A note from our blues…

As we reach the peak of this (very Scottish) summer, we’re starting to turn attention to our next festivals. A key first step to that, as the Solstice passes and we head towards the year’s darker half, involves inviting new members to join the Blues. The Blues, as most of you know, are a year-round position at BFS, working closely with the Board and Event Coordinator to organise and guide our festivals. Blues hold the memories, tell the stories, and tend the rituals that have grown and continue to grow through each festival. We act as links and mediators from the past to the future, and between the Court, group organisers, and other participants, facilitating the interactions that make each festival both a new creation and repeated tradition. Blues stay in the role year-round, providing continuity from festival to festival. Following recent Blethers and discussions with the Board, we’ve agreed to aim for staggered two-year terms for Blues, filling vacancies as they arise to maintain a core of 3-5 Blues for each festival. During their terms, Blues can’t concurrently take on other festival roles (such as Court or GO, etc.) Blues are drawn from long-standing members, forming a collective with the knowledge, skills, and experience to guide each festival from Court selection to debrief, and with the commitment to link each festival to what comes before and afterwards. We’re very interested to see who the community would like to see in the role, and some of our recent Blues came to us through community nominations.  We’d therefore like to take this chance to invite you to send us your suggestions and nominations for who would make a good Blue. There are no hard-and-fast rules for what makes for a Blue, but we look for people who have a deep experience of our festivals and their rituals, and the skills to share that and to complement our team. In general, we expect that a Blue will:

• Have experience of both Beltane Fire Festival and the Samhuinn festival.
• Ideally, have been a Group Organiser at one or more of these festivals.
• Ideally, have been involved in at least one of the smaller events, such as Imbolc, Lughnasadh, Solstice, etc.
• Have demonstrated a solid understanding of the following areas through their involvement in BFS: group leadership, ritual/narrative, performance, communication skills, mediation, and a desire to ‘do more than is expected of them.’

For a more detailed list of the qualities that inform our selection, have a look here.

We’d like to hear your suggestions by Friday 28th June, to give us time to consider and select any new Blues before we begin the Samhuinn process in mid-July.

Please send your nominations – including self-nominations – to blues@beltane.org . All nominations will be kept confidential, but will be shared with the Board, who will remove any names that are deemed unsuitable against a pre-determined list of disqualifiers (see final section of this document for more details).

The current Blues will then select new Blues to be invited in, announcing them as they join the Samhuinn process.

If you have any questions or thoughts ~ about Blues, or anything else Festival-related ~ don’t be shy to drop us a line on blues@beltane.org, to arrange a chat or a pint.

Your Blues.

–

Photo by Neil Barton for Beltane Fire Society