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INTERNATIONAL SHAW
SOCIETY |
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WHY
and HOW TO JOIN: |
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You
can read the sections below on “Here’s Why to Join” and “Benefits of
Membership” first or you can click here to
go directly to a membership form printable on one page. |
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The
International Shaw Society, "the ISS," was founded in 2004 for the
purpose of keeping George Bernard Shaw talking, his favorite thing, even though
he's been dead since 1950. The acronym “ISS” emphasizes Shaw’s continuing
presence, his “issness,” in the contemporary world,
if only as a talkative spirit with very relevant things to say, and said in a
way that’s rare in its relative sanity, humanity, and civilizing good
humor. If you like humor of the
hyperbolic and ironic sort, “smiling comedy,” as he called it, Shaw is your
man.
What keeps
a dead author alive? While alive, Shaw was of the opinion that it was
"sedulous self-advertisement" that kept him going and that the only
bad publicity was an obituary (unless you wrote it yourself). But
Shaw's afterlife on earth now depends on theater productions and discussion of
his life and works, and that’s where the ISS comes in. Likely to meet anywhere in the world and
global in its online reach, the ISS now has members in fifteen countries, on
five continents, and grows apace, about half academics and the rest theater
artists or just Shavian enthusiasts. The ISS invites you to join in the fun and
enlightenment of seeing and reading Shaw's plays and discussing the author and
his works. Discussion was this vegetarian’s “meat.”
BENEFITS OF ISS MEMBERSHIP – 2015
Membership in the ISS brings many benefits, but one of the
chief benefits comes from providing to the ISS tax-deductible funds that can be
used to support the sponsoring of Shaw conferences, symposia, sessions, and
seminars and the giving of travel grants to emerging scholars (including
“late-bloomers”) to attend such events.
In this way your regard and enthusiasm for Shaw can best be passed on.
Please be as generous as you can in choosing your level of membership (see membership form). And there will be special wings for you if you
remember the ISS in your will! For all
gifts, the Recording Shaw will write your name in the Book of Life.
List of Benefits
v With paid membership, the option of a
substantially discounted subscription to the bi-annual journal SHAW,
which also brings online access through JSTOR. Generally, it is published in June and
December. See www.psupress.org/Journals/jnls_shaw.html.
v Also the
option of a discounted subscription to The
Shavian, produced by and including membership to the UK Shaw Society.
v Eligibility for and opportunity to contribute to
whatever travel and research grants the ISS offers to the young to encourage
the study of Shaw and his circle.
v A discount of at least $25 on the registration fee for
specified ISS conferences & other selected ISS events.
v A conference
discount on the University Press of Florida Shaw Series books. A form will be
emailed to members when this occurs, but you can also go to http://www.upf.com and search
under author and title.
v Members will be notified whenever a special discount
is being offered by the University of Toronto Press on the Shaw Correspondence
Series. There is a 25% discount on online orders at www.utppublishing.com/
search.php?mode=search&sby_series=Selected%20Correspondence%20of%20Bernard%20Shaw.
v Members will be
notified whenever a discount is being offered by Palgrave Macmillan in
the
“Shaw and His Contemporaries” series. See
http://www.palgrave.com/us/series/14785.
v Access to the ISS website at www.shawsociety.org, a
homepage that will keep everyone informed of relevant activities and provide links to valuable research tools, such as bibliographies,
chronologies, and databases. Access to a members’ page (by password only)
where more private information is linked.
v The latest news on Shaw doings via email and
newsletters—such as upcoming conferences, symposia, and other meetings; theater
and book notices; theater and book reviews; editorials; and much more. Serves
as a listserv that invites participation, via Webmaster’s email from
dietrich@shawsociety.org. And the ISS
homepage leads you to many links that encourage interaction.
v The right to vote in ISS elections and referendums and
the right to hold elected and appointed office and to serve on committees.
ISS
SCHOLARSHIPS, GRANTS, & PRIZES
As one of the principal goals of the
ISS is to encourage younger generations to experience the delights of reading
and seeing Shaw's works and participating in the discussion of them, the ISS
offers a generous program of support in the form of scholarships and grants
most of which are allied with particular events, such as symposia and
conferences. To that end, in fifteen years seventy-nine young scholars have
been awarded ninety-nine ISS Travel Grants to attend the annual Symposia at the
Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Chicago Symposiums in 2010 and
2013 co-sponsored by the ShawChicago Theater Company, and the Shaw Conferences
in 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2017, respectively at the University
of South Florida, Brown University, Catholic University of America, the
University of Guelph (Canada), University College Dublin, “Shaw’s Corner” in
Ayot St. Lawrence, UK, Fordham U. Lincoln Center, New York, and at the Shaw
Festival in Niagara-on-the Lake, Ontario.
If you give a minimum of $500, the
grant the ISS gives with that can carry your name, if you wish. See www.shawsociety.org/ISS-Travel-Grants-2019.htm
for grants given in the past year.
2019
Membership Form
The latest ISS Membership Form is available at https://shawsociety.org/2019membership.htm.
This form is innovative in that it allows you to pay by credit or debit card
without using or establishing an account with PayPal. In paying, just follow
the instructions on the ISS Pay Button
at
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=ABZLF5ZV8HLD6.
It is also innovative in that it gives you the option of just
emailing to the ISS Treasurer the choices made on the membership form instead
of mailing the form itself (much faster and no stamp needed). Any changes in street or email address should
be sent as well to mohara@shawsociety.org.
(Click here to go directly
to a membership form printable on one page that you can mail in or, better
yet and preferred, just summarize your choices in an email to the Treasurer:
dietrich@shawsociety.org)
STATEMENT REQUIRED OF 501 (c)(3) CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS
BY THE STATE OF
FLORIDA UNDER Chapter 496, FLORIDA STATUES,
THE SOLICITATION OF CONTRIBUTIONS ACT
INTERNATIONAL SHAW SOCIETY
REGISTRATION#: CH22341
“A COPY OF
THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE
DIVISIONS OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE
STATE. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY
ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.”
Webmaster: RFD
(dietrich@usf.edu)