Vic Smith: It would be difficult to quantify, but it seems to me that the proportion of 1960s/1970s young folk performers who took an extra interest in organising and facilitating folk clubs, dances and festivals as part of their interest is a higher proportion than of the young performers today.

Am I right in making this assumption/observation?

And if I am, why is this?

In other words, where are the young organisers to go with the explosion of young performers?

They're organising at venues that aren't recognised as "Folk Clubs" or "Folk Sessions/ Singarounds" but which nevertheless put on a lot of acoustic/ "folky style" music...almost invariably from youngsters.

There are 3 local venues that I go to where I can see lots of young people playing acoustic music. Most of them play their own songs but many of them are au-fait with both British and American folk...eg a trio I saw the other week did 2 of their own songs and then launched into some Woody Guthrie. I'm usually the oldest person in the audience at these venues, except perhaps for some of the performers' parents. I've tried to get some of them to go along to some of the more "traddy" venues in the area but they're generally not interested as they'r ehaving a lot of fun in a more "mixed" environment than they'd get in a traddy venue.

At the folk clubs, singarounds and "more traddy" sessions I go to, with the exception of one notable one where youngsters often turn up, I'm generally one of the youngest there, at 56. Equally, I can't get most of the older ones interested in attending "younger" venues.

The two scenes rarely mix. I managed to mix one event last year when I put on Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts at a local venue, and engaged as their support act a band from the local "younger scene". Although Katriona and Jamie are young, the audience that came to see them was largely older people who'd seen them supporting Fairport or who responded to my leafletting (400 leaflets, into the hands of a member of every party attending the gig) of a Show Of Hands gig. The younger audience members were almost all from the "following" of the local band from the younger local scene. I managed to fill a hall with 104 people and a great mix of ages, and the odd thing is that everyone I spoke to really enjoyed *both* acts, so the "crossover potential" is there.

But it's really hard work to get it going.