SOS Campaign Speech

Written by ina on Sunday, 23 of November , 2008 at 12:20 pm

On Nov 21st, I gave this speech to officially open  the SL Shakespeare Company’s SOS Campaign.

 

Thank you to the precious few of you who are here at the Globe, despite the fact that it’s not a show-show today, but the opening event of our most desperate attempt at fundraising. Yes, that’s right, the purpose and show of this event is solely to ask you for money. We are bringing our semi-notorious donation spiels that end each show to the maximum level, giving them the ultimate spotlight. I give you fair warning!—Just kidding actually;-P

But, today though, I’m sorry to say that we are in a very desperate state. Many of you are probably aware that there are hundreds of other sims on Second Life that are closing down this winter, the bright lights of this vast sea of this metaverse grid quickly going dark, an island at a time. And, the reasons are far and many, but for us—the one that may snuff out our lights—it has to do with paying tier—the requisite monthly fees due to Linden Lab to pay for just the land of the islands that hosts this most historically accurate replica of the Globe Theatre on the Internet, and also its supporting projects.

A year ago, I spent the precious little funds I have as an independent scholar on purchasing the sims. I have also spent the past year of my sabbatical developing these sims in hopes of creating some high quality literary and artistic content in Second Life, and also with the hopes that these sims would become self-sufficient, through grants, by themselves, or through other support. For my Second Life endeavors, I have thus far been unable to get any external grants, and to make things even more interesting, I have also failed both times at getting internal grants within SL. But, many others are getting grants for their projects—especially those in the UK and Australia. And perhaps, because I have been too immersed in the creation aspect, I do not yet have a grasp of the significance of the project that many of you here clearly see. You are all welcome to apply on our behalf to any grants.

Many have criticized our endeavors as wasteful, meaningless, and limited. Our medium is interdisciplinary and yet unconfined—not quite art, and not quite theatre, and doesn’t actually “exist”: the National Endowments for the Arts has said to us—they may fund us after they’ve funded all the physical theatres. Similarly, the National Endowment for the Humanities does not believe that Shakespearean theatre needs to be digitized in live 3d in the extravagant way that has become both our tradition and trademark, nor do they believe that such measures can be appreciated by the limited Second Life audience. The MacArthur Foundation has ignored us since that other guy’s “Shakespeare World” (removed from Second Life to the platform that supports Neverwinter Nights) became a publicized failure and misuse of funding—enough funding that could sustain us for decades at our current penurious rates. Private investors seem fettered with beliefs that Second Life is limited to “sex, gambling, and rampant materialism”—and Shakespearean double entendres are perhaps too difficult for them to grok.

But, what are we really doing here? Are we creating art, are we making history, are we doing world-class cutting-edge research? Are we doing all of the above, and more? I think you believe we are. I believe in you! Many of you have spoken to us—a clear indication that we have reached you, and made a difference in your life. And, it is simply heartwarming to find out how we’ve reached you: To the urban soul who told me he saw his first Shakespearean play performed live while on a public library computer in the city, I thank you. To the thespian who lived in the middle of nowhere, who’d painfully thought he’d necessarily sacrificed theatre in his move, but found us, I thank you. To the avatar who had been driven to a dark corner and about to delete his account and leave SL forever, but dropped by one of our shows and decided to stay, I thank you.

Perhaps the greatest thing that has evolved from our endeavors is that it has become a truly humanitarian cause that we are fighting for—to bring theatre to the farthest reaches of the world, to give Shakespeare to those who would not have had the chance to experience his words in the live and intimate form they were written for, to use this nascent medium to bring the most quintessential culture to the metaverse and beyond.

Our goal is to create good within Second Life for the world to thrive from—because it is possible. We have been doing it, and we want to continue doing it, but we won’t be able to if we become homeless—we would have neither the energy or the base to go from.

I’m asking for your help in telling people about our endeavors and our current danger. We are in dire need of your spare change, and that of the masses whose lives we have made a difference in, as well as those we will reach.

Great things like this don’t happen very often. We are trying to raise a very small amount of money—only about $5000 US dollars—and not keeping any of it; all will go towards paying Linden Lab, the company that owns Second Life, for the island sims so that we can continue our endeavors.  The RL granting agencies and investors do not see potential for the arts like this to thrive on SL… so we can only ask you—the residents of Second Life—for help.

You are our last hope. If you can’t help us, then I’m afraid to say we are truly lost.

 

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