There's some big changes afoot at the Gospel Music Association HQ, which are reported to be the result of the current economic downturn.
The Gospel Music Association announced yesterday that John Styll is stepping down as President, allowing "the Board to substitute a managerial level professional to oversee staff at the GMA office." Several other paid staff positions were eliminated earlier this year.
According to a press release, the GMA "Board of Directors approved a plan to return the association to a more volunteer-driven operation with a scaled down staff that will facilitate and coordinate GMA events and programs."
Along with that comes word that Gospel Music Week 2010 will see some changes as well. Word has it that the event will focus more on artist showcases and networking opportunities, and less on instructional seminars and tracks.
GMA Week 2009 clearly was impacted by the economy; registrations for tracks were down and some media who normally make the trip just couldn't do it. There was even talk about GMA 2009 not happening, believe it or not.
Behind the scenes, folks in the know told me that the reason registrations were down significantly (as in almost 2/3 in one industry track, according to estimates I heard) was due to some disagreements about ... well, something ... between GMA and the folks who work in that segment of the industry, and so those folks just decided to do their own event in the fall.
Who knows what really happened, but it's a much more valid explanation than just the economy and would explain the weird absence of a large segment of that part of the industry that week.
For those looking for industry instruction, GMA suggests the Immerse Conference (formerly GMA in the Rockies); this year's event just took place, so watch for details on the 2010 conference. This really is a premiere event, and it does make sense not to reinvent the wheel with both GMA tracks and Immerse, now that they've moved Immerse/GMA in the Rockies from Colorado to Nashville.
In any event, I'll keep you posted on news about next GMA Week as well as other opportunities for instruction and networking!
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