Officer Status of the Event Steward

The SCA Frequently Asked Questions states on page 46 that an Event Steward is considered an officer of the SCA from the time they are appointed an Event Steward until all of the post event paperwork is submitted to the appropriate officers. Because of this, all Event Stewards must be paid members of the SCA for that duration.

Becoming an SCA Member

If you are not a member, but are interested in being an Event Steward, there are several ways to become a member:

The SCA Membership Form can be found on the official SCA website. This form can be printed and mailed with a check or money order.
Membership can also be purchased online (using Visa or Mastercard only) at the main SCA website.
Membership forms are usually included in the Southwind as the center page. You can ask a member in your group if you can have, or photocopy, this page.
Your group's Seneschal or Hospitaler / Gold Key officer should also have copies of the SCA membership forms, or copies of the Southwind with the form included.

Note that Lex Atenveldtus specifies that no one can hold two warranted officer positions at the same time (section III. A. 2. e. 3. and IV. A. 2. c. 2.). An Event Steward is not a warranted office, so the restriction in Lex does not apply to Event Stewards. A warranted officer can be an Event Steward and vice versa.

Contracts

Only a Seneschal can sign legal contracts that bind the SCA legally or financially. This means that the Seneschal of the hosting group must sign any contracts required by the event site owners or any other company a contract may need to be signed with (ie: port-a-john companies, shuttle services, etc). If an Event Steward signs any contracts, it still must also be countersigned by a Seneschal. See page 85 of SCA Frequently Asked Questions for further details.

Insurance

Not all sites will require proof of SCA insurance; make sure to ask when booking the site. It can cause a lot of trouble, and cost extra money, if you don't find out ahead of time. It has happened that at the last minute a site asked for the insurance that they forgot to mention earlier. It is best to ask to prevent this unexpected problem from coming up. Please see the Insurancepage for additional information.

Who is Responsible at an Event?

According to SCA Frequently Asked Questions, page 62, the Event Steward has primary responsibility for their event. Then the local Seneschal, the Senior Seneschal present, the Crown (if present), and then the territorial Baron/Baroness. If the issue concerns fighting, the local Knight Marshal and then the senior Marshal would have jurisdiction.

The Event Steward must stay in attendance for the duration of the event and there must be at least one appropriately-warranted Marshal in attendance during fighting activities. The complete wording can be found in SCA Corpora, section II D, "Individuals in Charge of Events" on page 4.

What NOT to Do at an Event

Alcohol: The SCA has provided clear guidelines for alcohol at events. If you have any questions about alcohol, refer to the SCA Corporate Policy, section VIII, and the SCA Frequently Asked Questions, pages 82-83.; Basically: manufacturing, distributing, selling, serving, or furnishing of alcoholic beverages by the SCA is prohibited. These activities can be done (in accordance with mundane law) by individuals but not by officers, or groups, acting in an official capacity.

Make sure to always follow any alcohol restrictions / requirements by the site owners!!

Fire Arts: As per the Seneschal's Handbook Section IX, "Fire Arts" (ie: flame throwing, flaming batons, etc) is NOT an activity sanctioned by the SCA, therefore it will NOT be covered by any SCA insurance.

If Things go Wrong

If a breach of mundane law is brought to the attention of the Event Steward, the mundane authorities must be contacted. The SCA is an educational organization, not a law enforcement agency. In case of such an occurrence, the Event Steward is required to submit a written report to the Kingdom Seneschal as soon as possible. Include as much detail as possible about the incident, the people involved, what actions were taken, what law enforcement agency was called in, if a police report was filed, and if so, the names of the officers involved, and the report number if possible. This information must also be included in your final Event Report. A copy of this must be sent to the Kingdom Seneschal (regardless of the level of the event) within 30 days following the event.

If a minor is involved in an illegal activity, or any activity that requires the intervention of event personnel, refer to the Atenveldt Policy for Addressing Transgressions by Minors.

In cases where the activities at an event are contrary to SCA policy, the SCA Corpora (Section II. E. - Duty to Enforce Requirements) and the SCA Frequently Asked Questions (page 63) say that the Event Steward, or the senior Seneschal present, can shut down an event (ie, pull the SCA sanction of the event) if they deem necessary. The senior Marshal present can shut down (ie, pull the SCA sanction of) any fighting activities if they deem necessary. However, this is an extreme move and should be carefully considered before doing so. Usually this action is reserved for situations in which continuing the event, or fighting activity, would present a danger to the populace, or would pose a violation of mundane laws. This should only be used after all other avenues to correct the problem has been explored and exhausted. A complete report must be included in the post event report and submitted within 30 days.

Submitting Additional Information

If you would like to submit some advice or additional information, please submit it here