Between Professionalism and Amateurism: Pathways for Skills Acquisition in Accordion Repairing

This study examines the role of The Accordion Repairer School (TARS), established by an Italian SME, in facilitating the transition from amateur enthusiasm to professional expertise in accordion repair. TARS enables participants from varied backgrounds—sustainable small/solo business owners, serious leisure performers, and side hustlers—converge to enhance their repair skills. It fills a gap in the accordion eco-system by generating a valuable revenue stream for the company but also by creating a global network of repairers who can function as both practical repairers and brand ambassadors for the company. This community straddles the spectrum of professional to amateur, fostering skills development and sharing in a context where there is no formal, professional skills certification. By examining the motivations and career paths of the participants, and reporting on interviews and ethnographic participation in TARS, this paper contributes to our understanding of the intersection between craft, skills and serious leisure, where the boundary between professional and amateur, and between work and consumption, are not entirely clear, and where formal processes of skills accreditation and recognition are not formally institutionalised or regulated. In this context TARS fosters a community united by a common passion for the accordion and its repair, enriched by shared origins, collective memories, and a mutual language of craftsmanship, cultivating both professional development and community building, and bridging gaps between diverse practitioner groups within niche fields.