Perhaps it would behoove us to learn a bit more about
GAMA. Yes, it's true that GAMA is a trade association made up of manufacturers and distributors of guitars and guitar accessories. And yes, we all want our companies to be successful in the marketplace. And yes, as individual participants in this organization, we generally all want gainful employment in an industry that, for most of us, is closely aligned with our love of music in general and guitar specifically.
GAMA's main activity is to support music education; specifically getting guitar integrated into school music programs. We are part of a task force that also includes
NAMM and the
association of school music teachers. Our main initiative is to train school music teachers--band, orchestra, choir and general music--to start guitar programs in schools. We also support another program called
Guitars in the Classroom that uses guitar to teach general curriculum.
We know that kids who study and play music do better in school and in life. This is well documented. We believe that by getting kids exposed to playing guitar at a young age, specifically while in school, we can create lifelong guitar players who will have a fun hobby and outlet for creative expression and collaboration--and for a few, a rewarding vocation (and yes, create more guitar product consumers). I'm very proud of my involvement with GAMA, which goes back well over 20 years.
At our general membership meeting last month, we had a panel discussion with heavy hitter GAMA members like Bob Taylor, Jim D'Addario and others, to discuss various topics about growing the guitar market--which is suffering at the moment. And it didn't take long to come to the subject of why there aren't more females. In that meeting, just like in this thread, there were lots of ideas tossed back and forth, and spirited discussion.
So yes, while GAMA is a trade association dedicated to bringing together and growing the guitar community by promoting greater access to learning and playing guitar, I don't think that makes our focus on creating more female players any less genuine.
My decision to post this thread in a public forum was deliberate. This is an important topic and I wanted it to be visible beyond SDUGF members to the public in general, and also to GAMA members who will be reading this thread next week when it will be promoted in the GAMA newsletter.
I want to close by saying this is really a fantastic discussion and I want to thank everyone who has participated in this thread so far. I know we've had our issues on this forum in the last year, but the fact that we can all come together for impassioned, yet 100% respectful discourse on an important topic like this, gives me hope that this forum will continue for a long, long time.
