How do we encourage fandom?

[figmo]

Every year it comes up: Why aren't we seeing more younger fen at Worldcon (or any of the many other regional general SF cons)?

I remember seeing panels titled "The Greying of Fandom" back when I first got into fandom. It seemed like practically all my friends were into fandom. Many of my co-workers were also fannish. As the years have gone by,

Comments

[tigertoy]

I think the general-interest SF con is kind of a victim of its own cultural success. In the world that was a few decades ago, if you were inclined to go spend a weekend going to an event somewhere in the wide universe of fannish interests, there weren't many choices. Even if you were only especially interested in one facet of fannish interest, you would likely choose to go to a general interest con that included some of that interest, because it was the only game in town. These days, whatever that interest, there's probably dozens of events a year targeted just at that specific interest, and those events are likely to absorb all of your available weekends/money/time, leaving you unlikely to go to a general interest con

[hazelchaz]

May i quote your paragraphs 2 & 3, please? (Or all three. Haven't made up my mind which way to go.)

[tigertoy]

Be my guest!

[gardnerhill]

We now have a generation of young fans who've always interacted with social media - and who do a lot of online fannish interactions (which cost hella less than travel to a hotel, especially on minimum-wage service-job salaries).

The fans are there - they just don't go to the cons as much.

There are also a lot of fans of color who don't feel as comfortable in convention space who do a lot of online fannish activity. To be frank, cons are mainly white, mainly older, majority male folks who have enough disposable income to travel, stay at hotels, pay for convention memberships and the like. Teen baby-fans no longer have to take 3 busses for 2 hours each direction just to spend one day talking to lots of other fans, sharing art, reading stories, listening to filks, watching films, chatting with actors and buying sf-themed goodies the way they did when I was their age.

(Oh, and I'm still waiting for Galacticon 4 to refund me my $12 after they unceremoniously cancelled at the last minute in 1980.)

[mihrimah]

2 and 4 for me, but mostly 4. Without mentioning any names, there were people in Pittsburgh who told me to my face that because I chose to read "fluffy shit" instead of real sf, and because I preferred to watch "low-budget cheese," that I was Not A Real Fan and was only tolerated in their clubhouse because Ann Cecil liked me and she had actual fan cred. I remember mentioning at one point that I wasn't a big fan of Heinlein, and the response was along the lines of "of course *you* don't, you're not his target audience," with the implication that I wasn't smart enough to understand him. Every time I consider going back to Confluence for a visit, the thought that I might encounter certain people and have to deal with them outweighs the idea of spending time with the people I actually like. I haven't gone back to OVFF for similar reasons. (At one gaming con that I worked at, I overheard someone say that the next time he saw SJ he was going to tell him that if he was going to have chicks doing demos they should at least be cute (and

[gorgeousgary]

Fandom as a whole seems to be doing just fine. As some of the commenters note, things like DragonCon, SDCC and other Comic-Cons, anime cons (e.g. Katsucon and Otakon in VA/MD) and media cons (e.g. Shore Leave) are doing quite well and drawing young fans. Even some of the filk cons have a steady stream of new voices (FKO particularly).

As for the traditional literary/general SF/region cons, that's certainly a different question. I've certainly seen some cons, like Philcon (and Lunacon) are definitely shrinking. Which is both a combination of failing to stay fresh and relevant on the programming side, and issues on the committee side. On the flip side, Balticon (with a reputation as being well-run) seems to be finding ways to stay relevant - for example through its New Media track - and is I believe holding reasonably steady membership-wise. And I do see younger fans attending and getting involved with Balticon and BSFS.

[carol_kitty]

My observation is we are saturated with cons. Also, younger people like specialty cons. Furry cons have had tremendous growth because they realize that the fandom is younger and cater to that. They know what the young want like dance competitions, hip stuff. Lots of younger folks don't like to sit in a room for panels maybe gaming. I think its more social and partying.

[hitchhiker]

one thing that really startled me was when i found out how large vidcon was. 12,000 and counting. a friend's 18-year-old daughter attended, had a blast, and said she wants to go again next year. so i'd tend to agree with cat_herder's point above that the young people do engage in lots of fanac; it's just not the same cons that we go to.