Should the ABPA be funding this forum ?

Discussion of any bush poetry topic.
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Heather

Re: Should the ABPA be funding this forum ?

Post by Heather » Mon May 27, 2013 4:13 pm

So how would you get people using the site Marty?

I wrote an article some time ago for the Henry Lawson Society magazine (Victoria) about the website and the benefits and not one person joined.

Heather

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keats
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Re: Should the ABPA be funding this forum ?

Post by keats » Mon May 27, 2013 4:16 pm

I have advertised it in every Magazine since I have been editor to no effect either. And that is from our members.

Neil

Heather

Re: Should the ABPA be funding this forum ?

Post by Heather » Mon May 27, 2013 4:44 pm

Neil how many magazines are printed each issue?

Do you know the cost of printing the magazine each time?

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keats
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Re: Should the ABPA be funding this forum ?

Post by keats » Mon May 27, 2013 4:47 pm

Yes and no Heather. Invoice goes to the Treasurer. I believe it is between 400 and 500 copies posted out every two months.

Neil

Heather

Re: Should the ABPA be funding this forum ?

Post by Heather » Mon May 27, 2013 4:55 pm

Are they all to members? Are there any complimentary copies sent out?

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Stephen Whiteside
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Re: Should the ABPA be funding this forum ?

Post by Stephen Whiteside » Mon May 27, 2013 4:57 pm

The two large folk festivals I have been involved with over the years have been the National and Port Fairy.

Crowds at the Nash Poets' Breakfasts are definitely on the decline. They are still healthy, but the boom days are definitely gone. The merch table was very quiet this year.

I attended Port Fairy in 1999. Jim Haynes had brought Bob Magor. The Shebeen - huge marquee - was absolutely packed. Maybe 1,000 people. Standing room only. I returned several years later, and the Shebeen was only half full. A year or two after that, and the Breakfast was moved out of the Shebeen into St Pat's Hall, a much smaller venue in town. It was full for the first couple of years, now now even St. Pat's is only about half full. Jim and all his performers are their same old brilliant selves, but the crowds are not coming in anything like the same numbers.

To return to the Nash, every year another one or two of the veterans do not turn up, and there are not the younger people stepping up to take their places. A few years ago it was impossible to get up on stage everybody who wanted to perform. Now it is pretty much possible - a bit of a struggle, but no longer utterly impossible.

Don't blame the forum for simply reflecting a wider pattern - and the competition rules sure don't help, either.
Stephen Whiteside, Australian Poet and Writer
http://www.stephenwhiteside.com.au

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keats
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Re: Should the ABPA be funding this forum ?

Post by keats » Mon May 27, 2013 5:02 pm

Additional copies are now taken around to festivals to encourage new members. To send out free copies will cost current members money and a possible rise in subscription, which as we know will cause us to lose more members. In theory it would be nice but the Association simy does not generate enough money to do this, unfortunately.

Neil

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keats
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Re: Should the ABPA be funding this forum ?

Post by keats » Mon May 27, 2013 5:11 pm

Stephen, it seems strange then that the numbers at other festivals such as the Gympie Muster, Tamworth, Mildura etc are still very much at capacity. Would it perhaps be the variety of original poets doing original comedy works that are keeping the performance side of poetry flourishing? I gave up Folk Festivals years ago when poets seemed to be getting treated as the poor relatives. At the bigger music festivals now we are often getting equal billing with the Musos. Also the age demographics are changing and we really need to cater for that, in schools as well. Time perhaps to sit down and take stock of what we are presenting to people and are they looking for something new and refreshing from us? I don't have the answers but I know where to go for the crowds that work for what I do.

Neil

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Stephen Whiteside
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Re: Should the ABPA be funding this forum ?

Post by Stephen Whiteside » Mon May 27, 2013 5:24 pm

You raise a very good point, Neil.

Historically, there has always been something of a divide between the 'folk festival poets' and the 'country music festival poets'. This has tended to become quite blurred in recent years, which is probably a good thing - to the extent that many are not now even aware of it. On the other hand, there are quite a few of the old stagers at the folk festivals who don't like to think of themselves as 'bush poets' at all.

Of course, not all the poetry at folk festivals is bush poetry. To what extent that applies at country music festivals, I don't know, because I don't really visit any of them.

It would be interesting to hear Zondrae's and Vic's perspective on all this.

I keep hearing of how popular bush poetry is at Tamworth, but I could not say that is the Port Fairy experience - not currently, anyway - yet Jim generally brings the really elite performers to the festival.
Stephen Whiteside, Australian Poet and Writer
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keats
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Re: Should the ABPA be funding this forum ?

Post by keats » Mon May 27, 2013 5:53 pm

Yes, my brother has been attending and performing at Port Fairy since I can remember, but he stopped going to Jim's breakfast's years ago, because he said the material never changed and he never got to see a top poet like Ray Essery, Marco, Muzza, Fogarty, Maclean, Drake, Kearns etc. etc. I think Shirley Friend was the only one in recent years he went to see and walked out after she finished. So again, the public seem to want fresh and ever evolving shows, not the same old rehashed shows. Remember that the majority of these crowds are returning faces. But I think that is getting a little off topic.

Neil

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