The Board of Directors of the International Bluegrass Music Association has accepted a report from the recently formed Awards Show Guidelines and Oversight Task Force, which sets out their recommendations for Board supervision and responsibility for the annual awards presentation.

This task force was created in response to an uproar from a portion of the IBMA membership who took offense at what they believed was a pro war, or at least pro US military theme in two musical presentations during the 2006 presentation, and the inclusion in the show of a particular song that the Board had requested be excised from the program.

We discussed that issue when it was a hot topic last fall, here and here.

The proposed document, entitled Recommendation to the IBMA Board of Directors - Awards Show Guidelines Task Force 2007, can be read on the IBMA site, and the Board has requested that members carefully read the report, and share their feedback via a link that is posted at the bottom of the report.

The stated goal is to ensure that decisions about the Awards Show are made and managed at the Board level, and as a side concern, that the show ensures that “the diversity of the international bluegrass community, including the IBMA’s membership, is respected.” Approximately 3.5% of the IBMA’s professional membership lives outside the United States.