Your job as Shire Minister of Arts and Sciences

Do you have your warrant?

In order to become a group or branch Minster of Arts and Sciences (often referred to as the MoAS), either the branch seneschal or the outgoing MoAS should assist the new in completing a request for Warrant letter or email, which will be sent to the Principality MoAS. rovide that officer with your SCA Name, Legal Name, Membership Number, Expiration Date. You must be an SCA Member and over 18. The Term of Office shall be two years long, and no MoAS should serve more than two consecutive terms.

Don’t panic!

You’ve got this, just think, you’ve been elected so your local group are already behind you. Join Email lists and facebook groups for lots of help and ideas.

Reporting

Send in a report once every three months. There is a report template that you will be given when you get your warrant. Ask for extra time or help with any part of it if you need it. Reports need to be submitted to your local group Seneschal and the Principality Minister for Arts and Sciences by the 15th of January, April, July and October. Your report should include your contact information, a list of any classes held at events your group hosted, your group’s A&S Nights/Meetings (if any), classes held at your group’s A&S Nights, group activities, and descriptions of individual projects. One of the most rewarding aspects of the A&S position is the knowledge it provides to recommend deserving artisans for awards. You should use the information provided for reports to back up these recommendations. It may be helpful to create a list of local artisans and their awards. This will allow you to easily look at the recognition your local members have already received and identify who is ready for more recognition.

Assisting other Artisans

A large part of your job is to provide assistance to other artisans in your Shire, even if you have no knowledge of the arts or sciences they practice. You will also act as a local contact for all arts and sciences. You don’t have to know everything, just how to get artisans in contact with other artisans in their field. When someone comes to you with a question regarding learning a new art or science, you are encouraged to pair them with someone in your local group who already practices that art or science. If no local practitioner exists, then refer them to any relevant resources such as the Kingdom Laurel listing, or the ID Artisan Database.

A&S Meetings

Where possible you may be expected to arrange regular A&S meetings. These can be weekly, monthly, or quarterly depending on what is practical for your group. It is a good idea to at least arrange one off workshops in various arts & sciences or encourage others to provide such opportunities. A&S meetings and one time only workshops provide an occasion for local artisans to share their skills, learn new skills and socialize with each other, which ensures the group stays in touch with one another. These meetings don’t necessarily have to be arranged by you. You may find that there are already regular meetings held by others in the group, which is great! If not you may also encourage more experienced artisans in the group to arrange workshops or regular A&S opportunities.

Competitions, classes and workshops

Competitions, classes, and displays are other A&S activities you will need to promote. You may well be asked to take on a role promoting a competition or display at your Shire’s events - you don’t have to do this all by yourself, just be prepared to do or help with these tasks or find someone to do so. Putting a call out to your group for people willing to teach a class or facilitiate a workshop will usually get you a solid A&S element to any event. Consider asking your group to bring tokens to events that they can leave with artisans who particularly impress them. Maybe write up a report in your local newsletter, your Shire’s FB group or website chronicling some of your local artisans’ work. Fighters get regular feedback by entering competitions and tourneys, artisans thrive with regular feedback too.

Competitions are perhaps the hardest part of this job. At local events you may decide to run a small display and competition and have a popular vote or you may decide to judge using formal judging criteria that you establish before the competition and share with your judges. You will need to arrange judges before the comptition and you should encourage your artisans to provide advance notice and documentation for their entries. Documentation is important and is to be encouraged. The Kingdom of Drachenwald has detailed information about the criteria used to judge different A&S categories.

You may also want to refer to the Drachenwald website for more information on running an A&S competition or display. Encourage your artisans to enter competitions and tell them about the Protectors Competition at Raglan or the Kingdom Artisan competition.

Seriously, we mean it about the not panicing.

Try to have fun. Often having a deputy to assist in the office can help with this.