THE INTERNATIONAL JUGGLERSʼ ASSOCIATION November 2011 IJA eNewsletter editor Don Lewis (email: [email protected]) Renew at http:www.juggle.org/renew IJA eNewsletter Get Ready For The IJAʼs New eZine Contents: IJA eZine Starting in January, the IJA will be producing an online IJA Publications IJA on Campus in 2013 magazine. A group of volunteers is feverishly working YEP at Camp Cope to ensure that the digital architecture is ready and that Stagecraft Corner a great stream of content will greet you in the new Rola Bola and Live! year. ATSA Festival 2011 Feeding the Inner Juggler Unlike traditional publishing, a digital magazine can Turbo Fest 2012 Regional Festivals add new articles at any time with “instant” delivery. Best Catches And you can easily search for older articles right online without having to thumb through a stack of old magazines, only to discover that you canʼt find the issue you really want. A truly great feature will be the possibility of forum-like Juggling Festivals: discussion related to each article. Youʼll be able to Leeds, UK comment right away and see what others have had to Waidhofen, Austria say. Quebec, QC, Canada North Goa, India This is a volunteer effort, and we want you to be a part Seattle, WA of it. You can submit articles about interesting things Madison, WI Sydney, Australia that are happening in your area. Or simply suggest Atlanta, GA subjects that you would like others to write about. Heerien, Netherlands St. Paul, MN Contact Scott Seltzer to help out: [email protected] Austin, TX Bath, UK Arcata, CA Bali, Indonesia Southend on Sea, UK Marion, IN IJA Festival 2012 Winston-Salem, NC July 16 - 22, 2012 Save the dates! WWW.JUGGLE.ORG Page 1 THE INTERNATIONAL JUGGLERSʼ ASSOCIATION November 2011 IJA Publications, by Don Lewis Last month Erin Stephens introduced the IJAʼs intention to reduction back to four issues per year from six just put off create an eZine, a volunteer-based publication that will be the inevitable. The difficult economy of the last few years available to members on the Internet. has reduced festival attendance, so we can no longer depend on festivals producing modest profits. JUGGLE Does that mean the end of JUGGLE as a printed magazine as an independently produced publication is now magazine? At the moment, yes, although the IJA is actively firmly beyond our means. investigating a return to print in some format when and if it becomes practical. If JUGGLE was such a financial drain and never drove an increase in membership, why did successive Boards vote The reality is that JUGGLE as an independently produced to continue publishing it? For many members, the magazine has never been an affordable proposition. It was publication was their only contact with the IJA. The IJA has introduced to replace Bill Giduzʼs mostly volunteer- always had a motivation to document juggling and a produced Jugglerʼs World when Bill retired from putting out magazine has been an good way to do that. A the magazine. The hope was that increased frequency professionally produced publication does provide a visible from four to six issues per year, independent production, level of credibility. We have long wondered whether the and the hope of newsstand sales would provide a boost in unknown cost of not having a publication would be greater membership to cover the increased costs of production. than the known cost of publication. That never happened. It actually cost more to produce JUGGLE than the IJA received in membership fees. In Times change and there are more cost effective methods of addition, the IJA no longer owned the copyright to articles providing quality content to our members on a regular published in the magazine. In later years, the Board basis. Most members have Internet access so we can now managed to reassert some control over the copyright issue, plan to provide a richer variety of content. Importantly, the but the situation was far from ideal. Much of our early IJA will once again be able to assert copyright on its own publication history from JUGGLE will probably never be publication. available for republication on our web site. Some of us think that it will be possible to create a printable The financial problem was finessed by using profits from version of the eZine in tabloid format at some time in the successful festivals to cover part of the cost of producing future. When printed on a digital press, folded and stapled, JUGGLE. The return to an all volunteer model for it would be much like a magazine. If that can be made to producing the festival also helped to reduce overall costs. work, it may eventually be offered through a third party However, production costs slowly increased and even a printer to those who want to pay for it. 2013 IJA Festival The year after next, the IJA festival will return to a college campus setting. For many years this market seemed to be closed to us. Recently, colleges and universities have become more interested in hosting special interest festivals like ours. Bowling Green State University, where the 2013 IJA fest will be held, has up-to-date athletic facilities and comfortable inexpensive dorm rooms. Meal plans for the week will be available, in addition to nearby restaurant facilities. For the first time in years, the IJA will be able to offer on-site camping with access to showers. Getting there will be easy by car via Interstate 75. The IJA will be running a shuttle bus to the Detroit airport during peak arrival and departure periods. Dates and contract terms are still being finalized. WWW.JUGGLE.ORG Page 2 THE INTERNATIONAL JUGGLERSʼ ASSOCIATION November 2011 YEP at Camp COPE, Ft. Riley, KS by Bob Neuman This was my second time to volunteer with Camp COPE. A cutter, I would fill with enough seed and my wife taped them non-profit that provides therapeutic intervention and activities shut (luckily this Wal-Mart had colored electrical tape). held at day long camps on military bases for the children of Lesson 4: It takes a lot more bird seed to add weight to the deployed, wounded or fallen military personnel – at no cost. ball than sand does. So, it took longer. Their motto is “Kids Serve Too.” Saturday morning we all caravanned from the hotel to Ft. This “camp” was held at Ft. Riley, KS. It is home to the 1st Riley, where Lesson 5 was learned: Not all the entrances/ infantry Division of the U.S. Army. This Division has seen a lot gates are open on the weekends. The one we used Friday of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. So, there was a real was closed. Luckily the liaison could direct us to an alternate need for the camp to be there. entrance and the school, which was great because…Lesson We arrived Friday afternoon to set up for the camp. This time 6: GPS isnʼt very good on military bases (donʼt ask me why – we were located in a middle school on the base. While it was it just isnʼt). an older school than the previous one Iʼd attended – I had the There were a LOT more “campers,” which made for a lot luxury of using a real gym! No problems with low ceilings or more groups (11) and a very wide range of ages (4-17). But lights. the campers are grouped by age. I thought I was in good shape with the 300 balls (sand-filled For the very young (4-8) I did a juggling demo (balls, rings, Wal-Mart play balls sealed with colored electrical tape). At the clubs & tennis balls & can) and made them balloon animals. last camp I was told to expect about 100 attendees – but only My knot tying finger was pretty sore by the end. * Balloon about 35 attended. So, when I heard that 150 might attend rules: there is some “dead time” for me at least when twisting this one, I assumed thereʼd be less of a turnout. I was dead 11+ balloons, so I try and have some “patter.” They donʼt get wrong! Lesson 1: Bring way more than needed (I give them a choice of color (but trying not to give black to girls or pink to to the campers when we are done and couldnʼt leave anyone boys) and they all get dogs – and “the balloon decides what short). kind of dog as I twist it” – in other words, no requests. There were 130 campers. So, Friday night I dragged my The older kids get a shorter demo (just balls, clubs & tennis patient wife (who is a counselor with Camp COPE) to the balls & can). At the last camp I could proceed at a very nearby Wal-Mart in search of “ball making” supplies. leisurely pace with my presentation – but here I had to learn Everything was fine until it came to filler. There isnʼt much to “move it along.” Then I let them pick out the balls they need for “play” sand in the winter in Kansas. I settled for bird want, which are in an open storage bin. Lesson 7: kids are seed. fickle – theyʼll keep going back to switch colors – so close the Lessons 2 & 3: If you use bird seed it can be expensive (feed bin after everyone has 3! Also, there are always a couple that for Finches in particular…go figure) and it has larger “feed” canʼt decide on which colors….set a time limit (and make pieces in it – especially wild bird feed (it would probably get them line up single file to pick otherwise – chaos)! stuck even in the auto oil funnel I bought).