Red Company had a banner year for new recruits, but has lost virtually every one that came to us this year. We're back to having the best functioning camp ever (i.e. easy to set up, most equipment in place, everyone has what they need, etc.) but back to about our core 12-15 members.

The new recruits who stuck are kids- 15 year old boys seem to find us particularly appealing and participate avidly, but more adults would be better. If kids don't find what we do "too difficult" I can't believe more adults doing the medieval thing wouldn't be interested. We need to find away to advertise what we do to a wider audience or something.

Networking within the reenactment community is the most effective, I think. Since everyone in our group knew everyone else from *other* re-enactment groups, it made sense that we would continue to get other multi-period reenactors as recruits. We didn't realize so many of our friends had an interest in the Nine Years War until they saw us doing it. Then suddenly they came out of the woodwork! Of course the down side of this is that if they got bored with our group, they'd just drift off to the next period that looked bright and shiney...

The problem with recruiting on the 'Net is that we got some really enthusiastic candidates who lived too far away to ever come to our events. But I will agree that keeping the site updated is essential. Since that's what I did for a living, I was in charge of that for our group. I think the group web-master has to be someone for whom a current website is a priority. No disrespect to web "hobbyists", but you have to stay on top of things and most people who create websites in their spare time don't care to do this. Hell, when I get busy at work, my personal websites come second too!

I hope this adds some good ideas to the mix.

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Originally posted by Peder:
As for the net the #1 issue I see with every 15th century group in the US is that they either have little content of use on thier site to encourage traffic and even what content they have is rarely if ever updated.

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Agree with Brent, an active website is a good draw, as it gives a good impression that the group is active and dynamic, where a stagnant or non-existant site gives the opposite impression. A website with annying popups gives the impression that the group is too cheap to spring for a decent host.

It's a problem we've been meaning to attend to for some time, but never seem to get around to it. I think not having one has hurt us in the recruitment arena.

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It's a problem we've been meaning to attend to for some time, but never seem to get around to it.

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Dear, dear Geoffrey. Must I remind you that you are the proud owner of an out-of-work website designer who is bored to tears and would love to have something to work on?

I know, you've offered, but I've been reluctant to trouble you with it. I'll send you some info & a link to some pics & see what sense you can make of the mess.

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=)

I know, that probably sounds like absolute heresy but hear me out ...

I do live in an area with a huge amount of living history groups ... so it's not like I have no opportunity to go off and join something. (For those of you wondering what the hell I'm even doing on this board and who don't know who I am -- which is probably most of you, really -- I'm fairly active in the SCA, working both as the editor of the organization's quarterly monograph series and the newcomers' coordinator for a large local chapter. I also do living history work with an 18th century site I've worked with, off and on, for the last 18 years.)

I do what I can to make our "kit" authentic -- no machine stitching showing, all appropriate fabrics, generally based on artifacts or period illustrations. This past Christmas, Santa Claus brought my husband Obnoxiously Authentic Feast Gear. (See, Gwen, now you see why I was so excited about table linens and aquamaniles?)

We both do what we can to present ourselves as authentically as possible in terms of persona and kit. I try to be a role model that way, and I know a lot of other SCAdians who work along the same lines for their various periods, personae, and interests.

So, what does this have to do with the ARMET-related groups?

• I don't participate in an ARMET group because I'm not interested in playing campfollower to a bunch of guys playing soldiers. (AFAIK, there are no all-civilian groups in the local area.)

• I don't participate in an ARMET group because it seems like an awful lot of time and expense for an activity that only lets me actively participate a few days a year.

Maybe playing with your local SCA group, and showing them what spiffy keen sorts of stuff you do, will give you an opportunity to find folks who might be interested in joining. I know that many of the groups represented on this board include people who were at one time in the SCA; maybe one way you could recruit folks is to go to a few SCA events and show them what makes you such a keen group -- and you'll find folks that are interested in doing what you're doing.

(I know that this happens. One of the guys who'd been in my college SCA chapter was in awe of a group he'd run across when they were holding Mass in their encampment at an SCA war. That's just about ten years now -- tell Otto I said hi, and I've lost his email address.)

More recent SCA and Adria recruits have resented the fact that we wouldn't let them have the persona they wanted or wear the clothes they wanted. The women didn't want to cover their hair and the men wanted to use innapropriate kit items such as armour and camp furnishings. Sunglasses and/or modern glasses are seen as an absolute necessity, and any suggestion otherwise is met with outrage. We had to contend with the "I saw it in a painting therefore it's documentable" or "it's folk custom so it must have come from the middle ages" lines of research and reasoning.

For these reasons and many others, we have instituted a policy NOT to recruit from the SCA.

That's just what we have run into around here, your mileage will vary, and there are always exceptions to the rule like Otto and Anne-Marie.

I started doing living history work because I found the prospect of working as a child on a farm in Virginia in 1771 to be an appealing thing, and it was neat that I could study that lifestyle and present it to visitors. I wasn't "recruited" by anything in particular -- my family had visited the farm since I was very small, and it was something I knew I wanted to do when I was old enough; I eventually reached the ripe old age of eleven, when my mother would allow me to start volunteering there. So it is hard for me to supply a suggestion on recruitment strategies based on my personal experiences as a newcomer in this field, since for me, it was the wonderful treat of being able to immerse myself in the "olden days" for the afternoon, and being old enough to be a part of that. (I started participating in the SCA because I thought that I would be able to hang out with the same sort of people at a west coast college. It is a very different sort of group, of course -- but I was certainly never discouraged from doing research-based work in the SCA, either.)

I was also trying to think of suggestions for how you could more directly reach what I suspect is your target demographic (adults 18 and over with the time and finances to participate in a reenactment/living history, and with some established interest in the Middle Ages) and I'm sorry that I caused so much offense. Not that I can honestly defend every single aspect of the SCA, either, of course

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Originally posted by Ginevra:

That's just what we have run into around here, your mileage will vary, and there are always exceptions to the rule like Otto and Anne-Marie.

Gwen

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thank you for that

--Anne-Marie, a re-enactor in an SCA land...

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I think that is a nice way to get people interested - it makes things a bit more accessible and personal.

I'm sorry the SCA group in your area is so bad; mine is pretty good.

I thought Karen's suggestion was a pretty good one. It seems to me that it's in the best interest of LH groups to reach out to the SCA with a message of "Authenticity can be fun, and we're nice, friendly people." For those who don't realize it, I'm here to tell you, you have a lot of potential members in the SCA, if they only knew you were out there and approachable.

Some of the posts above have laid out pretty succinctly the re-enactor's conventional wisdom about the SCA. You must have some idea what the SCA conventional wisdom about re-enactors is. Speaking from my dual experience, each characterization holds true for a few unpleasant individuals, but not for the majority.

If the members of a group

a) don't believe there are any people like them in the SCA, or
b) just can't stand to enter an SCA environment and represent their group,

this probably isn't a good strategy for them. Otherwise I see it as making a lot of sense. My sympathies are with the people who've had bad experiences, but on a larger objective level, this could be the recruiting tactic that makes the most sense.

The opinions on both sides of the SCA/LH fence seem to be mutual for the most part. Some groups have tried the "meeting of the minds" and were met with resistance if not all out hositility. We have "loosened up" a bit in regard to attending events and our perceptions of the society as a whole; the brush does not paint as broadly as it once did. WA came out of the re-enactment tradition (our founding members were never in the society) and we have a fair number of authenticity minded SCA folks who have updated their clothing to meet the standards, but who also keep one foot in each domain -- this can wreck havoc on event schedules. However, we do not actively recruit in the society. Most folks came to us through our web site, AA, or from our show at the Higgins museum. We won't turn anyone away due to group affiliation, but Bob always talks to potential recruits to see what their "interest/commitment" level is and how resistant they are to change.

As they say, depending on your location and the groups you have to work with, you milage may very...

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Just my two cents.

Thing is - with just a bit of research, getting it mostly right the first time isn't too much harder than getting it absolutely wrong. Some people just don't care enough to give it a shot, even with something simple and relatively inexpensive as using linen instead of cotton for garments.

What if you start with low authenticity, then transition to higher levels? You have "Perfectly good" items that you spent lots of time and money on and really like, but aren't up to the standards of the more authentic crowd. Therin lies the potential for conflict.

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I played in the SCA for a short time but the "vibe" wasn't right for me and my local group was actively hostile towards people interested in authenticity. I know all groups in the SCA aren't like that, but driving to Boston (from PA -- about six hours) for weekend events was getting to be a drag.

The main reason I don't think the SCA is a good source for future reenactors is the attitude they have towards us. Two of my best friends are in the SCA, and if it weren't for knowing me, they'd think reenactors were a bunch of anal-retentive, overly-critical bunch of jerks. The truth is they've never *met* any reenactors other than me. Their opinions were formed in darkness, so to speak.

One friend in particular I'm trying to get to come to a living history event with me this Spring. The sole reason she is giving it a chance is because she trusts that I wouldn't set her up for a humiliating experience. This woman is more of a living historian than most people I know in the hobby! But she's afraid people are going to come up and count her stitches per inch (the funny thing is that her stitches per inch would likely pass muster!).

It's a perception thing. And I don't think there's much either side can do to improve their image in the other group. They are stereotypes, and like all stereotypes, there is truth in these perceptions even if it is exaggerated on both sides.

Most reenactors might be shocked to meet a SCAdian who handstitched all his own clothing. Most SCAdians wouldn't believe how AR we aren't.

I still wish there was a historically-oriented group that we could view as kind of "training wheels" for new recruits -- a group that didn't require authenticity from day one, but actively encouraged it. I think that'd be a nice place to hang out and maybe even teach classes and the like...

My point being that an overlooked but necessary tool for L.H. recruiting, is for a dedicated group to pool their used, their repaired, and spare items to loan out for perspective members to try. The hardest items being basic shoes, some sort of hosen, and a doublet to cover whatever they are wearing underneath.