[Steppes] Is SCA membership declining overall?

Tue Jan 8 11:55:30 PST 2008

Please, let us refrain from using the term "old" -- it makes me feel so, well, old!? And I have been involved a lot longer than many!

Let me preface this by saying I don't have membership figures either, so I'm going on gut instinct. I think I would like to partially disagree, though.? I don't think that we have fewer members, per se, but that each of our members have many more committments and interests outside the SCA. When I first joined the SCA more than 28 years ago (ouch!), it was my primary interest outside of work. We were all more single-minded about our interests than people are today. Now, the SCA competes with other groups (as Arianne's church). That doesn't mean that I don't do SCA events, but just that I have to be more selective with?what I do. I've heard a lot of people say similar things, including my Laurel, Mistress Kalida. And our younger and/or newer members probably have the same issues. I agree we need to be more welcoming, and more tolerant, but we also cannot expect the same level of committment and service from newcomers or younger people who have multiple interests instead of the single-minded interest that some of us had earlier in our SCA career. 

And I don't agree that young people today are more interested in video games and "sit in front of the screen" type?of activities than in active physical activities. Yes, some of them are, but many more, especially children of SCA members, are interested in more active pursuits. It may be that fewer of them are interested in heavy weapons fighting, but we have a significant younger populace involved in archery, light weapons and the arts. We need to refrain from generalizing from a single activity to mean general activity level. I, for one, am greatly encouraged by the increased interest level of our young people in the arts!

I think it is something to consider that these days, EVERYONE has more committments, more interests, more to do. We need to think about that when we set up our SCA jobs such as event stewarding or offices in our groups, and not expect total and single-minded devotion to the SCA. Most people do not have the time or the chance to have that single-minded frame of mind. It may mean that we need more people for each job, or more "apprenticing" for the jobs. In our complex Society now, we can't expect newcomers to jump into a major job without training.? When I joined, so many years ago, I started out by autocrating 12th Night...NOT something I would suggest today...and by sharing the office of Hospitaller with a long-term member. That worked pretty well, and I'd like to see more of our officers backed up by "apprentices" in that job. It would also relieve our officers of a lot of work too, making it easier to fill the jobs.? 

Just my 2 cents worth...

HL Saqra al-Kudsi, another very old member!

-----Original Message-----
From: Catherine Sims <simscath at gmail.com>
To: Steppes List <steppes at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 12:32 pm
Subject: Re: [Steppes] Is SCA membership declining overall?

Excellent points, all, but as another "old fart" let me add another.  As I
get older, I have more responsibilities in the "real" world that really cut
into my personal time.  I have more commitments that restrict how much
"free" time I have.  I couldn't make Twelfth Night, for example, because I
had too many church commitments this weekend.  I'm on the church council and
a member of the choir, so I am expected to set an example for the rest of
the parish.  I also have more job responsibilities that suck up my evenings
and weekends far more often that I would like - and I have an office job.

This is not intended to be critical of those who are blessed with more free
time and fewer commitments than I have, just another "responsible"
supporting viewpoint.

Arianne
Who is really hating having to be a grown-up right now!

On 1/8/08, Michael Gunter <countgunthar at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> > Does anyone know if SCA membership is declining overall?> I heard
> somewhere that the SCA is a baby boomer phenomena and
> >will die off as the boomers age out of it.Thank you,..Catalina
> Although I don't have hard numbers to back it up I think it is. But I'm
> not
> sure if it is a "Boomer" phenomena or what.  I do think that there are a
> couple of factors which make the SCA unappealing to the younger 20's
> demographic. The first is that the demographic isn't so much into the
> "Middle Ages" and all the New Agey stuff we were into at the time. Look
> at 20 or so years ago.  Jethro Tull was popular with their elves and
> fairies
> and things. D&D was big. The opportunity to go out and whack each other
> with real swords was freaking awesome.
>
> Nowadays there are other things to attract the 20-something nerd. LARP
> and video games are a lot less painful than getting whacked with a club
> but
> still give that viceral impression of being Conan.
>
> Another problem is the SCA was once created and ruled by 20-30 somethings.
> The first seneschal of Atenveldt was assigned because he was the only one
> old enough to sign legal documents. The SCA was more fantasy then. I've
> seen
> knightings in t-tunics and blue jeans and sandals.
> A guy could join the SCA and hope to be a knight in three or four years.
> They
> were creating the world and the rules. Fighting all day then drinking and
> leching
> all night were the common activities of events. And events were just that,
> something
> special. Months could go by with nothing near so when a tournament
> occurred
> everyone went and enjoyed the coolness of it.  Now we have two or three
> events every weekend. There is nothing special. Look at 12th Night. It
> used
> to be THE dress up event of the winter. Now, it's just another boring
> court.
>
> A 20-something comes to the SCA today and is told they cannot be seneschal
> because that lady over there has been doing it for 30 years. If they study
> hard
> and train hard and really work at it they might be a Knight when they hit
> their
> mid-30's. A t-tunic and blue jeans will get them either jeered at or at
> the best
> someone will take them with the words, "Here dear, let's get you dressed
> properly".
> Drinking and partying all night? Please! Our children are trying to sleep!
>
> The only really big turnout for our target demographic is big wars like
> Pennsic and
> Estrella. Here things are more like in the early days with a week of
> parties, drumming,
> fighting, really bad garb, hitting on belly dancers and the opportunity to
> cut loose.
> Fighting is frentic and a total rush. This is why our war attendance is
> growing but
> our tournament attendance shrinking.
>
> I love many directions the SCA is going. We are more period, our garb and
> campsites
> and armor and all of that are more "real". But we are starting to become
> more along
> the lines of the Civil War reenactors (whose numbers are also declining)
> than the
> backyard party we started out as.
>
> Sorry for the long-winded response.
>
> Gunthar
> Old fart
> _________________________________________________________________
> Share life as it happens with the new Windows Live.
>
> http://www.windowslive.com/share.html?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_Wave2_sharelife_012008
> _______________________________________________
> Steppes mailing list
> Steppes at lists.ansteorra.org
> http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/steppes-ansteorra.org
>
_______________________________________________
Steppes mailing list
Steppes at lists.ansteorra.org
http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/steppes-ansteorra.org

________________________________________________________________________
More new features than ever.  Check out the new AOL Mail ! - http://webmail.aol.com