Culture (almost) End of Term Report

[St George]

Culture (almost) End of Term Report​

We’re keeping the goddamn seal.

It’s been an interesting term - with some successes, a few failures and missteps, but overall, I think it’s undeniable that in trying circumstances, we’ve come out of it on the other side in better shape than we were at the start of the term.

Here’s a recap of the goals I laid out in January:

• Activity and Visibility: Culture has felt largely invisible for a while now, only coming alive when the Lennarts started, or when Theme Thursdays happened. We want to change that and this term we are going to be a lot more active in a much more visible way.
• Reform, Revamp, Regrow: There's some stuff that Culture is responsible for that's either out of date, fallen into decline or just needs some attention. Firstly, the Roleplay dispatch put out by TNL needs updating and overhauling. Secondly, the Games server is a massive opportunity for growth and activity that we're really letting just fall by the wayside. We can do a lot with it, with some work. There's more in this area to come too.
• Making YOU the Center of What We Do: A lot of culture stuff in the past has been top down and for the most not overly successful, so we want you to be more involved in what it is we do and what we focus on. We'll still have events with and without our regional partners going on and be fulfilling our brief with regards to that, but at the same time we can also be catering to you guys with contests, mini-events, games, and just general interaction.
• Making Stuff Bigger: Whether it's Theme Thursdays, ongoing collaboration with other ministries or even just the size of the ministry, Culture is having a growth spurt this term.
• Events: Watch. This. Space.

These were the goals I laid out and I’d like to think we’ve achieved most of them. Theme Thursday made its way to the RMB for the first time, RP matters have made up much of the Ministry of Radio’s content this term, we’ve been more visible in the work we do and each day that passes the games server shows itself to be a more active, more vibrant place. There is more work to do in all of these categories, but we’ve had a number of successful beginnings in each area that provide a foundation for further success in the future.

We’ve run several competitions, ensured Theme Thursdays happened everything week (and mostly on my arbitrary time schedule), and most recently celebrated Flag Day, one of our holidays. Whilst that last one didn’t go off entirely smoothly, in general it was a fun event that saw a lot of engagement. We need to review this event and figure out how to better deal with the issues that cropped up.

In terms of other events, we had areas for us at both the Nationstates Grand Exhibition and the United Regions Alliance Global Showcase and I was impressed with our turnout at both - and the people from the regions that attended both reacted incredibly well to our pet parade, which will shortly be immortalised in the stella Polaris subforum of the Community Center.

We started the task of bringing up the University to the standards we want to be setting. Newly renamed to the Community Center, the CC is providing daily content in the On This Day topic, whilst Wonderess and Marcus Antonius in particular continue to provide engaging and interesting content. We want to build on this and will be putting effort into that for the rest of this term.

I’d like to thank all the Deputy Ministers that served this term, as well as everyone who has contributed to Culture projects, the competitions, Theme Thursdays, events and even just in the brain storming and suggestion sessions we engage in. All of you have contributed in your own way and the work the ministry has done this term wouldn’t be possible without you.

Going forward, whilst I hope to continue in the role I’ve held this term, whoever holds this office in the next term will have a solid foundation to build upon. We have set the stage for greater work in the future.