This thread is started for discussion of the upcoming DECADES event. I am happy to lead the charge on this one, as it is a one-time event and I am good at one-offs that can be put together, executed, and completed.

The DECADES Festival will be Saturday June 27 and will include many events over the course of 24 hours. This will include a Decades Ball and a fashion show, exhibits on technology and art, performances of music, drama, and literature. Yep, we're talking about a HUGE event being planned and executed in a very short period of time. There may be more. If you have an idea for an event that fits the theme, please contact me via email (stephaniemesler@gmail.com) or inworld (contact my main, Freda Frostbite, inworld). If you are willing to help in any way, let me know. Do you do great graphics? Take good photos? sing? act? write? read? Could you take a shift as an event greeter? Can you stand on your head under water wearing sequins while petting a boa? (Not sure what it has to do with DECADES, but I'd pay good lindens to watch.)

All proceeds will help to keep TRC website up and running and maybe even improve its lot. Location and specific schedule TBA for the Festival. Stay tuned.

updated by @stephanie-mesler: 06 Oct 2016 06:35:03AM

After some discussion with folks with funds, financing has been achieved for a full sim to be available for setting up and hosting The Decades Festival and Ball. The sim will be available starting June 7 for individuals organizing displays and events to start setting up. I ask that all such events and displays be set up by June 14 so that we have a week to bring in the virtual press and to take lots of venue pictures for PR purposes.

Now for the nitty gritty-- Volunteers will be needed to man the sim round the clock on June 21, from midnight to midnight. I can be there a lot of the time, in one form or another. Our friend Trolley has said she can be there too, in one form or another. We will need folks from many time zones to help greet visitors, to tell them where the various exhibits are and to encourage them to donate L's to the cause, maintenance of this site. So, please consider volunteering your time and energy for one or more two-hour shifts at the Decades Festival. I'll post more in a week or so about this. In the meantime, please consider the possibility.

It is already definite that the event will include a Decades Ball at 12 noon SLT on June 21st. There will also be live music events and several exhibits. Are you an sl performer who would like to be considered for a performance at The Decades Festival? Do you know one? If so, please contact me (or Freda Frostbite inworld).

Do you have an idea for an exhibit or performance st the Decades Festival? If so, please contact me.

Do you like poetry and do you read in local voice? If so, please contact me.

Do you run or are you associated with a historical rp venue in SL? If so, please send me information regarding your venue. Include it's name, a brief description of the venue, and an LM for the venue.

Do you have lots of contacts with the sl press? If so, please contact me.

Do you have an "in" with the good folks at Linden Labs? If so, please contact me.

Please consider joining the group inworld known as "RP Bulletin Board." You can find it in Freda Frostbite's groups list. It would be nice to use that group for communication with folks about planning the Decades Festival.

There will be lots more news once my rl settles down again in one week and a day. (How bad is it when you start counting down the days 'til a house guest's departure before the guest has even arrived?) In the meantime, I will be contacting individuals and asking for LOTS of help with this project. Please feel free to IM me with your thoughts and ideas and questions. Just know I may be slow to answer for a few days.

I'm very much in favor of having a fundraiser, but the June 21 timing of the DECADES event is extremely problematical for a reason that I think highlights the problem with the current Ning website being called "Royal Courts." On June 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, and 21 Renaissance Island will be celebrating its 8th anniversary in Second Life. 8 years is a really big deal. On June 21 there will be a play production on Renaissance Island at noon and a grand ball at 6 pm. I plan to be at both of those things as do several other friends who might otherwise be interested in a DECADES fundraising event. It would be a wonderful thing if all of the Royal Courts folks would come too.

Why aren't the Renaissance Island events posted on our Ning calendar so that you could have planned your event around them? For the simple reason that there is not now, nor has there ever been a royal court on Renaissance Island. The early region administrators never felt comfortable publicizing events on this site (and even caught static from various Royal Personages in the Royal Courts group years ago for trying to do so). So the current owners and managers don't even think about the Royal Courts Ning. Yet Renaissance Island has a grand tradition of historical roleplay and educational activities -- precisely the kind of place that ought to be included in the more comprehensive website.

So this is an URGENT REQUEST that the decades event be put later in June or in early July so that we all have time to join in the Renaissance Island celebrations.

Sere - absolutely. Having only discovered Renaissance Island recently due to Traveler's Tales and having gone there for several in-voice events, I hope very much that Steph can find another date. I wish there were some way to create a master calendar of historical and educational activities inworld along the lines of Google Calendar to help with scheduling and I suspect it would have the additional advantage of fostering more collaborative work that crosses time periods. What binds us all together is a love of history.

Stephanie if you do decide on reconsidering a date I like to suggest you avoid Sundays as it will be Monday for half the planet. If you have it on a Saturday on the other hand it will still be a weekend for most people and so maximize the chance of people attending.

Also maybe you should look into listing the event in the SL events calendar. It may attract people

Sere, the possible problem with going later than the 21st is it starts to encroach on Tatiana's deadline for making payment and decisions on the website. So I need to speak with her before I change anything. I need to know that moving the festival to the 27th or 28th would not screw anything up for her. I will try to make that contact today. If it works for the site and for her, it will work for me.

I agree, Claire, that a Saturday would work better. I can do the 27th. I chose a Sunday for the weekend before because I could NOT do the 20th. But, if we push back a week, the Saturday becomes possible. Once I hear from Tatiana, we'll do something about a date change.

Thanks, Sere and Claire, for speaking up. And YES this definitely highlights the need for some changes that make it clear ALL historical venues are invited to participate here. In fact, I will feel funny asking folks from venues like Renaissance island to be involved with the Decades Festival. It seems wrong to ask them to participate in and support something from which they have felt excluded.

Why aren't the Renaissance Island events posted on our Ning calendar so that you could have planned your event around them? For the simple reason that there is not now, nor has there ever been a royal court on Renaissance Island. The early region administrators never felt comfortable publicizing events on this site (and even caught static from various Royal Personages in the Royal Courts group years ago for trying to do so). So the current owners and managers don't even think about the Royal Courts Ning.

Renaissance Island is welcome here.

From the time I took it over, this site was intended for all historical communities not justcourts.As I'm always saying, here's never been a royal court in the Duch de Coeur either.

I have no idea what happened "years ago" and no desire to dreg whatever it was up again. I'd rather concentrate on moving forward in a positive fashion.

--
Proprietress of Tatiana's Tea Room ~ Owner of the Provence Coeur Estate ~ Webmistress of this site

Yep-- the only forward is, well, forward. I would like to contact some non-RC rp communities to participate in Decades Fest. How can we make it clear this site is for them too?

PLEASE NOTE: The Decades Festival and Ball will be held Saturday, June 27, midnight to midnight.

So far we have folks lined up to create exhibits on art through the ages (Lorsagne de Sade and Lady Leena Fandango) and technological developments that brought us to present day aeronautics (Gabriel Piozzi, aka Heximer Thane), and The history of Hats (Sofia von Essen). Still room for more! Contact me.

There will be a walk of time with info on various historical RP communities in sl.

There will be a coffee house.

There will be live story-telling, poetry and music events. Room for more here too.

There will be a ballroom (actually a pavillion) and a DJ who knows lots of periods of music for the ball.

Please send me your ideas as you develop them.

We will still want to have the exhibits and displays up on site before June 14 if at all possible. An extra week to tweak and publicize is a good thing.

It has occurred to me, Sere, that you might invite them to this site AND to join RP Bulletin Board inworld. I would love to see them posting there.

How can we make it clear this site is for them too?

I'm happy to make changes to graphics & text. As I mentioned before, we can't change the site name unless we move the platform. These changes mayprovide a better initial impression to attract new members.

The site has always been inclusive and the Guidelines help definewhat that inclusion entails. Those people that interpret "inclusion" as "I will use this site to dominate & harass" usually don'tlast very long.

Keeping this site " an interesting, safe and productive place where we can keep in touch with the many historical communities " is an ongoing challenge and obviously a shared, communityresponsibility.

To me, that's where the real emphasis has been and should remain. The other stuff is just cosmetics.

--
Proprietress of Tatiana's Tea Room ~ Owner of the Provence Coeur Estate ~ Webmistress of this site

And now we will have a dramatic performance being organized by Sere Timeless.

Still working on some other live performances. Who do you know?

Friday May 22 update

Let me start by saying that I will be a bit scattered for the next few days. My latest book hit the market overnight and my daughter graduates from high school today, which means we have out of town company. I am swamped, but still trying to stay on top of things with the Decades Festival and Ball. If you want to be involved or have an idea or question about the festival, please contact me here, inworld (Freda Frostbite), or by email (stephaniemesler@gmail.com). If something is really urgent and I am non-responsive, please contact Lorsagne de Sade. (Thanks to her for doing TONS.)

Here is where things stand-- so far.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY Several folks have contacted me about modeling period attire for pics to be used in promotions for the festival. I have already done a few photo shoots with some folks. If you have already said you are interested and still need to schedule an appointment for your shoot, please contact me to get on my calendar.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITYThe day of the festival we will need round-the-clock greeters to talk up this website and to direct people to the various exhibits and events. Greeters should plan to "work" 1-2 hours. Please let me know what part of the world you are in and when you might be available on June 27 to greet visitors.

Exhibits Planned For the Festival:

• Art through the ages. With Chairs. (Organized by Leena Fandango and Lorsagne de Sade)
• Men's Fashion, focused on Battle Attire (Waiting for confirmation on organizer name)
• The History of Hats (Orgaized by Sofia von Essan)
• The History of Dwellings (Organized by Jacon Cortes)
• Technological Developments Leading To Current Aeronautics (Organized by Heximer Thane)
• There may be one display on metaphysics. (Awaiting confirmation on this one)
• TRC Display and Donations Recepticals (Created by Tatiana Dokuchik)

Live Performances and Events Planned For The Event:

• Dramatic Readings(organized by Sere Timeless. Time 4pm SLT.)
• Storytelling (awaiting confirmation on the presenter names here. (Time TBA)
• Poetry of The Last Millennium (organized by Stephanie Mesler. Time 6 am SLT)
• Historical Fashion Show (Just realizing someone told me they could organize this and I have no notes as to who it was. Ugh. Help? Please?)
• Decades Ball (Freda Frostbite, DJ. Dances provided by Sister Butta. Decorating done by Lorsagne de Sade and Leena Fandango, have I got that right? Time 12noon SLT)
• Live Music Performances Still To Be Organized (VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY)

There will be a coffee house (still awaiting confirmation from the proposed host) open all day.

Claire-Sophie de Recoulle is creating the necessary structures.

Land will be available for set-up starting June 7. It would be good to have exhibits in place for advance visits by metaverse press by June 14.

Publicizingthe Event: If you know a metaverse blogger or a Linden or someone who works with Firestorm, please, please, please contact me. If you own a venue or a group that could/should help advertise this event, please contact me.

Please join the Decades Historical RP group inworld.

Have I forgotten anthing or anyone? Probably. Just send me a note.

I was thinking that maybe having a little corner for pictures, with some props and background that looked like those of old 19th century pictures and 18th century paintings. It could be something like the photos of the Devonshire 1897 ball's guests, where people could take snapshots for their feed, flickr, blogs, etc.

Great idea!

The art exhibit will have a chair or other seating for every "art" period from stone age to 2015. The chairs are placed in front of BIG panels of representative artwork for a period/style. That could make for some interesting photos for people to create. But a photo booth with a choice of period props and backgrounds could be a lot of fun for people.

And we do already have it planned that the art is adjacent to the ballroom. One can in fact, look at the art whilst dancing, or dance while looking at the art, dependent upon one's perspective.

The sim for the festival has been purchased. Claire and Lorsagne have begun building there. If you are an exhibitor for the event and would like to work on your exhibit there, please let me or Lorsagne de Sade know. We would be happy to give you the LM. For the moment, builds will have to go in the sky, as we are still working out the landscaping and building placement on the ground. It would mean having to move your exhibit to its destination on the ground once the ground is ready for it, but, if you are short of prims for building your exhibit on your own land, let one of us know. Also, if you are to set up an exhibit, you'll beed to be a Decades RP group officer. Please remind me if I have not already sent you that invitation.

Exhibits update: (events added since last update are bolded and italicized.)

Exhibits Planned For the Festival:

• Art through the ages. With Chairs. (Organized by Leena Fandango and Lorsagne de Sade)
• Men's Fashion, focused on Battle Attire (Waiting for confirmation on organizer name)
• The History of Hats (Orgaized by Sofia von Essan)
• The History of Dwellings (Organized by Jacon Cortes)
• Technological Developments Leading To Current Aeronautics (Organized by Heximer Thane)
• The History of Tarot (Merry Chase)
• TRC Display and Donations Recepticals (Created by Tatiana Dokuchik)
• Lucerius Zeffirelli will be setting up one of his sailing ships and creating a display about SL's historical RP communities on its deck.

Live Performances and Events Planned For The Event:

• Dramatic Readings(organized by Sere Timeless. Time 4pm SLT.)
• Storytelling (awaiting confirmation on the presenter names here. (Time TBA)
• Poetry of The Last Millennium (organized by Stephanie Mesler. Time 6 am SLT)
• Historical Fashion Show (Just realizing someone told me they could organize this and I have no notes as to who it was. Ugh. Help? Please?)
• Decades Ball (Freda Frostbite, DJ. Dances provided by Sister Butta. Decorating done by Lorsagne de Sade and Leena Fandango, have I got that right? Time 12noon SLT)
• Live Music Performances Still To Be Organized(VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY)

Slight correction to Step's last post...

• Lucerius Zeffirelli will be setting up one of his sailing ships and creating a display about SL's historical RP communities on its deck.

Sere relayed Lucerius' generous offer last evening in IM. I then sent Step a note to let her know ....neither Steph nor I had been in touch with Lucerius yet, so we may have jumped the gun here a bit.

And Aldo Stern is who has expressed a willingness to create a photo display about SL's historical RP communities. Location "TBD."

Sorry to have created possible confusion. My brain isn't working very well at the best of times but at 4 a.m. it's pitiful...grin.

And now I see why I thought it was Lucerius doing the Communities display. There was a typo in the email sent to me about it. And it was way too early for me to figure out also was supposed to be Aldo. LOL! One of those times when spell check could not have saved us. Anyway, it's all straightened out now. Thrilled to have the boat and the communities display!