Ren Faire: RPFI: Working

How to Work Faire

Working faire is not particularly difficult so long as you are able to deal with really odd people in very unique situations, pretend that you are someone else, wear silly clothes, and talk in a silly accent.

Seriously though, you do need your own clothing, and you do need to be able to interact with people, and you do need to be able to dedicate over a months worth of weekends. If that all seems okay and you think you know what you're getting into then read on.

What Sorts of Jobs Are There?

Within the Renaissance Pleasure Faire there are three groups with which you could work.

Concessions is where you work for one of the places that sell things. This could be a gaming booth, a jewelry shop, a clothing shop, and the like. This also includes food booth excluding the ale stands which are run by the faire as a seperate entity.

Performing Arts covers a few different things. As a member of PAD you could be in a Guild, one of many groups who hold parades and do more interactive acting. You could be a dancer or an actor. Finally, you could become a performer (such as a musician, magician, or the like), who works as a solo entertainer.

Where Do I Start?

There are really two ways to become a Faire worker. You either have a friend introduce you to the person you need to speak with during Faire, or you attend the pre-Faire orientation meetings. These meetings start about a month before each run of faire. For guilds this is manditory, booths are allowed to slip a bit. The pre-Faire orientations are the best way to join Faire.

The Orientation

Find out when the orientation is happening by calling LHC. They often have one day set aside for concessions only workshops. This means a day of workshops geared towards concession workers. The specific requirements for concessions and PAD are very different and are addressed later in this document.

At the first morning of workshops, there is a general orientation at which you are given a presentation of what Faire is about and which Guilds exist, and generally whats expected of you if you're working at Faire. Then you are turned loose to try and find a job. The guilds take signups and then generally audition people. Booths are run at the booth owners discretion. There is generally a job board at the information booth at the Center of the World with notices of booths seeking workers.

Once you're signed up with someone, you take a series of workshops. The booths require 3 classes, and the Guilds require something like 9. Classes are given 3 per day on weekends. Guilds require more classes because in theory guild members have more interaction with the public and thus require more training.

Workshops

Some Workshops are required, and the remainder are electives. Some guilds may require additional classes. The required classes for concessions include:

There are many elective classes, some of which require you having other classes as prerequisites. Here is a short sample of other classes:

Meet and Greet (and how to harass people on the Street)
Songs of the Times
House and Hearth
Beginning Acting
Improv for Street and Stage
Why?

Costume Approval

Once you're in deep enough that you're taking classes, you are going to need your own costume. The sort of clothing you wear is determined by your position in society and your ethnicity. If you are trying to work for a middle class Guild, then you need middle class clothing. If you're trying to work Court, then you'll need special servant clothing. And if you like to drink a lot and roll about in the dirt, then you'll need peasant clothing. The costuming class talks a lot about whats needed and the guild you join will also know what they want you to wear. See Guilds for more information. See Costuming for much more information.

Concessions

Concessions is easy to explain. A booth owner runs some sort of booth selling some sort of service or item. These include games of skill and chance, all merchants, all food vendors, and ale stand workers. Some booth owners pay their employees, others provide food, others work on commission; there are few standards. To join a booth you contact the booth owner (you may need to speak with someone else to work for an ale stand as I think those are centralized). The hours you work depend on the booth; what you do depends on the booth.

Guilds

There are many different Guilds. Guilds typically are associated with an ethnicity (the scots, or the irish), an english social class (Court, middle class, peasants), or some special function (parades, the dance macabre, the washer women, etc). If you're trying to join a guild, then you would sign up at the guild's enrollment at orientation, or (if you're feeling particularly confident) talk to someone in the guild. You can get some idea of what the guild is about from their orientation presentation, but its always best to chat with someone in the guild about what they do to see if you'd fit in. For instance, you wouldn't want to sign up for the Irish guild if you had no intention of being Irish!

Booth workers can generally get away with a generic peasant outfit; guilds are much more strict about dress. As a member of a Clan or a Household, you have to fit in with the others, so be prepared to make (or have made) specific clothing for your position.