Template:Article of the Week

What is the Amtgard Sister Cities Project? In the mundane world, when two cities call each other "sister cities", they are committed to cultural exchange on a professional level. In Amtgard, we often overlook the concept of cultural exchange. It may be common practice to send support to new chapters in your region, to help them grow, but those Amtgard chapters, once established and tenured, often are left to their own devices while we seek out the next new park to sponsor. The Amtgard Sister Cities project is a new program through which we can enrich our local cultures by sponsoring a distant, unfamiliar park, and in turn being sponsored by them. After your park signs up, it is paired with another group from another kingdom, far away geographically- this is your "Sister Chapter". Your park and its sister chapter then exchange a series of care packages through the mail, containing all kinds of neat things which could be new and useful to either chapter. Is your group tired of those old guard tunics? Send them away, far away, to another place, where they can be used as new and exciting loaner garb. Maybe your park has a rich sampling of a certain weapon technology, or some new cutting edge standard for garb, and you want to show it all to people who have not yet experienced any of it. There are many options, but the bottom line is this: if your park is feeling a bit stale lately, or you want to brighten the experience of Amtgarders across the nation, this program is for you.

If your park is interested in signing up, there are only two things you need to do. First, you will need a representative- somebody to coordinate the greater project details, relay information between you and your sister chapter, and ultimately be responsible for sending off any packages you want delivered. Second, your rep needs to throw in your hat on the Electric Samurai(thread here: viewtopic.php?f=48&t=24227&start=0). When you sign up, provide your park's name, it's physical location, and identify the name of your rep(and how we can reach them if it's somebody not on Esam).

Sign-ups will be open for several weeks still- until May 14th. On Sunday, May 15th, we'll start pairing off parks; whoever you receive is your Sister Chapter for the year of 2011. You will be notified of where your sister chapter is, and have the chance to exchange contact information. From there, the light is green, start working locally with your own Amtgard chapter. Begin the cultural exchange!

Your group will be obligated to send at least one care package to its sister chapter. Care packages should contain Amtgard-related items, such as garb, weapons, banners, armor, awards/templates, battlegame writeups, or anything else you want to send that you feel is appropriate. You are not limited in how much you can send, and, in fact, if you want to compete to be the park that sends the most to its sister chapter, that's probably a good idea; now is the time to show off your ability to make cool things! Not everything has to be new, either, feel free to send a mix of new items and old ones, and you can even send stuff with your own group's heraldry on it; this is a cultural exchange program, after all. You should send off your package no later than the 1st of September, but by all means feel free to send early, and you are certainly allowed to continue sending even more stuff as the year continues. If you really wanted to excel, find a way to visit one of your sister chapter's events, and see if you can coordinate with your sister chapter to do some kind of swap.

When you receive your care package in the mail, you need to take pictures and/or video of it. Footage of it being used at the park is the best. We are all interested in seeing what you receive!

I hope everybody has a lot of fun with this! If you are interested in discussing the project or its parts, there is a discussion thread on Esam. Also, forward this to as many mailing lists and forums within Amtgard as you can; the more parks we have signed up, the better the results.

-Lurker of Pegasus Valley, in Dragonspine