From the Executive Director’s Desk by Nancy Cardwell Erdos I hope the new year is treating you well, and that you’re all managing to stay warm this winter (those of us north of the equator, anyway!) You might think this is a slow time in the IBMA office, but the truth is that things are hopping already in 2014. Final planning for Leadership Bluegrass in March is in full swing, and your board of directors is meeting Feb. 4 by teleconference. We welcomed two new board members last month: Ned Luberecki of SiriusXM and Chris Jones and the Night Drivers in the Broadcasters’ seat, vacated by Cindy Baucom when she was elected Vice-Chair last October, and Becky Buller, singer and fiddle player with Darin & Brooke Aldridge joins Henri Deschamps as an At Large rep. Becky is also a songwriter and a radio broadcaster, and is working on her solo album with Dark Shadow Recording. We’re a month away from launching World of Bluegrass registration and the hotel reservation process (March 3 for members, March 17 for general public), so watch your email inbox and ibma.org for more info later on this month. We’re knee-deep in schedules, professional development plans, graphic design ideas, an incredibly exciting Talent Buyers Focus day, and festival plans. William Lewis and his staff at PineCone—The Piedmont Council for Traditional Music based in Raleigh, will be producing the Wide Open Bluegrass Festival for IBMA this year. IBMA member Susan Newberry is heading up the Talent Buyer Focus, which will attract a number of new event producers and agents to the conference this year. We’re in the process of hiring additional contract and commission-based staff to help out with the Bluegrass Ramble, as well as IBMA sponsorship coordination and development. It’s been a year of growth for IBMA, and more hands are needed as we grow and power forward. Look for some updates to the IBMA website in the next few months, thanks to the hard work of our new IT Committee headed by Henri Deschamps and IBMA staff liaison Eddie Huffman. You’ll also read in this issue about a new venture IBMA is entering into with the American Queen Steamboat Company, and I hope many of you will join us on the river in late August and early September, because what goes better with great live bluegrass music than a paddlewheel riverboat? We have a very hardworking Finance Committee, headed by IBMA Treasurer Elizabeth Wightman at SteelBridge Insurance; currently revising draft #6 of our proposed 2014-15 fiscal year budget and streamlining IBMA’s financial systems, and the audit of IBMA’s 2012-13 finances will begin in the next few weeks. Our newly re-organized Membership Committee, led by chairperson Charles Humphrey III of Steep Canyon Rangers and IBMA Member Services Director Joe Lurgio, is taking a thorough look at current and possible new member services and some exciting monthly promotions. You can read more about their initiatives in “Saving Your Bluegrass Greens” in this issue. We are growing, as mentioned above! It’s an exciting time to be a member of IBMA. IBMA is blessed to have a number of sister organizations that support each other in mutual efforts to promote roots-based, acoustic music (including bluegrass, of course!) If you can make it, I encourage you to attend the Folk Alliance International conference at the Westin Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, Feb. 19-23. While you’re there, look for me at booth #201 in the exhibit hall and at the IBMA-sponsored bluegrass official showcase night and please say hello! New on the schedule this year at FAI is a Winter Music Camp, which features group and individual instruction, performances and jam sessions for all levels of musicians (and songwriters) in all styles of roots music. You’ll recognize some of the instructor names from the bluegrass community: the amazing Byron Berline, Mike Compton, Casey Driessen, Missy Raines, Betse Ellis, Bill Evans, Alan Munde, Gerald Jones, Pete “Dr. Banjo” Wernick, and many talented others. Check out www.folkalliance.org for more details. I hope to see some of you there and hope you will help me spread the good bluegrass word to our brothers and sisters in the folk music community.
--Nancy Cardwell,
Honored to serve as your IBMA Executive Director