Join us for this year’s Bardic Symposium! Symposium meets from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM during War Week, Monday through Friday in Downtown University classroom by Herald’s Point
If you are interested in being a Panelist, please email pennsicbardic@gmail.com with a list of panel topics you would be interested in participating as well as well as how many you are willing to do.
Provost, Bardic Symposium
Aibhilin inghean Daibhidh
Returning this year: Writing Challenge
Topic: To be determined on Monday at the Symposium!
NOTE: Topic will be posted on this site once it is decided
This year, Bardic Symposium will also be doing a Writing Challenge (song, story, or poem!). A topic for the writing challenge will be decided during Monday’s session. Wednesday will offer an opportunity to meet with your fellow participants and get feedback, work through challenges, and workshop your words after a panel discussion on techniques and tips to get past writers block and refine our words. On Friday, we will discuss how to best give and receive feedback in the SCA, then present our pieces for feedback. Everyone completing the Writing Challenge will receive a token! If you are unable to attend the Friday session but would like to participate in the writing challenge, Aibhilin will hold some ‘office hours’ on Thursday and Friday for you to participate and receive your token!
Monday: Preserving History, Forging New Traditions
Panelists:
Meet your fellow bards.
How do we balance our history while moving with the passage of time? How do we keep the old songs alive? When is it time to ‘retire’ a song? How do we encourage new pieces to enter our common bardic tradition. How do we get good new songs “out there”
The Symposium writing challenge returns this year – we will collectively pick a topic on Monday.
Decided topic will be shared on the Bardic Symposium website so all may participate in the writing.
Tuesday: Level Up Your Lyrics
Panelists:
How can we become better writers? What techniques can we use to become better lyricists? How can we support each other in our quest for improvement?
Wednesday: The Roles of a Bard
Panelists:
What roles do we play as bards? How can we find new roles? How can we make the most of the ones we have? What does it mean to be a bardic Champion? How is that different across Kingdoms? How can we champion bardic arts as ‘just a bard’?
Thursday: Research vs Creativity
Panelists:
When writing songs set in the SCA period, where do research and creativity meet? How can research inspire our creativity? How can studying history make us better bards? How can we use research and historical forms to inform our songs about the modern SCA in content, lyric, and sound?
Friday: Beyond the Circle
Panelists:
How do we create venues for performance outside of Bardic circles? How can we drive performance improvement both inside and outside the Bardic Circle? How can we create opportunities for growth within our existing settings and venues?