[Artemisia] Kingdom Calendar Change Proposal (long)

[Jacquie Ziegler]

On 3/17/2014 11:07, Jeanine Schlauch wrote:
> 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
> _______________________________________________
>
While I agree that this is something to discuss - and you make some 
valid points - I would
like to bring up a couple of points that might otherwise go missing in 
this conversation.

Having Kingdom events highlighted on the third weekend would effectively 
eliminate
a large number of people from being able to attend. Those on a fixed 
income generally
get paid on the first of the month, and this ties into ability to attend 
events.

Also, it is something that is pretty much SCA-wide, having the Kingdom 
events on the
first weekend. At some point in the past, information had been given 
from Corporate
that it was a incorporating-document requirement. Now, this may be a 
'long-ago, no
longer valid' item/idea, or it might still be in existence. I would 
appreciate some
in-depth look/discussion on this before we, as a Kingdom, make such a 
dramatic change.

Baroness Shauna of Carrick Point
long-time Artemisian (no, I'm not dead yet!) :-D