As sad as it may be... the Entertainer (and all related professions.. but I am going to address Dancer and Musican here) are in a very sad state. The ideas that I have below hopefully are original, but if someone else thought of this before, or posted about it and I "stole" the idea, I honestly apologize. I'm just trying to share with the community and the Developers something I thought of that might be beneficial. 
My idea is this. Essentially, Dancers and Musicians only have one purpose, and that purpose is shared between the two of them, making mastering both of the professions worthless. They almost seem like an RP only profession at this point. Hopefully, that should not, and will never be the case. If these professions ever go to 0 SP, I think that the Developers will lose a good part of their community...
That one purpose right now is actually not a bad one. Inspiration buffs are something that people need, and they are generally appreciated. The days of Entertainer healing seem to be over (at least for now...) and so I am going to draw my ideas and inspirations partly from the system in which the Developers are using right now... that Entertainers are meant to buff the character that chooses to use them. However, I think that only one buff that is shared between the two professions is clearly a lack of caring for the Entertainer profession.. almost negligence. Surely the developers can change something to make them more effective.
What I am propossing is this. Like craftable nibblies from Chefs, and Medical Enhancements (buffs) from Doctors, I think that Entertainers should be able to provide some type of short term reward. With the current focus entirely on combat in Star Wars Galaxies at the moment, I think that by giving Entertainers, Dancers, and Musicians more available buffs to dole out to other characters a great way to give them purpose. Not only would this allow the Entertainers (generally speaking) to perform in the cantina and have people come and visit them, but they would actually be able to (Nostalgia /on for the early days of SWG) participate in the group of 8 that goes out hunting by performing in camps. This could further put some emphasis on the need for scouts (and therefore Rangers) which would be very healthy for the game that has a horrible imbalance of Ranged and Jedi Professions.
How will the different buffs be available you ask? Through the different dances and musical selections that are available. The starting dances and songs could offer inspiration buff, which would be available at Novice Entertainer to help those characters start on their way to Elite, and then it could move up with each song so that it has a more potent effect.
Obviously the buffs would not have to be long term, and this would even promote more dancing and playing in combat camps and allow more interaction to be seen with the Entertainer.(I would hope Insp. Buff could remain longterm however). Obviously this would help out with the problem of AFK Entertainers, and even help the less experienced players get right into the action.
Also... Musicians and Dancers would have to have different effects with their Buffs. For instance, The Musician could be more focused on the Range Profession Enhancements, while the Dancer gives better Buffs to the Melee Professions. There would have to be a couple of continuities betwixt the two, but each could focus on different aspects to Buff. (Such as Melee Defense, Melee Speed, Ranged Defense, Ranged Speed... etc).
Please give me some feedback on this idea... it is only preliminary... and I hope to add more to it soon (including more ideas on the actual buffs that would be given to each profession). So please write down your thoughts, concerns, anything that could need changing. And please don't be afraid to tell me that it is ridiculous, and won't work. 
-gRampz
