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| Panels, Parties, and Performances: rock paper scissors' Dmitri Vietze Narrows the SXSW Choices 03/12/2010 |
 Friends and colleagues preparing for SXSW Music next week have asked for help narrowing the choices for panels, parties, and showcases. Here is an Excel spreadsheet with my picks and back-up picks for most time slots. I hope it helps!
Follow crazy pants dance moves at SXSW: twitter.com/dmitrivietze
-- Dmitri Vietze, CEO, rock paper scissors, inc. and editor of DubMC (SXSW Highlight: Slovakia's
best loved indie band Longital
plays three showcases at SXSW) |
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| Global Music Presence at SXSW 2010 03/05/2010 |
  The SXSW music conference/festival is coming up in a couple of weeks, March 17-21, 2010 in Austin Texas. Here are a few highlights for globalistas.
Panels
Of course, there are dozens of relevant panel topics related to music business, marketing, a diversity of genres, presentations from industry veterans, etc. Here are the ones that caught our eye as particularly global or cross-cultural:
March 17, 2:00 pm Latin Music on a Global Stage
March 18, 12:30 pm Global Music Marketing: How to Reach Fans Worldwide
March 18, 12:30 pm Where Goes English Folk Music?
March 18, 2:00 pm Global Rock Show
March 19, 2:00 pm Marketing 21st Century African Music
March 19, 5:00 pm Reaching America's Fastest Growing Market (Hispanics)
March 20, 2:00 pm Can China Build a Better Music Business?
Showcases
Again, tons of showcases of an international nature (I think a third of the showcases are non-North America)... but a lot of those are simply rock in another language (or in English for that matter). Here are some highlights that we feel bring some "local flavuh" along with their sounds:
* = rock paper scissors, inc.
clients
# = All Music is World Music showcase sponsored by PRI's The
World
@ = Bossa Nova Brazil showcase
! = WOMEX showcase March 17, 9:00 pm Maneja Beto
March 17, 10:00 pm Charanga Cakewalk
 March 17, 11:00 pm ChocQuibTown
March 17, 11:00 pm Ozomatli
March 17, 12:00 am Bomba Estereo
March 18, 9:30 am Nneka
March 18, 12:00 pm France Rocks Austin
March 18, 4:30 pm Sounds from Spain
March 18, 6:00 pm New Zealand Party
March 18, 8:00 pm Resplandor
March 18, 8:00 pm Pedro Morais @
March 18, 8:00 pm Gong Myoung #
March 18, 9:00 pm Somi #
March 18, 9:00 pm Uvilov
March 18, 9:15 pm Vander Lee @
March 18, 10:00 pm L.A.B.
March 18, 10:00 pm The Unthanks #
March 18, 10:30 pm Natalia Mallo @
March 18, 11:00 pm Soulico #
March 18, 11:00 pm Ventilader
March 18, 11:00 pm Mundo Livre S/A
March 18, 11:15 pm Superlitio
March 18, 11:45 pm Sylvia Patricia @
March 18, 12:00 am Longital *
March 18, 1:00 am ChocQuibTown #
March 18, 1:00 am Pedro Moraes @
March 19, 11:00 am The Barbados Talent Show - Next!
March 19, 12:00 noon Longital * March 19, 8:00 pm Wouter Kellerman ! March 19, 9:00 pm David Garza
March 19, 9:00 pm Unni Lovlid !
March 19, 10:00 pm Boom Pam
 March 19, 11:00 pm Orquestra Contemporânea De Olinda !
March 19, 11:00 pm Fishtank Ensemble * March 19, 12:00 am Grupo Fantasma ! March 19, 1:00 am Gong Myoung ! March 20, 9:55 pm Maneja Beto
March 20, 4:00 pm Longital * March 20, 10:00 pm Sambada *
March 20, 11:00 pm Boom Pam
March 20, 12:00 am Real Vocal String Quartet *
Please submit a comment if you have additions or corrections.
DubMC.com is the brainchild of Dmitri Vietze and is sponsored by rock paper scissors, inc., global music publicity firm.
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| Applying Lessons from the Hedgehog and the Fox, Part 2 of 2 03/04/2010 |
This is Part 2 in applying Jim Collins' Good to Great business book to the business of independent musicians. Part 1 is here. We talked about confronting the brutal facts and introduced the hedgehog concept (having one trick that works every time for making money). Collins breaks a solid hedgehog concept into three elements: The Hedgehog Concept (continued) 1. Pick something that you are passionate about. If you are not passionate about it, you won’t be able to sustain it. It’s easy to get sidetracked or distracted from something that your heart is not fully in. (Oh and saying you’re passionate about “all music” is like a corporation saying they are passionate about business or a chef saying they are passionate about food. Of course they are! Be more specific. The more specific, the better.)
2. Pick something at which you can be the best in the world. Not one of the best. THE best. You don’t have to be the best at it when you pick it. But if you do not have the potential to be THE best, then don’t bother. Pick something else.
 3. Know what your economic engine is. What actually makes you money? If you are not sure, then you haven’t found your hedgehog concept yet. Another way to think about this is “What is your profit per X?” In this equation “X” could mean: fan, album, song, studio hour, band member, concert, tour, etc. What is your profit per song? What is your profit per concert? Think through all the possibilities. One of them might help you understand how to tweak the variables in your career to make more money and sustain what you do.
Collins says there are three overlapping circles, each representing one of the three elements above. In the middle, where all three of these circles overlap, is your hedgehog concept. That space, where your passion meets what-you-can¬-be-best-in-the-world-at meets your economic engine, is the idea that will lead to your success.
Rinsing Your Cottage Cheese // Culture of Discipline
Collins found that the “good-to-great companies” consistently used words such as: disciplined, rigorous, dogged, determined, diligent, precise, fastidious, systematic, methodical, etc. “People in the good-to-great companies became somewhat extreme in the fulfillment of their responsibilities, bordering in some cases on fanaticism,” Collins writes.
The author goes on to tell the story of an athlete named Dave Scott, six-time winner of the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon. Scott’s daily routine was to bike 75 miles, swim 20,000 meters, and run 17 miles. He believed that a low-fat diet would give him an even more competitive edge, so he would literally rinse his cottage cheese to get the extra fat off before eating it. Collins goes on to say, “rinsing his cottage cheese was simply one more small step added to all the other small steps to create a consistent program of superdiscipline.”
 The question is: have you personally, or your band or management team, developed enough discipline to do whatever it takes to become the best at what you do—your hedgehog concept—and continuously improve on it? You can apply this to the discipline of rehearsal—lots of good musicians apply it there, practicing their technique for several hours a day. Have you developed your own personal discipline around the business side of being a musician? Even applying it to your stagecraft—the skills that make all the difference between being someone who plays music and being a fully engaging performer and entertainer who engages all five senses of their audience—could be a huge breakthrough. Apply this level of discipline to all aspects of your career: your visual presentation, your personal interactions, your use of databases or spreadsheets to track fans and concert presenters, every detail that relates to your hedgehog concept. If you struggle to have that discipline, do you have the will to do whatever it takes to turn your potential into reality? Would you rinse your cottage cheese?
The inverse of this is just as important: if it does not fit your hedgehog concept, don’t do it. Collins says to start a “stop doing” list. Don’t do side projects that are not in the plan. Don’t get distracted by the latest internet service or “fun” music biz conference if it does not fit the goal. Don’t just show up because everyone else is. Don’t put out an album or a single “because it is time.” Don’t play that weekly gig that nobody is showing up to or that does not pay. Unless these things fit your hedgehog concept. And if they do fit in, know why you are doing these things.
Technology Accelerators
 The final concept I will discuss here—Technology Accelerators—is NOT a major concept of the Good to Great book. But I shine a light on it because technology tools are such a strong focus in the music industry “literature” (a.k.a. websphere/conferencesphere, etc.) and I think more musicians and music biz professional should take heed of Collins’ warnings on the subject. He argues that technology is simply an accelerator. If you take a business (or the business of a band) and throw technology at it, you simply accelerate what is already happening with the business.
To oversimplify things, if you are spending money without a clear plan and throw technology at it, you will simply speed up the spending of that money. If you are successfully, gradually building a fan base, and you have a plan that uses technological tools to further build that fan base, your fan base will grow more quickly. Technology is not an ANSWER to your problems. It is an accelerator. Use it accordingly.
Understand what will make you money, understand the steps to get there, do it WITHOUT the use of technology, and then develop a plan for how specific technology tools will help you further that strategy. If nobody is going to see your profile on website X, there is no need for that profile. If you have nothing of significance to say on an email newsletter, nobody is going to read that email newsletter (you will simply be accelerating their boredom or burnout). If you have no plan to engage fans in a financial exchange through social media, fans will not pay you money in that online space. Are you on Facebook to sell albums or MP3s or to sell tickets or to seek investors or to find collaborators? If you don’t know, then how do you know you are friending the right people? No clear plan + technology = even less of a clear plan.
“When used right, technology becomes an accelerator of momentum, not a creator of it,” Collins continues by writing “you cannot make good use of technology until you know which technologies are relevant. And which are those? Those—and only those—that link directly to the three intersecting circles of the Hedgehog Concept.”
Conclusion
Be honest and confront the brutal facts of the current state of the music industry. You’re your own personal economy. Search for your hedgehog concept: the intersection of your passion, what you can do best at, and what your economic denominator is. And don’t add technology into the mix until you really know the driving concept behind the business of your music career.
DubMC.com is the brainchild of Dmitri Vietze and is sponsored by rock paper scissors, inc., global music publicity firm. |
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| Good to Great: Applying Lessons from the Hedgehog and the Fox to the Business of Independent Musicians (from One of the Greatest Business Books of All Times), Part 1 of 2 03/03/2010 |
 It’s risky business taking a book based on research of what makes large corporations great and applying it to the likes of a musician or band. I’m sure that Jim Collins, a rigorous researcher/author of Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t, would say his book can’t be directly applied to such an unrelated field. Yet some of his concepts serve as a great launching point for musicians. We are faced with an increasingly saturated marketplace where the writing on the wall is that new internet applications will save us all, but there is little evidence to show the way. Here I tackle four relevant criteria of great companies according to Collins (he has nine in all).
Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith)
Great organizations are really honest… brutally honest… about what is going on around them. Instead of denying tough times or bad decisions, they face them head on, so that they can address them, make course corrections, and learn from their mistakes. “It is impossible to make good decisions without infusing the entire process with an honest confrontation of the brutal facts,” writes Collins.” He says that when you’re honest this way, “the right decisions often become self-evident.”
In the case of the music business, this means truly recognizing things like:
- CD sales suck
- digital sales have not replaced CD sales
- not every musician who makes an album—no matter how much blood, sweat, and tears they have put into an album or repertoire—can have a record label, distributor, agent, or manager
- just because you have music on the main online retailers, does not mean you will sell any
- you’re probably not going to be one of those bands who really breaks through thanks to YouTube, MySpace, Pitchfork, etc.
- you might need to keep your day job a lot longer than you hoped
- you’re not going to be able to pay off that studio time debt with album sales
That might sound depressing. But more depressing is to not acknowledge these brutal facts. If you block this information, you cannot develop a strategy for addressing your economic reality as someone trying to make a living as a musician.
The flip side of this concept is Never Lose Faith. Great organizations (and musicians) are so passionate about what they do that they are committed to wading through mines and hurricanes. The balance between honesty about the brutal facts and faith in your mission is key to staying on course while developing strategies for being successful.
The Fox and Hedgehog
 The core concept of Collins’ book is articulated through the parable of the fox and the hedgehog. Every day the fox wakes up with tons of energy, ideas, and motivations for eating the hedgehog. He is always ready to try something new, always coming up with a new plan. One day he might try a full speed head-on attack. The next day he might hide out in a cave all day waiting for the right moment to attack. Another day he might plan to dive off a ledge. On and on come the ideas and attempts. Meanwhile, every day the hedgehog—which looks like a small cute porcupine—bumbles around looking for its next meal. She doesn’t have infinite tricks like the fox. But every time the fox attacks her, she has one trick that works every time: she curls into a ball making her spiky spines stick out and keeps the fox from eating her.
Collins argues that every great organization has a hedgehog concept: one primary thing that they can count on time and time again to work. Collins cites as examples: Walgreens, “to run the best, most convenient drug stores with high profit per customer visit;” Wells Fargo, “run a bank like a business, with a focus on the western United States, and consistently increase profit per employee;” Circuit City, “‘the McDonald’s’ of big-ticket retailing, able to operate a geographically dispersed system by remote control.” As a musician or music company you may not need such a complex hedgehog concept.
 In today’s era of endless Internet tools and services designed to help the independent musician, it’s hard not to think that you need to “do” them all: Twitter, Facebook, Sonic Bids, ReverbNation, iTunes, CDBaby, Amazon, MySpace, etc. Having a hedgehog concept gives focus. A simple driving concept helps you to stay focused on that one thing that will actually make a difference in your career.Furthermore, while many professional musicians continue to look towards an archetypal model of success in the music industry, what Collins’ corporate research suggests is that an entity does not need THE concept that will lead them to financial success. An entity needs THEIR concept that will lead to THEIR financial success.
He further breaks down three elements of a solid hedgehog concept. Read Part 2 of the Hedgehog article to read about these three elements (picking something you are truly passionate about, something at which you can be the best in the world; and understanding your economic engine) as well as why you should rinse your cottage cheese and the pitfalls of new technology for musicians).
DubMC.com is the brainchild of Dmitri Vietze and is sponsored by rock paper scissors, inc., global music publicity firm. |
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| New Musical Instrument Museum Opens April 24, 2010: Q&A with Artistic Director Sunni Fass 03/02/2010 |
Our jaws dropped when we heard about the new Musical Instrument Museum opening next month in Phoenix. And we were so excited to hear that Lotus Festival veteran and Indiana University Folklore/Ethnomusicology program survivor Sunni Fass is taking the artistic helm of the museum's live music space as artistic and managing director of the MIM Music Theater. We asked her basic questions. She provided thoughtful answers:
What is MIM?  MIM (Musical Instrument Museum) is a brand-new museum and venue opening in Phoenix, Arizona on April 24, 2010. MIM boasts close to 200,000 square feet focused entirely on music and musical instruments from around the globe, and permanent exhibitions with will feature at least one exhibit for every single country in the world (plus certain territories), complete with an immersive A/V experience that brings instruments to life. Other exhibits highlight instrument-making, cross-cultural examination of various instrument types, or “celebrity” instruments used by significant performers from around the world. Our total collection currently houses over 10,000 instruments.
In addition to its exhibitions, MIM will also be a center for live performance of the world’s music. The Music Theater at MIM is a state-of-the-art, intimate venue that seats approximately 300 and treats both audiences and artists to unparalleled acoustics and unforgettable encounters.
MIM is unique. There is no other institution or instrument collection in the world that presents such a breadth and scope of musical culture, on such a large scale.
Our Mission: The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) celebrates the similarities and differences of the world's cultures as expressed through music, which is common to us all. With musical instruments from every country in the world, MIM will pay homage to the history and diversity of instruments and introduce museum guests to their varied and unique sounds. MIM will be an engaging, entertaining, and informative experience, in which the uninitiated and the knowledgeable, the young and the old will feel welcome.
Museum guests will gain an appreciation for both the musical similarities and unique differences among divergent cultures, countries, and ethnicities through state-of-the-art exhibits. Integrated audio and video experiences will enable guests to appreciate the sounds of instruments from around the world as well as to see these instruments played in their cultural context.
How much “world music” presence will the museum have?
What we traditionally refer to as “world music” will be the bread and butter of MIM and lies at the core of our mission. The breadth and balance of information presented about every region of the world is absolutely unique in the world of museums, and this breadth will be echoed in the Music Theater. MIM’s “world music” presence will be extraordinary.
Tell us about the physical performance space?
 The MIM Music Theater seats 300 and is a recital hall-style space with amazing acoustics and intimate artist-audience engagement. The stage is approximately 1200 square feet, with no curtains, and it has the option of a full-size retractable screen that will enable artists to incorporate multimedia elements into a performance or enable MIM to use the space to screen films, documentaries, etc. MIM has a state-of-the-art Meyer sound system and a live-sound setup featuring some of the best equipment available in the industry, as well as a total recording solution that incorporates top-notch audio and video capture and live broadcast capabilities. For artist comfort and convenience, MIM’s back-of-house spaces are immediately adjacent to the stage and feature spacious dressing room and green room options, plus a loading dock within feet of the stage door.
How much live performance do you expect to have?
The MIM Music Theater will have a full, year-round presenting schedule and feature both a summer season and a “main” season. At present, the anticipated density of live performance is up to 12-15 performances per month, with a combination of national and international touring artists as well as several regular series of artists from Arizona and the Southwest region. MIM will also rent the Theater space for shows presented by third-party promoters.
What kinds of acts do you expect to book?
MIM will present the world’s music – period. Our seasons will regularly feature “world music,” jazz, Americana, classical music, and a host of other genres – traditional and contemporary – side by side in the schedule. We are a prestigious space for established “headliner” artists to perform, as well as a great space for emerging artists to get noticed on the scene.
Although the space is primarily designed for smaller acoustic ensembles or solo performance, it is also beautifully adaptable for mid-size or amplified groups, and even some dance. We will work with artists to achieve the best-possible production values in the hall.
MIM Music Theater Mission Statement: The Music Theater at the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) will celebrate global musical diversity through the live presentation of high-quality traditional, contemporary, instrumental, and vocal music from all regions of the world. Bringing exhibits and exhibit themes to life, the MIM Music Theater will present concerts and educational events that are engaging, entertaining, and informative for audiences of all ages and tastes. The MIM Music Theater is committed to providing a world-class experience for guests and performers alike.
What other types of programming (live and exhibit) will MIM have?
MIM will have over 250 exhibits that feature instruments from literally every country in the world. A rich A/V experience is a component of every exhibit, as well as costumes and other artifacts that are integral parts of musical culture. MIM will also present special and themed exhibits, temporary traveling exhibits, as well as an Artists Gallery for instruments connected to significant musicians from all over the world. Our visible Conservation Lab will give visitors a glimpse into the world of instrument preservation and restoration.
MIM will also have an exciting and accessible educational program that will reach families, K-12 students, university students and faculty, retired/senior populations, and general visitors of all ages. A centerpiece of this program is our hands-on Experience Gallery, where guests can experiment with music-making on instruments from all over the world. Examples of other educational offerings include classes, school tours, in-gallery demonstrations, outreach activities, and special docent-led tours. With a full slate of educational and public programs, MIM expects to become a center of learning and experience related to the world’s musical cultures. MIM will also be a center for scholarly research, via our extraordinary instrument collection as well as our library and A/V archive.
How was MIM started?
MIM was founded by Bob Ulrich, formerly the CEO of the Target Corporation. MIM is an established 501(c)3 private operating foundation and will actively pursue a wide range of charitable contributions.
What else are you most excited about with MIM?
 First of all, our collections are brought to life in a completely unique way. In most museums that have musical instrument collections, instruments are objects of beauty but that’s all you get – you rarely get to experience them as living, breathing things. At MIM, we have put an emphasis on context and the human side of the musical equation, as well as the sounds. Our instruments are displayed in ensembles so that people can get a sense of how they’re really used, rather than just seeing 30 flutes lined up on a wall. Our labels and interpretive materials tell stories about how these instruments function as a part of real life, for real people. And the video components add rich dimensions that are almost never communicated in a museum setting – How is the instrument held? Who is playing it? What are they wearing? Who is listening? Are people dancing? What’s the total musical and social environment of which this instrument is a part? You get all of that and more at MIM – plus the live performance element in the Theater, where it’s so intimate that you feel like you’re in your living room with these amazing artists.
 Second, I love that our scope is truly global and that we take a balanced approach to our entire collection equally. Many museums have non-Western instruments in their collections, but those are rarely treated with the same depth of information as their Amati violins or other Western art instruments. At MIM, we present a level playing field – all of our instruments, from our historic European brasswinds to our extraordinary ensembles from the Mongolian steppes, are given the same thoughtful, rich presentation with the same wealth of information and discussion of why these instruments are special and meaningful and worthy of being in a museum. Even down to details like knowing the name of the instrument maker – unlike other institutions where non-Western instruments are usually “Anonymous,” we are taking pains to recognize the names and identities of as many of these artisans as possible.
This same perspective makes our Music Theater unique as well. Rather than separating out a category like “world music” from other labels like “classical” or “jazz” or “Western,” we are breaking down the walls and tossing out the quotation marks. MIM celebrates and presents the world’s music. All of it. It’s all world music – better yet, it’s all music. MIM connects. It’s refreshing.
We’re opening on April 24th, 2010 – come visit us! In the meantime, check out our website and especially the introductory video and virtual tour, both on our home page. They’re inspiring. Thanks, Sunni, for answering our questions!
DubMC.com is the brainchild of Dmitri Vietze and is sponsored by rock paper scissors, inc., global music publicity firm.
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| WOMEX 2010 Dates Announced 01/21/2010 |
| WOMEX--the annual conference for world music professionals--has announced that the 2010 event will take place Wednesday, October 27 through Sunday, October 31, 2010. WOMEX 2010 will take place for the second year in Copenhagen, Denmark. Online booking will begin in late March. |
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| globalFEST Reviews / Live Recordings Online 01/13/2010 |
 If you missed, globalFEST 2010 at NYC's Webster Hall, you can still hear some of the music and read some reviews here. globalFEST is a taste-making world music festival that not only draws 1000+ attendees, but also draws 300+ performing arts and music industry professionals in conjunction with the Arts Presenters conference ("APAP" as it is called in the field), which itself has become a significant gathering for the world music field. The festival, which is produced by Bill Bragin of Acidophilus: Live and Active Cultures, Isabel Soffer of World Music Institute, and Shanta Thake of Joe's Pub and the Public Theater, and supported by The Cultural Services of the French Embassy, the French Music Export Office and, as media sponsor, WNYC Radio.
NPR's All Songs Considered has just posted their podcast special on the show. Listen here. They will be posting most of the full concerts gradually, one by one, this week. Which they did last year. The New York Times review is also a revealing description for those who missed the festival. There was also a lot of pre and post festival and live tweeting during the event. Scan the Twitter action here. Concert photos here. Concert previews here on the rock paper scissors articles page. Reviews to be added soon. DubMC.com is the brainchild of Dmitri Vietze and is sponsored by rock paper scissors, inc., global music publicity firm (who happens to represent globalFEST). |
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| Unofficial Guide to World Music Showcases (final ? edition) 01/04/2010 |
 Here is the final (?) Unofficial Guide to World Music Showcases (in Excel) happening in NYC around January 7-12, 2010. Here is a PDF version. IMPORTANT: use this document as a general guide as there are probably errors and omissions. Call agents/venues in advance to confirm times/locations. Delete any versions older than 01/04/2010 listed in the footer.
DubMC.com is the brainchild of Dmitri Vietze and is sponsored by rock paper scissors, inc., global music publicity firm.
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| WOMEX Report Back: DubMC Asks Michael Orlove of the Chicago World Music Festival and Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs 01/03/2010 |
Michael Orlove, senior programs director, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
 What 3-4 WOMEX showcase artist discoveries stood out for you?
My choices (in no particular order). The four below represent groups I had never seen before and I thought were simply OUTSTANDING.
1. Kouyate-Neerman
2. Staff Benda Bilili
3. Mamane Barka
4. Barbara Fortuna
What CDs did you take from WOMEX that are you most excited about?
1. Analog Africa's newest compilations (AKA Samy Ben Redjeb). Still going through the 100 or so CDs I brought back but the early winners are below. Samy is in his own category as a 'crate digger' and the stuff he finds in various African countries is incredible. His latest 'discoveries' of Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou are a wonderful listen.
2. Danyel Waro. Danyel is an artist I saw over a decade ago in Paris and he is someone I would love to present in Chicago. He is from the Reunion Islands and one of the main purveyors of Maloya...the musical style mixing African, Madagascan and Indian origins. If you haven't heard his music, check it out...
What else spurred your thinking while at a WOMEX?
1. Staff Benda Bilili...their story is so incredibly moving and motivational. We should all be able to learn (and be inspired) from them.
2. Gerald Seligman's final speech. A great champion of our field of music, he did a phenomenal job the past three years leading the WOMEX conference and a variety of satellite events. His final speech brought a giant smile to my face reminding me of why I remain 'doing what I do' having the luck to be a part of this wonderful community we all belong to. A class act, Gerald left us with words to live by:
 This is my last WOMEX as General Director, and I hope you'll indulge me a few final words.
It's been an honor to serve in the midst of this remarkable, international group of artists and professionals. Events production can be hell, but what makes it all worthwhile is the community we all comprise. As ends in themselves, this isn't about making money though we all need to survive. It isn't about ulterior motives, conflicts of interest, capitalizing on the
efforts, arts and good intentions of others, though, inevitably, there are
those who may view it that way.
This community is about a very special blend of international solidarity, wide-eyed, not naive, open-hearted, not close-minded.
Many in the media, in politics, in society use racial, religious or national
differences to raise tension to conflict, and conflict to clash. And on the
back of the inevitable backlash limit access to society, close doors to
those in need, isolate the immigrant communities within our own borders.
But others, bless them, will plead in the face of rising xenophobia, please
please people we must be tolerant.
But that's not what we do, is it? We, all of us, we don't tolerate
difference. We celebrate difference. It's the air we breathe, the lands we
travel, the partnerships we form, the friends we make, the music and artists
we do our daily best to nurture and support.
I must say. You are so many of the best people it is my good fortune to
know. I salute you, I salute you, I salute you. |
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