A word of small caution:
When you hold events that are fueled by those attending (like the raffle or talent contest you mentioned) you are effectively limiting yourself to only being the venue. Once your performers leave, so do your guests, and so does your event. They're great fun as a one-off, or maybe a monthy sort of event, but it is quite easy to get burnt out when you're attempting to host singing and dancing and poetry and stories and the like.
I could see a quaint little tea house being a good grounds for a sort of themed storytelling circle. Wouldn't need to meet every week, but every could take turns with one arching theme each session: A tale of great romance, an original take on folklore, some ghost stories since we're in the season soon. If you only have half a dozen people, and each one takes ten minutes, you're still looking at an hour in just posting; Not to mention any RP setting up, tearing down, or just discussing what's happened in the duration.
It's easy to have time slip way when incorporating a lot of people.
When you hold events that are fueled by those attending (like the raffle or talent contest you mentioned) you are effectively limiting yourself to only being the venue. Once your performers leave, so do your guests, and so does your event. They're great fun as a one-off, or maybe a monthy sort of event, but it is quite easy to get burnt out when you're attempting to host singing and dancing and poetry and stories and the like.
I could see a quaint little tea house being a good grounds for a sort of themed storytelling circle. Wouldn't need to meet every week, but every could take turns with one arching theme each session: A tale of great romance, an original take on folklore, some ghost stories since we're in the season soon. If you only have half a dozen people, and each one takes ten minutes, you're still looking at an hour in just posting; Not to mention any RP setting up, tearing down, or just discussing what's happened in the duration.
It's easy to have time slip way when incorporating a lot of people.