Tim’s Festival Hiring Credo

The following post is the work of my friends Tim Rosa and Donna D’Ignazio, both long time working participants of the Renaissance Festival industry. We were discussing tips and tricks to hiring good help at festivals, and they shared with me their favorite hiring tool. I’ve included their Preamble … which kind of makes this… Continue reading Tim’s Festival Hiring Credo

The Velvet Cage

Editor’s note: This week we have a post by our friend John Davis. He’s one of many friends who have utilized their festival experience to build other exciting careers. His motivational speeches are highly sought after in the corporate world, and we are very happy to have him as part of the Festival Prose team.… Continue reading The Velvet Cage

Summer Job Lady

This post originally appeared on my personal blog, but just this week I was having a conversation with a Crafter about hiring good help, and the choice to become a mentor. Many many people have their first job experience at an outdoor festival or theme park. It is something we need to remember as the… Continue reading Summer Job Lady

So You Want to Work at a Renaissance Festival, part two

So you want to work at the Renaissance Festival?   This column is the finale of a two part series on the wonderful world of Renaissance Festival Employment. The first installment described the stalwart staff of the Crafts, Foodservice, and Gaming divisions. Today we take on the Prima Donnas; The Entertainers.   Are you a show-off? Do you like playing dress-up? Are… Continue reading So You Want to Work at a Renaissance Festival, part two

So You Want to Work at a Renaissance Festival, part one

For my second outing as guest writer for the amazing Rhonni D’s blog, I thought I’d answer yet another question that I hear frequently in my life as a touring Renaissance Festival professional  People often ask me how they should go about “running away and joining the circus” that is the Renaissance Festival. I am… Continue reading So You Want to Work at a Renaissance Festival, part one

Building Improv Chops as a Street Character

Renaissance Faires differ from other festivals and events in that they promise to transport visitors to a completely different time and place. That’s a mighty big promise. And every participant—volunteer or paid, mead wench or jouster, carpenter or manager, ticket seller or royal piper—is responsible for helping to keep it. Yet one group in particular,… Continue reading Building Improv Chops as a Street Character

Know what race you are running, and who your competitors are.

One of the first “Industry Truths” I was taught about Renaissance Festivals was this: There are 3 types of people who travel and work Renaissance Festivals. People who have a business that works at Renaissance Festivals. (This includes artists who lean toward costume elements, or pewter figurines, or astrolabes; and service providers who have created… Continue reading Know what race you are running, and who your competitors are.

my favorite baker

Just because it makes me happy … One of my favorite photos from the fall show:   Vandal works for me during the Texas Renaissance Festival. I snapped this photo one morning while he was ‘bumping’ the mixer, in order to incorporate all of the flour for the Cinnamon Squealers without making a huge mess.… Continue reading my favorite baker