Committees and Teams

"All life is an experiment. 
The more experiments you make the better."
---- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Teams are short-term groups focused on 1 project; 
committees are more continuous, with 1 year terms for the chair. 
You may join a team or committee at any time in its cycle.

Our current standing committees 
and their pro temp job descriptions are:

Sacred Space Committee
 
 Manage set up and tear down
 Inventory and store properties
 Design and create storage solutions
 Collaborate with Ritual Committee to create props.
 

Ritual Committee

Dance                      Ritual Crafts 
Choir                        Set-up Crew
Aesthetics              Ritual Teams
Research                 Decorations

Finance Committee

Fundraising        
Oversight on special events: fairs, concerts, dances 
Crafts for resale
Coffee House Nights

Technical Services

ezine publishing
data base management
support services for committees
development
providing equipment & support for members

Outreach

posting notices online
PR research 
Correspondence
Distributing posters
Staffing CUUPS table at events

Publications

write articles
research
edit ezine

Camps & Retreats

Plan camping events.
Coordinate with Outreach.
Manage registration.
Coordinate on site.

Faires
  
   create advertisements 
   identify vendors
   produce programs
   identify, assign, and thank volunteers

Minimum Time Requirement:  
5 hours a month to be on the committee; we also welcome help on an occasional basis if you can't commit to attending a monthly committee meeting. The Chair is also on the board and could expect to spend 10 hours a month in this position.

Minimum Time Commitment: 
5 hours a month at your home; meetings will take place mostly by phone & email. 

Minimum Time Commitment: 
Monthly meetings, phone & email totaling an average of 5 hours a month.

Ideally, the Committee on Worship will include members of each team, and one rep from the 3 choirs: (drummers, singers, and dancers.)

Mission: Responsible for planning and producing rituals.  Coordinate with ritual team/s and auxiliaries (folks who help out with decorations, etc. but neither want to attend meetings nor perform in public.)

Tasks: 

Commitments Involved: 

To be on the committee, attend 1 meeting a month.

To be on a ritual team, you need to attend at least 1 meeting and the rehearsal prior to the ritual. Music and Dance teams plan their own practices, but need to attend the rehearsal prior to the ritual. To serve in the auxiliary, you decide what you can do for any given festival.

The following TEAMS 
work with the Committee on Worship:

Drummers, Singers and Dancers are especially needed to help make the magick! Members of these groups do NOT have to attend the ritual meetings, but practice together in their homes at mutually agreeable times. Rehearsal for all the teams together is generally on site a day or two before the ritual. 

Choir Members Sought We have a great piano and lots of original Pagan music!  We're looking for a choir director, but most of all we are looking for singers for the Second Chants Choir!  If you like to sing, we'd love to have you join us twice a month to have fun and learn new Pagan music. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE ABLE TO READ MUSIC; training CDs/tapes are created for members of the choir. If folks already know the music, we can manage with only 2 or 3 rehearsals for each festival. For more info, contact Christa

Drumming group is coordinated by Mark Lopez. If all you have to practice on is an oatmeal box, we can provide instruments. For more info contact Christa.

Dancing group is looking for dancers, folks who would LIKE to be dancers, and a cheerful coordinator who wouldn't have to be the coach/choreographer, but we need one of those too!  (In the meantime, Christa has been carrying on, but is eager to pass this role on to someone more able!) Otherwise, we're having fun, trying new things, and at least amusing the Gods with our audacity! ;-) We have been slowly expanding our repertoire to include elements of square dancing, Sufi dancing, and other folk styles.

Youths and Maidens: 
For 'tweens and teens!  Learn the arts of ritual and help to make the festivals happen.  Attendance at rehearsals strongly encouraged.

Ritual Crafts Group  
is being formed to make banners, decorations, robes, tabards, special table cloths for exhibits, etc. If you can sew a strait seam, we can use your help. Also, if you are a weaver, wood-worker or master glue-gunner, you can help make our events ever more delightful to the eye, and engaging all the senses. This is another kind of work YOU CAN DO AT HOME without attending meetings. All ages welcome!

Ritual Team Seeking Members! 
Our goal is to produce excellent, participatory rituals. A ritual team is a short-term group composed of 6-11 people who work together to plan and lead a ritual for the CUUPS chapter.  When you join a team, you commit yourself to attending 3 meetings to plan and 1 night to rehearse, as well as attending the ritual itself. These all take place at First Unitarian Society. Most folks find they want to do many festivals, but your commitment is only for one at a time. (The Committee on Worship provides coordination and continuity, the list-serve, access to ritual props, and coordination with the rest of CUUPS Twin Cities.)

You DON'T have to have ritual experience to join a team.  Members of the ritual teams have an opportunity to learn by doing, and are guaranteed a place in the Ritual in Theory and Practice  courses (and work scholarships if needed.) 

Planning sessions generally take place at FUS (see calendar at top of page.) Subgroups may also meet to practice or work on projects in members homes,  scheduled to fit availability. If you would like to be part of this or future teams, email your request to to subscribe to one the list-serve for members.

See Pagan Institute Curricula page for descriptions of Ritual in Theory and Practice classes. Full info with dates can be found on the Public Pagan Events Section under CUUPS Educational Programs

The Ritual Teams are supported by an emerging group of musicians, singers, and drummers and inclusion in a private list-serve to facilitate communication and avoid duplication of effort.  

Auxiliary functions/NO MEETINGS REQUIRED; just email su. 

	Aesthetics: making decorations, costumes, talismans, etc. that requires some artistic inclinations and taste.
	Drummers: drummers may arrange to practice as convenient to them.
	Dancers who will learn simple folk dances for ritual. Want to dance for next seasonal ritual? email Christa and put "dancer" in the subject. We also have a Morris Dancing coach who wants to establish a Pagan Morris troupe for ritual dancing. See Morris Dance note elsewhere on this page.

Set up, decorating, and tear down crew (NO meetings! Just sign up to come early or stay late the day of the ritual. Contact Tom.