Announcements, Castle Wars, Meeting Minutes, Red Tower, Society ANNOUNCEMENTS

JUNE 2020 Baronial Business MEeting MInutes

3 June 2020, 7:30pm
Virtual meeting on Zoom

Notes submitted by Lady Raven Helmsplitter, South Downs Zombie Chronicler.

As our Herald, THL Lucien, was unable to attend tonight’s meeting, Lady Mairghread stepped in and called the meeting to order. THL Juliane, our Seneschal sez “Welcome!” and reminded everyone that the meeting was being recorded, per Kingdom law. She then read the Bullying and Harrassment statement from the SCA. She also offered that she (and Their Excellencies and the Baronial Officers) understands how everyone is under a lot of stress, and to please reach out if you need anything.

Our Social Media officer, THL Emelina, read out a disclaimer for everyone to be aware of and agree to, that our business meetings are being recorded and that by participating in this meeting, we have given our consent to have footage containing our faces and/or comments used by the Barony and the Kingdom as necessary.

Officer Reports

  • Armored Marshal (Lady Mairghread Wilson)
    • We are still in a holding pattern regarding practices.
    • Her quarterly report has been sent in. There were very slim numbers for the quarter, and she is expecting even slimmer numbers for the coming quarter, due to the adjusted schedule posted by the Crown.
    • Discussed Baron Mark’s thoughts about what fighter practice might look like once we *do* get back, as he had posted on Facebook recently.
      • Sir Iastreb commented that we will likely have to revisit where we hold Sunday practice, at the Meadery in Smyrna – it will be difficult to manage crowds and safety issues
      • Juliane commented that the owners of the Meadery have not been really hip on wearing masks, for performance reasons, which conflicts with SCA safety rules.
  • Rapier Marshal (Captain Brendan deHay)
    • Due to the current cancellation of practices and events, we are also in a holding pattern until things get going again
    • In the meantime, stay tuned – we are working on getting some online rapier activity going soon – discussions, classes, etc. Will post about these events on the Atlanta SCA fighting Facebook group.
  • Live Weapons Marshal (Mistress Mara Palmer)
    • Nothing to report
  • Reeve (Mistress Alessandra Fioravanti)
    • We have money!
    • She reminded everyone that she is looking for a deputy – her job is not that difficult, and she is willing to show anyone who’s interested what the job is like. Please contact her if you would like more information.
  • Chatelaine (Lord Nikon Dawidowicz)
    • So far, the only new person who’s actually come to a meeting and interacted and stuff is Jay, who we all know now is awesome. I’ve had a couple other nibbles but no bites yet.
    • Nikon and Majda Anwar have talked about doing maybe a rolling mini-class for newcomers that just covers handy entry-level information – perhaps a 30 minute class once a week for 4 weeks that starts over every month, covers basic newcomer info like what all the titles mean, first event essentials list, getting started with a persona, things like that. Just very surface level, 101 stuff.
      However, we haven’t really started working on it yet because *gestures at everything*.
  • Minister of Arts & Sciences (THL Alisandre de la Chapelle)
    • We have art! (and some science as well)
    • Alisandre has posted some virtual A&S opportunities in the Baronial Facebook group; and asked the populace to please let her know if they learn of any additional online opportunities (classes, events, etc) so she can share it with the Barony
    • Check out the classes being offered at Virtual RUM (Royal Academy of Meridies) this July, and ongoing classes at the Honorable Clover on Facebook.
    • Working cool projects? New projects? while everyone’s staying at home? Post your work on the Baronial Facebook page so we can all ooh and ahh and ask questions!
  • Chronicler (Lady Raven Helmsplitter)
    • We have words!
    • Lady Aelia Bassina of Veii will step up at the July meeting! Yay!
    • Aelia addressed the populace – as the incoming Chronicler, she would like to (re)start our newsletter and asked for suggestions:
      • For the title – everyone still likes the old title, “The Read Tower,” so it was decided that would remain.
      • With the development of our social media team, everything that has been posted on our Instagram page already has release forms, so that material will be available.
      • She is interested in showing the progression of the newsletter through the ages.
  • Keeper of the Baronial Memes (Minister of Social Media) (THL Emelina le Nourreys)
    • We have been posting on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook
      • We now have more than 250 follows on Instagram
      • Emelina is encouraging the populace to share the the cool projects they’re working on at home – please take pictures of your project work and send them to her so they can share on our Instagram page
    • Our smash-up video (a fighter’s version of the glow-up video idea) got over a million views! It was awesome, and Emelina and Isabelle thanked Ogata (Charlie) for editing the video.
    • Ogata confirmed that his friends wrote the music for the video, and everyone asked to have our thanks passed along to them.
    • There was a lot of discussion about what everyone’s favorite parts of the video were – there were many!
    • HRM has asked us to write up more award recommendations.
  • Minister of Children (Lady Una Ulfrdottir)
    • Nothing to report
    • Magistra Alessandra mentioned that her daughter, Katie, would like there to be more members of the Sparrow’s Wing (the Baronial children’s award) so she can hold order meetings. Currently, she is the only member and attendee, but more cupcakes are required.
    • Alessandra suggested that a blog could be set up on the Baronial website where parents could brag about their kids’ art and projects.
  • Their Excellencies South Downs (Master Wistric Oftun and Mistress Sunneva de Cleia)
    • Sunneva wanted to discuss the new diversity statement posted by the Board of Directors. If you haven’t read it, please make sure you do.
    • In-person events have been canceled up through 31 August 2020, but in the meantime, she loves seeing everyone virtually.
    • Wistric thanked everyone who participated in the smash-up video – it was awesome!
    • Also – taking part in activities such as the video, online classes, and other online activities is a good way to help keep our energy up as both a Barony and as individuals.
    • He reiterated the importance of writing recommendations for people who have shown themselves deserving of recognition, and mentioned that TRH are planning to have a virtual Court sometime in the next couple of weeks and would love the opportunity to recognize people.
    • There are a couple of months left where we are going to be limited to online activities, and there is a lot of space to fill on our virtual calendar. If you’re considering teaching a class sometime, practicing teaching via Zoom on the local level is a great way to work through your class before Virtual RUM.
    • Their Excellencies thanked everyone for being amazing during these trying times.
    • Recently, Emelina posted a “Draw the Faces of Their Excellencies” on Facebook; our cousins in the Midrealm saw this and put a challenge out to their Barony to one-up us!
  • Seneschal (THL Juliane de Vivonne)
    • She mentioned recent news from the Crown – Coronation will be held online on Saturday, 27 July, and will be set up just like the online courts
    • Events are canceled through the end of August
    • Red Tower – There are concerns about planning, given the current situation – will it happen? can it happen? in what format? These are still being worked through and the answers will likely change as the pandemic continues, so we’ll need to stay flexible.
    • The Kingdom Exchequer notified us that our financial policy is not aligned with that of the Kingdom; Juliane and Alessandra are working through this to fix the discrepancies.
    • Juliane asked and will continue to ask on Facebook for any topics the populace would like to add to the meeting agendas.
    • She also thanked Their Excellencies for their imaginative approach to keeping interest and energy up in the Barony (the Draw the Faces game was great!)

SCA Business

  • Red Tower (2-4 October 2020)
    • Site: Hard Labor Creek State Park, Rutledge, GA
    • Mistress Mariana confirmed that event planning is proceeding as normal until told otherwise. A request for event volunteers will be posted soon.
  • Castle Wars (19-22 November 2020)
    • Site: Camp Benjamin Hawkins, Byron, GA
    • Juliane had mentioned that Isabetta is going to take the lead on Castle Wars autocratting because of Juliane’s conflicts of interest as seneschal. Juliane is holding off submitting the bid for the time being until she can see how the next couple of months are going to look like.
    • Sunneva mentioned contingency planning will be key; and as Sunneva happened to have written a book on contingency planning, is more than happy to help brainstorm.
    • Sunneva also asked about the timeframe for submitting the event bid – it is her understanding that if we don’t get a bid in soon, we’ll have to cancel?
    • Juliane asked Alessandra about the Baronial budget – if we don’t have Castle Wars, how will the Barony stand financially? What will the impact be? Alessandra said we should still be in good shape as most of our other expenses (other than the storage unit at $860 per quarter and the Zoom fees at $14.99 per month) have also gone away.
  • Midwinter Arts & Sciences (6 February 2021)
    • Site: TBD
    • We should start thinking about this event – we need an autocrat.

Other SCA Business

  • Mairghread mentioned virtual RUM/Fighter’s Collegium (17 July 2020) is looking for teachers, not sure what format. If interested in teaching for Fighters Collegium, please contact her or Master Edward.
  • Emelina mentioned that we now have a Baronial YouTube channel, and we can post class videos there.
  • Justina mentioned that this coming weekend is Court, and she is looking forward to hosting another virtual revel afterwards. She’ll post to the Baronial Facebook group once she’s got everything set up.
  • Sir Iastreb announced we have new people in the Barony – Anya from Thor’s Mountain has just moved to South Downs! She can’t make meetings yet because of classes but she is looking forward to getting involved soon. Master Ximon added that we should keep an eye out for new people and reach out to them so they feel welcome.
  • Lily thanked Alessandra for showing her how to be a reeve.

Non-SCA Business

  • None

Next business meeting: Wednesday, 1 July 2020. It will likely still be online via Zoom, but stay tuned!

With my backlog of minutes now done, I am now officially handing over the reins of the Office of the Chronicler to Lady Aelia. Thank you, everyone!
–Lady Raven