Goodbye Planet Bluegrass????

[dang]

What is with that statement on the mainpage?

The link leads to purchasing tickets for the 2015 season, and a mention of the flooding that happened there.

Is there some implication of Craig Ferguson not continuing planet bluegrass due to his loss of position as Vice Chair of IBMA?

I can't find any information that makes the "goodbye planet bluegrass" statement make sense.

Can anyone clarify?

[sblock]

No, no, no. Planet Bluegrass is alive and well and it's not going away. However, the head of Planet Bluegrass has resigned (or been dropped) from the IBMA Board. This is a loss to the IBMA. It is not a loss for Planet Bluegrass. You need to read the story that was linked to the Scott's message on the MC home page to learn the details of the dispute with IBMA.

[Scott Tichenor]

If you read the Cybergrass article it'll make more sense. Bluegrass Today also reported on it. What's going on is that there has been for some time serious infighting among board members. Nancy Caldwell who served as IBMA Executive Director and pulled the organization back from collapse was unceremoniously fired (see editorial) after the recent successful Raleigh event. She "fell on the sword" (common employment term for putting a good face on it) and called it a planned resignation although the board admitted she'd received a vote of no confidence. Then Vice Chair Craig Ferguson of Planet Bluegrass is leaving IBMA over a technicality in attendance and in other online sources had said he's dropping Planet Bluegrass' membership with IBMA. Since they manage Telluride, RockyGrass and several other festivals that's a pretty big deal.

There's at least one additional board member that resigned and gave up his lifetime membership, possibly to be followed by more it's suggested.

I'm not going quote sources but I know a lot of people in the power structure that privately say this is just the tip of the iceberg. To me it's just reporting some news and making people who I know visit here aware. I dropped my membership several years back and have no dog in the fight. If you were to dig around this site deep enough you'd find I'm long on record years ago as stating the organization is a dinosaur. There's nothing wrong with bluegrass music. It's fine. But this organization in my opinion and that of others is a huge mess.

[siminoff]

I'm an IBMA Leadership Bluegrass (LBG) alumni and Scott's description of the situation is right on target. What troubles me most is that the Board's dirty laundry has been aired to the bluegrass community at large through a host of rather ugly LBG emails. Very shaky situation and I wholeheartedly agree with Scott's assessment that it is a huge mess. …R

[dang]

Then Vice Chair Craig Ferguson of Planet Bluegrass is leaving IBMA over a technicality in attendance and in other online sources had said he's dropping Planet Bluegrass' membership with IBMA. Since they manage Telluride, RockyGrass and several other festivals that's a pretty big deal.

Ahh, IMBA can say bye bye to planet bluegrass!!!

I have followed this for a bit but the phrasing of that threw me off.

Very interesting stuff, I love the Planet Bluegrass Festivals and am planning on Telluride Bluegrass Fest 2015!

[Ivan Kelsall]

From Scott - "But this organization in my opinion and that of others is a huge mess.". Even from this side of the pond,for those who keep an eye on what's going on IBMA wise,things don't seem to be all 'sweetness & light'' with the gang. The lack of organisational stability is very bad for Bluegrass, as it seems that there won't be much general concensus on 'which way to go'.
I'd hoped that after leaving Owensboro,moving to Louisville & then to Nashville & currently to Raleigh,that all the creases would be ironed out by now & that there would be a firm view of the direction that the IBMA would take for prompting Bluegrass in the future - apparently not !. I don't know anything about 'dirty laundry' (except my own), but if there's been a skunk in the wood pile,that should never have happened.
Such in-fighting as seems to be going on is lamentable,so let's all hope that some common ground can be found by the remaining board members & that some stability for the organisation can be found as well. All told = bad news !!,
Ivan

[allenhopkins]

Well, at least no one's been shot, which is more than you can say for the history of hip-hop…

Seems interesting to me, observing from (very) afar; can't see that it's dispute over the billions of dollars that bluegrass music (doesn't) involve. I often have marveled over the intense factional politics of non-profit organizations -- churches, fraternal groups, and, yes, folk music societies -- where there aren't economic causes or real "power" objectives.

Hope that those on the inside will continue to give us insights...

[TonyP]

Interesting reading Scott. Especially the editorial.

I've never been able to go to IBMA before until this year. And by what I saw on the ground I was totally shocked to find that the ED had "left". Then more shocked about the secret no confidence vote. It's always hard to get the real facts about any conflict, but the bigger the organization the harder it is. But none of the reading really answered any questions for me, being an outsider. Just more questions as to why any of this had to happen. And from past experience when weird little bylaws voted on in secret are used to oust people when they have obviously personal crisis going on with Mr. Ferguson it would really point there is some heavy agenda by the folks on the board.

Politics at any level or magnitude always seems so counterproductive and always seems to get so much worse when things seem to be turning around. Makes me very sad.

[Mike Bunting]

If the IBMA disappears it won't be any great loss. Groups like Planet Bluegrass seem to me to do far more for blue grass by actually presenting the music to the public.

[Scott Tichenor]

Formal IBMA statement.

Not my fight but the right thing to do when you're that deep in the hole is to fess up to egregious problems of organizational style instead of continuing to shovel.

[Scott Tichenor]

OK, while I was whiling away my time in New York City this past weekend I'm seeing now the bluegrass sites are starting to sort of call it like it should be called from what I'm hearing. This is not pretty, but good for those site owners for having the spine to publish these articles.

Cybergrass - IBMA Board Hemorrhaging Continues with Three More Resignations published Friday
Bluegrass Today - Time For A Change published Friday

[fernmando]

I have been involved with Blue Grass music, mostly local/regional with sporadic national stuff, since 1977. The BG community has always done well in helping it's own by way of state BG associations and the like. The sense of community is what made BG attractive to me. I'm not sure that local/regional artists like myself will benefit from the tweaking around that IBMA does, but I CAN say that I have never sensed that local/regional BG has been helped or harmed by IBMA. Besides, it took IBMA 15-20 years to figure out who Larry Sparks is. We already knew that

[Mike Bunting]

I'm getting the feeling that Jon Weisberger is just the last of the traditionalists on the board and has been fighting the devolution of bluegrass that has been apparent in recent years.

[Ivyguitar]

Besides, it took IBMA 15-20 years to figure out who Larry Sparks is. We already knew that

Ahem... Amen

[Stainless]

iBMA needs to move forward with the confidence of it's members. That cannot happen until Mr Weisberger is no longer part of the board.

[Russ Jordan]

I'm getting the feeling that Jon Weisberger is just the last of the traditionalists on the board and has been fighting the devolution of bluegrass that has been apparent in recent years.

I don't think so.......

[Mike Bunting]

I don't think so.......

How so?

[Russ Jordan]

Though Jon loves traditional bg, his opinions rendered on public forums seem to favor a big tent approach

[Mike Bunting]

<violates forum posting guidelines>

[Ivan Kelsall]

I've been hearing the news on the Bluegrass Radio station ''The Bluegrass Mix'', that 3 more IBMA board members have resigned over the on-going differences. Just what those 'differences' are i don't know - does anybody have any info.on this ?. All told,it seems that if things aren't ironed out pretty quickly & stability restored,then maybe the sucessful IBMA Festival currently held in NC might be a gonner. I sincerely hope that this won't be the case because from what i've heard & read,the Raleigh festivals have been the best for many years. Right now it's a ''watch this space'' scenario - not good !,
Ivan

[Charlieshafer]

And here I've been listening to bluegrass all these years without even knowing much about the IBMA other than a few awards they hand out. Fortunately, in music, if the "governing body" disappears, it will affect virtually no one, save for the people who worked there and earned an income. When I'm presenting a show, the phrase "IBMA winner" means nothing to anyone other than the bluegrass groupies who already are aware of the performer.

The music is what it is, the performers are who they are, the festivals and presenters who put the show shows on; all are totally unaffected by any sort of "governing organization" and popularity will not go up or down with or without an IBMA. Does classical music have one? Blues? Jazz? Rock and Roll? They might have fan clubs, or independent companies that bestow awards (Downbeat Polls, for example) but none claim to be anything other than a shrine or journal.

This will make for good soap opera material, but as far as the music and it's popularity goes, the outcome is irrelevant no matter what happens.

[Beanzy]

I suppose the outcome will depend on whether they actually use the upheval as an opportunity for improvement or just to patch over the holes and carry on as before. The problem is like anything containing a lot of air under pressure, you can patch over the holes a few times, but there comes a point where you need to replace the whole innertube or you risk a blow-out.

[nickster60]

If any of you have ever belonged to a homeowners assn. you can sympathize with the members of the IBMA. Everybody hearts are usually in the right place but egos and power struggles always seem to surface. It is just human nature I guess, look at Washington.

This quote come from a dear friend who worked with the public " The more people I meet the more I like my cat"

[mandroid]

Did it go with Pluto?

[Scott Tichenor]

All large organizations have levels of conflict within their board. The bigger issue here is the vitriolic public airing of infighting to the general member and non-membership music community. No organization with its act together allows this in public. Their own formal statement which doubled down on their recent actions is indication whoever is calling the shots has no business doing so. Also, one of my contacts couldn't believe (as could I) that the chair ran the meeting and was allowed to vote on the question of whether he should stay or not. Apparently within IBMA the fox gets to guard the hen house.

Good luck on their finding a replacement for their Executive Director position. I'm sure they can fill the space but to my eye that job looks about as appealing as applying to Captain the Titanic while the band is playing their last number.