Joy:
Along with membership to the local chapter you also gain membership to the international guild which hosts at least one major convention a year called Costume-Con which is a chance to gather with other costumers from across the country and even in some cases around the world.

Costumers' Guild West has another yearly event called Costume College usually held on the west coast which is three days of nothing but classes and workshops on costume and sewing techniques.

The local guild hosts regular meetings and we try to hold many workshops as a medium of exchanging ideas and learning new techniques in needle craft. This coming year (2007?) we are trying to put together a field trip to a local museum to view historical clothing, and I am currently trying to put together a group discussion on what judges look for in a masquerade presentation, and as always the local guild chapter also hosts the annual Philcon masquerade.

Many of the East coast chapters host masquerade competitions on a regional level at Science fiction conventions such as Arisia, Balticon, Lunacon, Philcon, Darkover Con, and more.

As a rule any GDVCG member who can help out with the Philcon masquerade will either receive a volunteer discount on future membership to Philcon or in some cases a free membership as costume programming participants. This sometimes is the case with other east coast conventions as well.

We have also in the past (and hope to once again in the future) gotten involved with educational projects with local school groups. We also host a Yahoo group page that is used for exchanging ideas and information between chapter members as well as for those members not able to attend local meetings.

As the local chapter grows we hope to be able to offer more to our local members, and as always members are more than welcome to become members of more than one chapter, i.e.: several of us to include myself also hold membership in the NNJ/NY Chapter called the Sick Pups, and participate in their meetings and workshops bringing new and fresh ideas back to our own local chapter.

Currently the local chapter is very small (currently one of the smallest groups in the international network) but growing once again by leaps and bounds. This year we hope to launch a membership drive by getting as many of our members to other events as possible to once again give us the person power capabilities of getting back into community events etc, once again promoting interest in costuming.

Thank you for your inquiry please feel free to write anytime.
Sandy Swank GDVCG Chapter President