Sometimes it can be hard for MoAS officers to find people to teach at small scholas or a local A&S workshop night. Often, officers will try to put out a general call for volunteers to teach, saying something like, “we are looking for a volunteer to teach x” or “we’d love people to teach classes at X workshop.” However, these types of requests are often met with silence, which can be discouraging.
On the other hand, many local MoAS officers over the years have found that if you ask a specific person directly to teach, that they quite often get yes for an answer. So, if you are having trouble finding teachers, try asking someone to teach directly in person, or call them, or send them an email or Facebook message with a specific request. Many times artisans will not respond to a general request to teach, either because they did not notice your message, forgot to respond, or even perhaps because they feel that they are not experienced enough to teach. As a result, asking directly (while also making sure to not to pressure the artist, or imply that teaching group classes is required) can make it clear that you are interested in them and what they have to offer.
Local MoAS officers have also found over the years that it can help your recruitment efforts to give the person you are asking some concrete information, such as a few potential dates/times, an idea of how many people to expect, an idea about of what specific things you’d like them to teach (although this is usually flexible), and the level of expertise anticipated in the group.
Now, if you are looking for someone who teaches a certain skill, and are not sure where to find them, try reaching out to others in your group, region, or throughout the kingdom to see if someone else might know of a willing teacher (also, make sure to reach out to other local MoAS officers).
As a local MoAS officer, it might also be worthwhile keeping an informal list of artisans in your group or other nearby groups that might be able to teach. Note artisans who are entering local A&S competitions, artisans who are teaching classes at other events, or artisans you simply see doing art on their own at an event.
As you do schedule workshops, asking people to “pre-register” for the lesson might increase the likelihood that they will attend, because they have made a commitment to do so. Also, don’t be afraid to let the teacher charge a small materials fee, depending on the class. Doing something like this can make it easier for people to teach exciting and interactive hands-on classes.
Finally, to help with this issue, a “teaching” category has been added to the A&S Wiki Categories on the East Kingdom Wiki. We hope that as artisans add this tag to their profile, that this will be a tool to help MoAS offices and class coordinators find teachers. In your outreach to your local group, please make sure that your local artisans and teachers know about this category, and the EK A&S Wiki Categories in general.
Thank you,
-Lissa (MoAS)