2021 Membership

Folk Project board members,

Telling words from my annual report last year: “I am optimistic that memberships will slowly increase as The Folk Project begins to ramp live events back up in 2021.”

As we all know, 2021 didn’t turn out the way we hoped or expected.

As of 12/7/21, we have 363 members, a decrease of 60 members since this time last year.

Why the decline in membership?

• COVID

• Lack of in-person events (i.e. Getaway, which generates a significant number of new and renewing memberships, Troubadour/Open Stage/Member weekly shows, and other live events)

• Monthly membership renewals not being sent out regularly due to family health issues and workload of the Membership chair (my apologies)

Why it’s not as bad as it could have been?

• Online streaming events

• Cautious and responsible return to in-person events

What does the future hold for membership?

• There's no way to predict the effect that COVID will have in 2022, but I'm optimistic that membership will improve with the continuing reopening of venues and the energy a new Membership chair will bring to the table.

Thank you to Deborah Graham, who handles snail-mailed membership forms and deposits, and Karyn and Eitan Grunwald for their research on online membership databases.

Respectfully submitted,

Gary Pratt

Membership chair

The Folk Project