Participation is important (it certainly is for me) but Jim's insistence on participation would seem to exclude those who go to folk clubs simply to listen to and enjoy the music. In my experience these usually make up the majority of folk club audiences (with the possible exception of singarounds and expressly singers' clubs), significantly outnumbering the floor singers in most cases.

It also occurs to me that most other genres have a far lower ratio of active performers to listeners, yet most of these seem to be in a far healthier state than folk, in terms of size of audience and public perception as well as financial sustainability.