[Officers] Arts and Sciences Minister monthly report

[Wendi Dunlap]

Greetings to the officers and populace of Wyewood! This is my first A&S monthly report.

~~Recent Activity:~~

During September, right before I officially took on the position of A&S minister, I surveyed Wyewoodians about their A&S interests, then prepared a report on the results for the October officers' meeting (and briefly discussed it at the business meeting as well). The survey report is now online and may be found at:
http://slumberland.org/sca/articles/wyewood_arts_and_sciences_survey_2010.pdf

During October I worked on scheduling upcoming A&S activities and encouraging Wyewoodians to teach and share their knowledge. Two classes that were scheduled in October were postponed by request of their instructors before being announced to the populace, with one being rescheduled for November.  November, however, is solidly booked and is going well so far. We have at least one class activity scheduled each week in November. Here is the schedule:

November 5: Chivalry class, by Sebastian ffraser
November 12: Bobbin lace class, by Miranda de Gages
November 19: Wimple class, by me
November 26: Awards and Protocol class, by Alianora Greymoor and Oddny in glaða.

Additionally, Master Mir has planned multiple Scriptoriums.

December is still mostly open for the moment. I plan to participate in our Herald's Heraldic Consultation night on December 10.

I have made an online A&S activity calendar which is on my website, but not yet on the Wyewood website (I just set it up this weekend). I will talk to our Webster about whether it would be possible to add it to the wyewood.org website.

~~Goals:~~

I would like to have some A&S activity every week (except perhaps some of the holiday weeks), and would particularly like to alternate classes that are particularly good for newcomers -- what I call "freshman SCA" classes -- with other more specialized and advanced activities. This month, we have accomplished this by offering Chivalry and Awards and Protocol as "freshman" classes. I intend to continue this as much as possible, though it does depend somewhat on the availability of instructors.

I have asked Countess Elisabeth de Rossignol, who is an Ithra Chancellor, about whether it is a possibility to offer some of the basic classes for Ithra credit even if not held at an all-day Ithra event. I have proposed a year-long series of classes offered at various times and sites, in the style of the year-long Culinary Ithra that Madrone did a few years ago. If the Ithra Regents allow it, my goal would be to offer this series and include the basic course requirements that people need to earn Ithra degrees.

(For newer folks reading this: The University of Ithra, http://www.ithra.antir.sca.org/ , is an educational organization here in An Tir that offers classes in SCA-related topics. It's not a real-world university, but you can earn Ithra degrees, if you want to, by taking the right series of classes. Or just take classes for the heck of it. It's a lot of fun. You will often hear people refer to "an Ithra" -- this means, generally, an event at which Ithra classes are held.)

I think that's it for now! Questions, comments -- just let me know. Thanks!

Wenyeva

\-\ Wenyeva atte grene * "In tenebris lux" 
 \-\ Armorum Servula, quam Ancoram Caeruleam dicunt
  \-\ Per chevron argent and vert, three beacons counterchanged.