KMOAS Letter in the Pale – April 2019

To populace of the Middle Kingdom,

The primary duty of the Minister of Arts and Sciences is to promote the arts and sciences in their groups and track activities so as to assure that we can report them to IRS.  This helps us maintain our qualification as a not-for-profit, educational 501(c)(3) corporation. To enable a more thorough approach, we are introducing a fillable, online form. This vital piece of after-action report is for all arts-related events: those done at meetings, events and workshops.

This form is available to anyone with access to the Midrealm website. Thus, anyone can add to the form identified as A&S Activity Tracking.  A local Minister of Arts and Sciences (or a Seneschal if there isn’t one) will review the reported information quarterly and certify it as part of their quarterly report. Baronal and regional MoAS Minister of Arts and Science will add information at their levels, NOT summarize. Hurrah for less reporting!

Keeping the activity logs on the Kingdom Website will provide continuity in record keeping and quick access in the case of an audit. I believe this will give us a better overall view of our strengths and educational mission. I also think it will have myriad of other uses. Every activity in SCA encourages us to learn, think and make things to further our mission of education and recreation pre 17th century culture.  Hopefully, this new structure will allow us to capture all the ways we learn, explore and share together.

All activities entered into the new A&S Activity Tracking form will be identified as one of the following seven activity types. Each of these types defined our activities as educational methods used to research and re-creation pre-seventeenth century skills, arts, combat, and culture. The participation of our membership will fulfill our not-for-profit education status for the IRS.

  • Education activities are where we teach and learn such as classes or RUM.
  • Doing activities are when we are practicing and creating. Examples are dancing practice, choir practice and workshops.
  • Interest Group are activities where we build on and share each other’s ideas and information about specific more focus activity then pre seventeenth century cultures. Examples are subjects such as cooking, bardic, 14th century or Norse at collegiums or Knowne World events,
  • Competition activities are where we seek to improve by testing. Examples likes Arts and Science Fair, Golden Seamstress, Queen Laurel Prize Tourney and A Distant Mirror.
  • Feedback activities are to help us evaluate how we are doing. An example is Laurel Tournament of Arts.
  •  Research activities are finding out and then sharing what we found out with others. This sharing can be done by publishing or teaching or talks.
  • Display Activities are less formalized sharing of information and objects of information of both our own work and others. For example, this includes courts, demonstrations, Craftsperson Faires and museum visits.

These activities are identified by self-reporting and self-evaluating and must be done in a group to foster our educational mission. Activities done as individuals don’t meet this goal and so must be shared if they are to achieve our educational mission and be tracked on the Activity Log. The Activity log will be available by March 15 for everyone.

Arts and Sciences are for sharing,

Mistress Una Wynnifreed Berry