EBMA needs YOU!

The European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA) announced on its Facebook on 23 May:

In recent years EBMA was restructured to proactively support fans, bands and artists, festivals, young musicians and commercial partners.

In addition to providing information and being a focal point for bluegrass in Europe, EBMA has financially supported young musicians through the Youth Scholarship programme; it has created a musicians network; it has contributed prize money for the European bluegrass band competition at La Roche, as well as making grants available for band projects and new events. Member bands and artists, festivals and commercial partners also have their own dedicated pages on the EBMA website.

Now that life is getting back to somewhere near normal, EBMA is also coming back to life.

… But!! we do not have enough resources within the EBMA Board to maintain this level of commitment and so we need more people to join the EBMA Board and take an active role in the following Business Areas:

Membership - Membership administration and members point-of-contact. Promoting EBMA, increasing membership and developing cost effective proposals for members benefits.

Member Bands and Artists - Regular contact and liaison to promote their activities and CD reviews. Updates for their EBMA website pages and promotion on social media.

Member Festivals - Regular contact and liaison to promote their activities. Updates for their EBMA website pages and promotion on social media. Listings other festivals on the events agenda.

Commercial Partners - Regular contact to promote their products and services, updates for their EBMA web pages and promotion on social media.

Youth Scholarships - Processing and approving applications. Regular contact and liaison with the organisers of workshops and camps. EBMA point of contact for the new initiative 'Kids on Bluegrass Europe'.

Audio and Video Broadcast - Point of contact and development. EBMA already has an Internet radio outlet for European bluegrass and has been invited to participate in an Internet video channel for acoustic music.

Newsletter - Define the content and produce a regular newsletter in coordination with the webmaster.

Social Media - Developing EBMA presence on social media, and coordinating with other business managers and the webmaster.

Finance - Support the Finance Manager with overall financial control and annual audit.

Without more support, EBMA will not be able to do all that it should be doing and may even have to close.

If you are interested in the future of European bluegrass and feel you might be able take on the work involved, then for further information and more detail on what it would involve, please email us at board@ebma.org.

BIB editor's note: The very first EBMA Youth Scholarships went in 2015 to two young banjo-players from this island: Evan Lyons of Co. Tipperary and Tabitha Agnew of Co. Armagh. See the BIB for 13 Nov. 2015.