Our members are our greatest advocates, and provide vital financial support of our work as a Registered Charity.
The simple act of joining us demonstrates that you – along with so many people – value folk arts at the heart of cultural life in England.
Join now: Individual membership
Try Starter Membership for only £2 per month
As a full Individual or Joint (not Starter) member, your benefits include:
- An exclusive members-only pin badge, a small but significant symbol which welcomes you to our community of members.
- A magazine every four months, English Dance & Song, providing news and reviews of what’s hot in the folk arts as well as news about the Society’s own activities.
- Folk Music Journal, the annual academic journal of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, highly valued by universities and libraries across the world, if you wish to receive it.
- Access to a members-only section of this website, where you can view or download the current edition of EDS as well as searching and viewing the current and selected past editions of FMJ. Access to JSTOR, where you can search all past editions of FMJ and its predecessors.
- Public Liability Insurance for Standard (Practitioner) members: please read our PLI Guidance Notes for details. PLI is limited; our insurance may not cover your activities. Please contact our insurance brokers for more information.
- An expanding range of benefits, now including discounted access to valuable and relevant resources from People Dancing and Brass Bands England.
With the support of our members over the past decade, we have dramatically increased activities around learning, performance and artist support, and have developed Cecil Sharp House into a vibrant and creative arts centre.
From 2024 all personal memberships except Practitioner are eligible for Gift Aid.
If you are a UK taxpayer, your payment can be worth an extra 25% to us, at no cost to you.
Please tick the Gift Aid box, if you are able to do so, when you purchase your membership.
You can also make a Gift Aid declaration at any time.
How much does membership cost?
Standard (Practitioner) or Standard (Supporter) membership
Individual £58 (£60 for 2025)
Joint £87 (£90 for 2025)
Not ready yet for full membership? Try Starter Membership for only £2 per month
Concessionary membership
Student or age 18–30 £26 (£27 for 2025)
Please provide a photocopy of your student ID card, or your date of birth
Under 18 £26 (£27 for 2025)
Please provide your date of birth
Please note: Public Liability Insurance is not available to members under 16 years old
Senior membership (over 65s)
Senior Individual £39 (£40 for 2025)
You must be over 65: please provide your date of birth
Senior Joint £58 (£60 for 2025)
At least one member should be over 65: please provide your date of birth
Life £522 (£538 for 2025)
You must be over 65: please provide your date of birth
Joint Life £741 (£763)
At least one member should be over 65: please provide your date of birth
Join us now
If you prefer not to join online now, you can call us on +44 (0)20 7241 8956.
Our office hours are usually 9.30am to 5.30pm, Mondays to Fridays – if you get our voicemail, please leave a message and we’ll call you back.
Or you can choose to pay monthly or annually by Direct Debit:
Simply download, complete and sign both forms and return them to us:
Membership, Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent’s Park Road, London NW1 7AY
To access your exclusive members’ content, log in using the link below and then select 'MY MEMBERSHIP' from the pull-down list under MY ACCOUNT.
