But…It’s Never Been Done Before!

Joanne Gardner, John Lowell, and the Virtual 2020 IBMA Bluegrass Awards Show The performance centerpiece of the annual IBMA conference is the IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards show, where – selected by the membership – the IBMA showcases and celebrates the best performers of the year. In a year of social distancing and facemasks, Paul Schiminger (IBMA Executive Director) made the unprecedented decision to hold a virtual IBMA conference (itself a massive challenge), and he knew that the conference would not be complete without its Awards Show.  But the typical awards show is a logistical nightmare. It’s essentially a social gathering, where a tide of performers flows onstage and offstage and backstage, moving around and into every space, talking and playing and enjoying the collected company. That could not be the case in 2020. So Schiminger decided to explore a virtual Awards show.  One slight problem: how might that even work?  Alison Brown It was, in ret