Thanks Alden! I like the point you make about the arts in the US, which is essential here. It is true that the connection with Brittany had probably a lot to do with the funding of the hurdy-gurdy event (the only one receiving outside funding in the 7-Nations project). Actually, because of that connection, we hope that our students and the local community, including the Scott-Irish American community in Savannah will not only be exposed to an instrument about which they generally know nothing (in a class of 150 students yesterday, no one had the faintest idea of what a hg is; a couple of weeks ago, during a short demonstration in another class, I was asked how the air circulated through the instrument to make that sound), but they will also hear the various ideas thrown at this list by folks tonight (the purpose of the series, including redefining or throwing away terms like the "7 Nations"), they'll listen to music most (sometimes all of them) have never heard, from the Renaissance(I can't remember if Gilles told me he was going to play some medieval pieces)to what Patrick and Gilles are currently doing, and ... they may be tempted to go to hurdy-gurdy festivals and buy an instrument from the great luthiers on this list. All of that would be nice... we hope its works and that they show up...
Regards, Jean-Paul http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/~jnpcrtn/ -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 7:13 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [HG] Celticness and Arts funding - was the Savannah Morning News Great post, Jean-Paul. Whatever the merits of the discussion of "Celticness" may be, there's another factor here. Funding for the arts in the US is notoriously scarce, and has become even more scarce since another endeavor is sucking up a large share of the taxes we pay. Consequently people in arts groups are often willing to stretch a point in order to get funding for their projects. If one needs to apply to a group that funds Breton events, there's an incentive for finding a Breton connection to your event so that one can get funded. Such connections often get carried into the publicity material, so that the funding agency can see that their money was well-spent. Regardless of everything else, I think Jean-Paul should get a big round of applause for putting together this event. I can personally testify that it's a huge amount of effort. As a community I believe that we should be supporting the larger-picture ideas and applauding the time and energy that went into creating them, not worrying so much about the fine points of the press releases. Good job, Jean-Paul!! Alden
