Expanding our membership

English Dance and Song Winter 2022

This article appears in English Dance and Song, the magazine of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. The world’s oldest magazine for folk music and dance, EDS was first published in 1936 and is essential reading for anyone with a passion for folk arts.

Peter Craik, Director of Marketing and Communications, writes about some recent plans to expand membership of the English Folk Dance & Song Society – and how all current members can help

For some time we have been discussing ways to encourage more people to become involved with EFDSS. We know that many people are passionate about folk, but they don’t necessarily feel the need to support the Society (I write this the day after witnessing literally thousands of people rocking to Bellowhead at the Royal Albert Hall – I wonder how many of them are members?).

November’s reduction in government funding for folk as a whole, and EFDSS in particular, has put immediate pressure on us to increase income – or face dropping some of our activities. Our ideas for longish-term changes have suddenly become more urgent.

Engaging young people

We want to encourage young people to become more engaged with EFDSS. Currently very few are members. We know that the younger generation are being particularly squeezed as prices continue to rise, so we would like to extend the ‘Student or age 18–25’ membership category to ‘Student or age 18–30’. The ‘Under 18’ category will remain unchange

Starter membership

Crowd-funding models are now mainstream in many areas of life. Many of us are prepared to make a small monthly payment to support things that we care about. Perhaps we transfer a few pounds directly to a few of our favourite artists, or we like to give a charity the reassurance of a regular income by making a monthly donation.

We have noticed that more customers are adding a small donation when they buy from us – whether it is tickets for a gig or a class or a dance, or something from the Folk Shop. This is great, but it would be even better if we could convert these single payments into an ongoing commitment.

So, the second part of our proposal is to create a new ‘Starter’ membership, with the intention of getting people ‘through the door’. In due course, we hope that at least some of these people will graduate into the existing membership offer after discovering that they want to become more involved: at this point they will become eligible to receive EDS magazine and Folk Music Journal, and for other benefits of full membership.

Starter membership will appeal to folk fans who are not yet expecting anything back from us, but would like to receive an email about our activities every month or two in return for their support.

How can current members help?

All new membership categories need to be approved by the collective membership, so we recommend that you vote for them at the January Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), which the board has just called (see Board Matters for details). And, if these proposals do go live, please explain to your friends how they can support the folk arts by joining up.

Katy Spicer, Chief Executive and Aristic Director, gives the context:

Disappointingly, our National Portfolio Grant from Arts Council England (ACE) will be reduced for 2023-26. EFDSS began receiving regular funding from ACE in 2009 and benefitted from a significant increase in our annual grant in 2015 to create the National Youth Folk Ensemble. Despite our national remit and delivery, we have been judged as a London-based organisation and so fallen foul of the government’s decision to reduce spending in the capital.

Over the next couple of months, we will be revisiting all aspects of our operation to see how we can continue to deliver activities across England while making up the shortfall of £140,000 per annum.

One of the immediate actions we wish to take is to introduce a new ‘Starter’ membership scheme, aimed at people who are already supportive of our work but have not yet felt the need to become members. Starter membership would provide a way in to feeling more connected to the Society, without receiving the benefits of full membership. We also hope to encourage more young people to join by extending the age range of the youth membership to 30. 

Photo by Maxime Bhm / Unsplash