The Gems of There

inoit_sowell

 

By NigelBlackthorne

 

There are a number of very special Thereians who have selflessly given of themselves over the course of time to make There the great place that it is. We at The Voice like to refer to them as the Gems of There.  One of those numbers is inoit_sowell (pronounced I Know It So Well), who almost a year ago started the There Talent Agency, to promote the performing arts in There.  Over the course of the last 12 months, she has led a number of clubs under the banner of the There Talent Agency to perform at a myriad of events, including the popular Open Mic events.

She explained the origins of the There Talent Agency (TTA), “I started the TTA at the end of last year. I had seen some people performing for their friends around There and thought it would be great to get a pool of these talented people and to showcase them for other Thereians. The TTA also gives those that want to perform and not deal with the "other stuff" a place to go.

After being involved with the TTA for almost a year now, I find it to be very rewarding to see the performers grow, both personally and professionally. One performer was so shy at first that she barely wanted to get on stage. Now she is considering pursuing her dream of singing in real life. It is great to see that this virtual gateway can open up doors in people’s lives.”

If you’ve attended one of the TTA Open Mic nights, you realize the difficulties in running such an event.  Some performers are good, some are great and some…well, you can at least appreciate their effort and courage to perform in front of a group.  There are singers and musicians, people reading poems and prose and some even telling jokes. Through all the events, inoit is always organized, kind, generous and tolerant.

Even before beginning the There Talent Agency, inoit was involved in organizing events for the benefit of her fellow Thereians.   “When I first started to host events, I did a weekly scavenger hunt game (beta)... long before things had to be dropped in a PAZ... I just wanted to provide some fun things for Thereians to do that were not the same as what everyone else was doing. Then There changed their dropping policy, so scavenger hunt was put to the side. I tried a few other games, but the turn outs were pretty low at the time all I had was the event listing in ThereCentral for my advertisement.

After I started the TTA, we began a bi-weekly Open Mic Night - we now hold them weekly. Of course various performances, concerts, etc. Now our group sponsors themed events, concerts, entertainer placement, event management, games, etc. We are a pretty versatile group with over 100 members. Recently we sponsored the Spooktacular Weekend and are gearing up for Mystery Weekend.”

I asked inoit, what she found the most rewarding activity that she has been
involved with?

“Just being involved with so many talented people has been the most rewarding. There has allowed me to bring together some wonderful talent from all over the world. How many opportunities can bring you this without all the hassle of a "real job."

The TTA is always looking ahead and planning events off in the future.  inoit explained, “We are planning more themed events for the next year as well as annual repeats of some favorites...yes there will be another Rotten Week :P The Theatre Troupe is working on next years productions.  We are working on putting together concert events for our performers. We try to do at least one event per sponsored theme event held through other groups. I really think it is important that we all support one another to help keep the people in There and get them to come There as well. I get requests for performers constantly, so I am sure that the TTA presence will be seen in lots of other events as well.”

We can all think of things that we would change about there if we had the chance and inoit is no exception.  I asked her what she would change about There if she was able and she said, “ANYTHING?!?! LOL There are many things about There that could be improved upon. I also see many ways in which There does not retain its members and I would think that retention would be their number one priority.

But, on a personal note, there are many changes that as an event host, focused primarily on the entertainment industry that I would like to see. Ways to decrease lag issues for high traffic events... tools that would assist event hosts in a seamless manner... various zones for "specific" venues... the co-hosting bug fixed... and my list goes on and on. 

Akin to real life, I do feel that the arts are vastly looked over by other things. Arts are an important part of any community but can become expensive. For example, the TTA Theatre Troupe put on some skits last spring, the cost for the sets and costumes (most gotten at wholesale) was around 75,000T$. If it were not for some sizable contributions from individuals and groups, some of our events would have been cancelled or done on a lesser scale. There's event team really tries hard to help hosts out as much as they can, perhaps a grant system could be put in place that would help There help us and us help There.”

Without the time, effort, leadership and resources provided by people like inoit_sowell, There would be far less than it is.  The Voice salutes inoit for her great contributions to our community and encourages Thereians to help support the work of the TTA.  You can find the club link here.  She is truly one of the Gems of There.