Re: [Harp-L] Spah Conventions

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

<fssharp@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
<I don't see what the hubbub is about the SPAH conventions.  I've been to
<nine of them between 1999 and 2010.  Every one of them has been GREAT !!!
<
<Were any of them perfect? No.  But at each one I had a good time, met a lot
<of great folks, learned a lot about playing the harp, played a lot of harp,
<and heard some incredible music.  Each one was unique.  Vive le difference!
<I don't think I ever talked to anyone at a SPAH who wasn't having a good
<time.  Gripes? Sure, but 5 days at SPAH still beats just about any other 5
<days anywhere else.

The question of whether SPAH conventions are great or not is an entirely different question from whether the current path is viable for more than another decade or two. 

The demographics are simple and non-negotiable. The audience at SPAH (as well as the performers) are getting older. People get older to a point, then they die. If younger people aren't actively recruited into the organization before that, the organization dies with them.

Facts is facts, and demographics are the hardest facts of all.  The demographics of SPAH say very clearly that SPAH will change, one way or another, within the next 1-2 decades. If younger people are attracted to SPAH in (relatively) large numbers, the change will take the form of SPAH growing.  Otherwise, it will shrink and then go away.

I repeat that in my opinion the most important question for SPAH right now, not to mention the harmonica world in general, is how to attract (and keep) a growing stream of younger attendees.  I repeat also that this isn't about whether SPAH is great or not.  It's about whether SPAH has a future.  No matter how great SPAH is, if you don't start seeing teenagers and twentysomethings there in (relatively) large numbers soon, it doesn't have a future.  The Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, by anybody's standard a "great" organization, declared bankruptcy last week, largely because of the same demographic issues described in this message.  If it can happen to them, it can and will happen to SPAH--unless something changes.
 
Regards, Richard Hunter


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