lightly attended in the first place and last in line in the
second.   The idea of a Champions Weekend has merit - however, I do not
believe it will go far enough to solve our current problems.

  Affordable sites are hard to come by - especially at the last minute.
The stress level for a group asked to host a Coronation with just a few
months notice is incredible and IMO, unfair and unnecessary.

  We live in the Northwest - we are going to have snow whenever it feels
like snowing; January does not hold the monopoly on bad weather - just ask
the folks from Montana if they made it to Coronation in March or the folks
who tore down Uprising in a snow storm.


   Less Coordination/Communication between groups regarding events in
general and Premier events in particular

  As it stands now, the Winter Reign has  Harvest War, GWW and sometimes
Battlemoor; while the Summer Reign has Estrella (sometimes), Gulf Wars
(again, sometimes); Uprising, Lilies; AnTir/West and Pennsic;


 *Proposed Changes*

     Kingdom weekend moves to the *3rd weekend* of the month

     Coronations are rotated throughout the Kingdom, same as Crowns

     January Coronation (MLK's weekend)

     April Crown

     July Coronation

     October Crown

     Champion Tourneys and Kingdom meetings (Seneschal(e)s; Reeves;
Officers in general and Calendar discussions) - Labor Day weekend

* 2015 Examples *

         Coronation Jan 17-19

         Crown Tourney Apr 18-19

         Coronation July 18-19

         Champions Weekend Sept 5-7

         Crown Tourney Oct 17-18



 *Benefits of this change*

      Spreads the Kingdom events evenly over the year;

      Eases the stress on the pocket book - 3 Kingdom events back to back
over 3 months means fewer folk are able to attend all 3.


      We get our Kingdom birthday back


     The 3rd weekend of the month is not used for Crown events in any other
close Kingdom


      Makes use of two 3 day weekends - especially the one in January;


      Lessens the amount of time, money and effort required of the Heirs
and Crowns - widening the pool of potential candidates;  (frankly, 3 months
as Heirs is more than long enough)

     Allows each set of Crowns to go to multiple Wars throughout the
Kingdom and the Known Worlde.   Estrella, Gulf Wars, Lilies, Uprising and
West/An Tir during one; Pennsic; Raptor War, Harvest, Battlemoor and GWW in
the other

     Adding Coronation to the rotation eases the incredible stress on local
groups/stewards and allows for long-term planning and acquisitions of
sites; (anyone remember Pugmire campground?  They have a waiting list)


It is my hope that we, as the members of this Kingdom, will discuss the
merits of this proposal and if it is accepted - petition the Crown, the
Heirs and the Seneschale to make these changes as soon as possible.


Thank you for your time and attention.


Most sincerely,

Viscountess Morgan du Marc, OP