"Back to Basics" manifesto

pumpkineater23 - 2013-05-31 17:30:01 UTC - Parent #

Brilliant idea. That is exactly the kind of festival I would like to go to.

Little Paul - 2013-05-31 21:08:42 UTC - Parent #

I suspect there would be a number of people turning up to a BJC who would be very disappointed if it were run like this, because many peoples expectations of a BJC are somewhat high. (to the point that they expect everything to be laid on for them and whine mightily if you ask them to volunteer for anything) - doesn't mean they're right, or that this approach is wrong, just that perhaps it's not an approach which would suit a BJC.

However, festivals I have been to which are pretty much run along these lines (not just juggling ones) work great!

Orinoco - 2013-05-31 21:40:12 UTC - Parent #

At the moment I think the sort of person who would be disappointed would not bother going.

I think you are right that people's expectations are very high part of me thinks this is a problem (& I suspect this problem is part of Richard's motivation for this manifesto). I don't believe that that expectation needs to be diminished but more people need to understand that they are responsible for how good a festival is.

I think more B2B festivals would help because more people would experience spontaneous entertainment popping up. It's a bit like the experiments where removing all road signs & markings from junctions can make them safer because it forces people to think for themselves & pay more attention.

Little Paul - 2013-05-31 21:55:12 UTC - Parent #

If you were to try this approach with a BJC, you've have to make it abundantly clear up front and in all advertising that it's a BJC unlike any other and that nothing was on offer up front - so that those with standard BJC expectations don't turn up.

I agree that the "I'm a consumer" attitude so prevalent at BJCs (and many other festivals) is a problem, and that this approach is a healthy way to run a festival - and perhaps as part of a long term goal and a concerted mission to migrate the festival scene towards this... perhaps it could work at a BJC.

Just perhaps not yet!

Mïark - 2013-06-02 14:55:05 UTC - Parent #

Different people like different styles of conventions, it is good we have a choice of so many conventions in the UK that we can go to the one which style suits us best; a turn up & camp like WJD, laid back like Bungay, or one with lots of things to do like BJC (in fact there was a proposal for a do nothing day at Pickering BJC where people could just socialise (or juggle) without anything scheduled, but it turned out there wasn't space for it in the programme).

What works well for a small convention of 100-200 jugglers will not necessarily "just" scale up for a larger event, I find as the number of people gets larger it can be more detached and individual attendees feel less responsible for the event. The attitude and atmosphere can be quite different.

Some things that can work for a 2-3 day convention won't work for a one-day convention (or 12 hour convention) as there might not be time for people to think of an idea and create it in that time frame. It also depends on the people coming to an event, those who have organised conventions before will know what needs doing and know how to help, newcomers might not be so knowledgeable.

Communication is very often a problem at many conventions - word of mouth is very easy in principle, but then chinese whispers is an amusing game (though some people forget they are in the game). It seems to be more than lack of enthusiasm to make signs, there seem to be some hippy-minded people who regard helpful signage or public display of useful information as an authoritarian imposition on their freedom to go the wrong direction or not know something. If you want people to volunteer - let them know (in a friendly way), don't just expect them to know because that's what usually happens (especially if they haven't been before).

Conventions are still being organised, so it would appear that people are still willing to organise them (this year there are at least 2 new conventions on the UK calendar and the return of 2 or more lapsed conventions). Hopefully organisers realise it is their event so they can organise it their way and not feel obligated to conform to some standard formula of juggling convention (though if they are going to drastically change an established event it would only be fair to advertise this to people coming to it).

Orinoco - 2013-06-02 17:42:38 UTC - Parent #

Conventions are still being organised

Indeed of the top 5 convention hosting countries since 2000 (Netherlands, France, Germany, UK, USA) there are no obvious downward trends & only one country is down this year on the year before.

Mïark - 2013-06-03 01:30:55 UTC - Parent #

It might be a little early to be interpreting 2013 data, we are not even half way through the year yet. There might quite possibly be some more (unannounced so far) conventions in the USA in the next seven months.

Richard Loxley - 2013-06-01 11:59:29 UTC - Parent #

Very nice!

Richard Loxley - 2013-06-03 17:28:06 UTC - Parent #

Yes, very similar to an Unconference.

I think Bungay, and to a lesser extent Bristol, are very close to what I'd imagined.

It's an interesting point about attendees organising things in advance. My thought was simply to unload work off the organisers, so this shouldn't necessarily be discouraged.

Of course with many conventions the boundaries are getting blurred, as people volunteer to make stuff happen. For instance at Bungay are the hot tub and wifi organised by the convention or by the attendees? At BJC are the extra shows provided by the convention? I think the fact that the line is blurred is showing that something is working, that the community is making the convention into what they want :-)

My musings were just that, wondering 'what if', and thinking about the convention that I'd like to organise, and that I'd like to attend. It probably works best with less than 200 people, but elements could be scaled up.

But ultimately it's all about the community, and as has been said 'by jugglers for jugglers'. I think there are many initiatives under way to keep that feeling. Long may it continue!