Short Report on 4th European Bluegrass Summit

The 4th European Bluegrass Summit was held on 2-4 March in the beautiful City of Buehl (Baden), Germany again. In spite of economic and other practical obstacles about twenty participants from six nations went to the considerable expense of attending the meeting, some of them for the first time. It is with gratitude that we look back on the many good conversations and discussions we had as a whole and individually and we can look at some important hands-on results.

A big thank you goes out to Vice President, Christopher Howard-Williams, who so easily and professionally channeled all the votes and contributions, even including his own two (or three) cents, which were just as important.

We’d also like to thank the city of Buehl for having us once more, this time with the meeting being in the same hall the City’s Council holds its meetings every fortnight.

The 4th EBS discussed the following topics and defined various steps to be taken within the next weeks and months:

-      EBMA Festival Network - ENHANCEMENT: Collect Market Data, conduct survey of financial value for host cities. Collect data of other venues who take bluegrass acts. Create a "European Bluegrass Concert Hub / Circuit".

-      JAMMING: Support Wernick Method Initiative in Europe

-      JAMMING IN FESTIVALS: Encourage and help festivals to facilitate jamming at their events

-      CONCERT TOURS: Create preliminary White Paper for Agents on what to consider when organizing a European tour

-      KIDS AT FESTIVALS: Involve EFN (and other) festivals to encourage KIDS ENTERTAINMENT or KIDS WORKSHOPS at festivals

-      FESTIVAL "WHITE PAPER": What to consider when planning a festival