Faire taught me a lot about audience reception and interest at conventions, which is giving me a lot of guidance for Madam Raveena's. The Greenwood Revelers, my guild, was the biggest draw to the faire. The SCA's local branch was involved too, another group I have a history with so I'll use them for comparison.
The SCA is awesome for what it does, but it's not designed to entertain mundane audiences. The fighting is cool, but it's more of a sport than a show. The weapons and armor are for safety rather than authenticity. The audience will never know you hand spun your own yarn and dyed it with beet juice to knit that shawl. Totally cool, but not entertainment.
The Greenwood Revelers, however, is a guild made up of stagehands, entertainers, scenic artists, costume makers, etc. Our guild's focus is very much on the audience's experience, and in this case we were dealing with walkby traffic/ shoppers, but people who were looking for a carnival/ fantasy atmosphere. There's a set, props, costumes, characters and storylines that can be understood within seconds, episodic skits, audience interaction, etc. There always seemed room for improvement to me, but we were successful enough to pass the Vegas test, and that's very telling.
Anyone who's been to Vegas has visited at least one casino, and has seen that despite the pandemonium all around, the restaurants overlooking the game floors manage to create an atmosphere of their own, a world within a world. The effect mostly relies on scenic art and lighting and such, but it's effective enough to draw in tourists from all over the world.
Once you have the audience's attention and imagination, they want to go further down the rabbit hole. Jeff McBride's Wonderground does an awesome job of bringing the audience into a world of magic and opening them to awe and wonder- two of the best emotions a performer, or spiritual leader, can evoke. It's all just a modern bear skin dance anyway, the tools of the Shaman...
And while the Fire Circle is always an influence on my life, AlternaCon is not an ideal place to attempt recreating that ritual. But I've learned other lessons that translate perfectly. Mountain Moon Circle liked to set up these installations that were dramatic interactions with spirit guides and such. They were awesome, but the context was wrong, I think. I had a hard time suspending my disbelief enough for full effectiveness because I was surrounded by very real spiritual energy of the fire and the acting seemed a comparative farce. But at an event focused on fantasy, throwing in a little unexpected real magic goes a long way.
I was also inspired by the teahouse that has become such a fire circle staple in Vegas. It's a place to retreat temporarily, to recharge while staying engaged. Fred always keeps a collection of fun objects to interact with and start conversations.
Drawing from these sources and more, I'm creating Madam Raveena's Curio and Tea Room. AlternaCon is a convention featuring comics, sci-fi, video games, RPGs, etc, so I decided to focus on my steampunk specialty for the event. To my luck, steampunk exploded in popularity in town since I made that choice. I had a vendor booth, but Brit (the even organizer) and I had been talking about a steampunk tea party off site. Since that didn't work out, I incorporated the party into my booth. Brit has been awesome, and gave me extra space and help.
My space is 28'x14', and Brit has a 10'x10' pop-up canopy for me. I have decor to spruce it up, and it will house a tea counter and business space for me. There will be a nice backdrop with some bookcases, where I will have various displays, including my jewelry and such for sale, and a couple not-for-sale collections, plus some interactive exhibits. The space not covered by the canopy will also have tables and seating and a small stage area.
Part of the goal is to be a LARP zone, and encourage others to play along. The premise is that my shop exists at an interdimentional crossroads, where it is frequented by many strange travellers. It occasionally manifests in different locations on Earth, but maintains doorways to other realms. Madam Raveena is a 19th century Spiritualist (or seems to be) with many secrets, and it is rumored she was once one of the Doctor's many companions. She tells fortunes and occasionally performs magic or music, but is mostly intended to be the archetypal magical guide who starts the Hero on their Journey.
Overall it's pretty simple, and while I'd like to make improvements but am restricted by finances, I think it will be successful. And I'm not gauging success by money, but by audience reception. Or by future opportunities to do what I love (and not break the bank...).
You can still donate to my Indiegogo fundraiser.
Thanks.
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