If an SCA or Guild member were to tell you...

[Carl Heinz]

It doesn't appear that what is being called a guild is what I'm thinking of and really doesn't resemble what we have here.

We have an internal structure to insure that the tasks assigned to us by the event Entertainment Director are accomplished.  Individual stage managers are assigned by the Entertainment Director to insure that specific tasks such as shows and parades are accomplished when they're scheduled.  I'm not familiar with such entities as archery guilds since they aren't within my experience.  Some of us are independent within our guilds.  Specifically these are members who work the streets or provide craft demonstrations within the guild area.  We generally have guild morning notes to insure that people are available for specific tasks.

In the past, we've had visitors from the staffs of other events visit us to gain an understanding of how we are organized so that they can take this information back with them to their home events.

I'm not implying that ours is the only way, but it's worked for a long time.  If we weren't meeting the needs of the event, we wouldn't be invited back.

[Lord Figaro]

I've spoken to the head planner and she said she is addressing that issue with that guild's contact person who was also a planning committee member. I hope next year they have a better way to be held accountable, but it's in the head planners hands on how she wants to do to hold them accountable. She hasn't shared it with me or anyone else yet. We won't be getting together again to start planning meeting till next year, so it's a rather wait and see thing right now. But yes Betty my view of these guilds is thoroughly unprofessional. And the 91 passes were just for one guild, we had about 6 guilds represented there. There was one guild that was a late joiner of Vikings and Cossacks they called themselves, and from what I saw they did absolutely nothing but sit in their tents and drink all day.

[Carl Heinz]

At RPFS, the number of 91 gate passes is probably a bit small for some guilds.  Cuthberts, Ives, Military, and Celt all probably exceed that number.

But we're expected to work for it.  We're all protective of our reputation since, if we fail to meet our obligations, we won't be invited back.  Just sitting around the guild yard doing nothing isn't an option.  Nor is hiding out and just attending shows and shopping an option.

We actually have two internal structures with Cuthberts.  We have members who are responsible for specific functions such as banner captain, leather booth, parade monitor, crafts boss, water mom (Otter Mommy), yard boss, and kitchen.  We also have guild rankings ranging from candidate, apprentice, journeyman, foreman, and master.  The former are designated by our Guildmaster.  With the exception of Candidate, advancement through the ranks is done by vote of those holding that or higher rank.  Voting isn't a popularity contest but is based on the individual's contribution.  So someone who's a bit shy as far as public interaction is concerned, but is a willing worker on the construction crew and meets their daily obligations such as carrying a banner during the run has the same opportunity as the one who enjoys doing street gigs or has roles in the pageants.  I'm generally one of the two Apprentice Masters (the other being Roger Russell--aka Gaffer Applewright) and have the function of helping new members and counseling those who don't understand that a gate pass carries responsibilities.  Problems that I can't handle are taken to our Guildmaster.

I expect there's a TMI element here, but it describes what I understand a guild to be.

[Lord Figaro]

If that was what they were doing Carl I probably would haven't had any problems. But what I saw was completely different. When a guild tells me they'll perform at 1:00 to 1:30 for belly dancing and I still haven't seen them or found them at 1:25 that tells me they aren't living up to their obligations. When I did find them at 1:35 they were packed up and headed towards their cars. Tells me they enjoyed the free ride, but when the weather wasn't as perfect for them as they wanted it was time to pack up. Name me one Renaissance festival that does that and I'll show you one that doesn't have a long run of success. We had people still showing up at 2:00 and they were very disappointed that nothing was really going on because the guilds had all packed up.

Disappointed customers don't return and you get a bad reputation for not full filling your obligations to the community you promised would be able to see things both days, but later found out that wasn't true.

[Carl Heinz]

True.  That's why we go to such an extent to protect our reputation.  If they can't understand that, they don't deserve another invitation.  Our structure is our protection from a few members harming us and the event.

[Lord Figaro]

I think that's part of the problem with some of these people. Some of those on the planning committee who are on the guilds think we can't do it without them. I wonder what they'll think after we've taken the head planner to AZRF this coming president's day weekend and she sees what a real Ren fest is all about? From my understanding, she has never been to a true ren fest, only local guild gatherings or what they call "Canton's"? I think that's how they spell it.

[Carl Heinz]

Can I also suggest RPFS as a comparison?

[Lord Figaro]

It's one that I want to go to for sure, but right now the main one we have planned is AZRF. We're located about in the middle of both, but there are advantages for us going to AZRF vs RPFS at the moment. Also AZRF would be cheaper for us to go to as well. Plus with us already having attended AZRF we know what to expect and can better introduce the head planner to it. When we get the chance to though I so want to go.

[Carl Heinz]

It's been several years since we've visited AZRF.

Back then, the orientation seemed to be more toward vendors with a small number of theme characters.  There were a couple of environmental areas, but the folks in them were more for giving demonstrations instead of working the streets.  The last couple of times, I didn't go in costume because I was upsetting other customers when I told them that I was also just visiting and had little idea of the location of the nearest privies, gate, etc.  Most of the shows were pass the hat and that also bothered me a bit.  (I can recall an instance where we were under a small covered area to avoid the rain and a young fellow who was, at best, marginal as a juggler attempted to put on a pass the hat in that impromptu stage.)

It just had a different flavor.  Not bad, just different.  Otherwise, we wouldn't have gone for several years.  The array of vendors was a real plus as were the permanent structures.

If that's still the case, RPFS would give you a better example of the use of guilds and troupes.

[Lord Figaro]

When it gets closer I'll definitely try and push a trip to go, I'd love to see what they do there.