Our recent examination of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s financial condition generated considerable discussion, raising important questions about the organization’s challenges, and its future. Perhaps that conversation offers an opportunity to look beyond the numbers and consider what might come next.
With that in mind, I’ve taken the liberty of reimagining what IBMA might look like if it were given the opportunity to start over. Not to abandon its mission, its traditions, or the people who have sustained it for nearly four decades, but to reconsider how best to serve them.
What if World of Bluegrass were no longer built around producing a major public music festival? What if the annual awards ceremony could retain its prestige without the expense of a large-scale theatrical production? And what if the resources devoted to those undertakings could instead be used to strengthen the association’s financial position and provide greater value to its members?
These are hypothetical questions, but they are hardly irrelevant ones. With IBMA facing significant financial challenges and preparing for new executive leadership, perhaps this is an appropriate time to imagine what a different World of Bluegrass might look like.
An old debate worth revisiting
The question of whether IBMA should be producing a major public festival is hardly new. It was being debated when I served on the IBMA Board of Directors from 1998 through 2002, during which time I also chaired the organization’s Marketing Committee. Former executive director Art Menius was among those who questioned whether a trade association should also be in the business of producing a public festival. It’s a discussion that has resurfaced periodically over the years, and given the organization’s present financial condition, perhaps it’s time to revisit it.
In fact, Menius weighed in on our recent financial investigation with a rather pointed observation: “The festival is the foundation of IBMA’s financial struggles. It does not work financially.” He went on to argue that the festival was financially viable in earlier years largely because artists donated their performances, and that it has continued to consume substantial staff time and resources even when it generates little or no profit. Menius also traced the association’s involvement in festival production to its original arrangement with Owensboro, when IBMA assumed responsibility for the city’s existing festival.
At its heart, the argument has always been about what IBMA is supposed to be. Is it primarily a trade organization serving bluegrass professionals, or should it also produce large public entertainment events? There’s nothing inherently wrong with doing both, provided the resources are there. But when one activity threatens the financial health of everything else, that question becomes considerably more important.
For nearly four decades, IBMA has brought together artists, broadcasters, labels, promoters, agents, songwriters, and others whose livelihoods depend on bluegrass. World of Bluegrass combines professional development, networking, showcases, awards, and public performances. All are worthwhile, but they don’t carry the same financial risks, or necessarily have to be packaged together.
The cost of being a festival promoter
Producing a major public music festival is a risky business. Ticketed concerts and free street stages alike require commitments for staging, sound, security, personnel, and performers, often months in advance. Weather, attendance, competing events, and consumer spending can quickly upset the best-laid plans. Festival promoters deal with those risks every day, but for IBMA, the public festival is only one part of a much larger mission. Can the association keep taking that gamble without compromising its ability to serve members?
The numbers certainly give us reason to ask. According to IBMA’s fiscal 2025 IRS Form 990, the association reported approximately $535,000 in expenses associated with IBMA Bluegrass Live!, compared with about $298,000 in directly reported program revenue. That’s a shortfall of roughly $237,000. For comparison, IBMA’s overall deficit that year was approximately $469,000, meaning the festival’s reported program shortfall was equivalent to slightly more than half the organization’s total annual deficit.
One important distinction: IBMA Bluegrass Live! in Raleigh included not only the ticketed Red Hat Amphitheater concerts, but also the free downtown StreetFest stages and related public activities. The program figures shouldn’t be confused with the results of ticketed concerts alone; detailed accounting would be needed to separate those costs and revenues. Nor would eliminating the public festival automatically erase half the deficit. Shared expenses, grants, sponsorships, and other revenue might disappear with it. Still, the shortfall is large enough to ask how much exposure IBMA could eliminate by leaving the public festival business.
The inaugural Chattanooga event in September 2025 offers another reason for concern. Interim executive director Paul Schiminger confirmed that the festival performed approximately $471,000 worse than budgeted, with expenses exceeding projections by $282,000 and revenue falling $189,000 short. That’s a budget variance, not necessarily the festival’s actual net loss, but it illustrates just how quickly the financial picture can deteriorate.
IBMA’s difficulties didn’t begin in Chattanooga. Tax returns document three consecutive deficits totaling more than $863,000 through June 2025, and Schiminger has confirmed another deficit for fiscal 2026. Surely the board must ask whether this event structure is sustainable.
A different kind of World of Bluegrass
What would World of Bluegrass look like without the public festival? I don’t think it would necessarily be diminished. It might be a more focused, affordable gathering for the people IBMA was created to serve.
Picture a three-day industry convention. Keep the conference, with sessions on touring, marketing, broadcasting, licensing, and technology. Keep the trade show, where instrument makers, labels, and service providers connect with customers and partners. Keep the artist showcases, where performers can be heard by agents, promoters, broadcasters, and other decision-makers. And keep the annual awards, recognizing excellence throughout the bluegrass community.
What disappears is the responsibility for the public festival, including both ticketed concerts and free street performances. That could mean fewer venues, less production infrastructure, and a more manageable staff commitment, while making the gathering more affordable for independent musicians and small businesses.
Of course, something would be lost. The festival has provided memorable performances, introduced new audiences to bluegrass, and benefited host communities. But must IBMA itself carry the risk? Could an established promoter, perhaps working with the association, deliver those benefits without putting IBMA’s finances on the line?
Rethinking the awards show
The IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards are among the association’s most recognizable accomplishments. I wouldn’t do away with them. For many recipients, that recognition is a career milestone. But the presentation doesn’t have to be a major theatrical production to matter, particularly when the expense of producing it has become a financial concern.
IBMA’s fiscal 2025 tax return reported approximately $294,000 in awards-show expenses against $106,000 in directly reported revenue, a shortfall of roughly $187,000. Schiminger has acknowledged that the awards show has operated at a deficit for several years and that the board is examining ways to reduce its cost. Rather than simply trimming around the edges of an expensive production, perhaps it’s time to rethink the format altogether.
Imagine an evening in an attractive hotel ballroom or modest performing arts venue, with several hundred industry professionals, a respected host, good sound and lighting, a handful of acoustic performances, and the awards themselves. Record or stream it for fans at home. Would an award mean any less without elaborate staging? I rather doubt it. The prestige comes from the recognition, not the production budget.
A smaller organization with a stronger foundation
Cutting expenses is part of the equation, but there’s a larger opportunity here. What could IBMA accomplish if it devoted less money, staff time, and energy to major events? In fiscal 2025, IBMA spent approximately $1.35 for every dollar it received. Its audited association-only financial statements showed negative net assets and a substantial decline in available cash compared with earlier years. Those aren’t circumstances that leave much room for another disappointing festival, unexpected expense, or revenue shortfall.
Reducing that exposure could allow IBMA to rebuild reserves and devote more attention to membership, education, advocacy, and fundraising. More online seminars, practical resources for independent artists and businesses, and stronger ties with regional organizations could provide value throughout the year. That leads to a question IBMA has wrestled with for years: What does membership offer that makes someone want to write a check every year?
A trade association needs to justify its existence between conventions. Its value should extend beyond a few days of annual activities, providing meaningful benefits to the people and businesses it represents. A more focused IBMA might be better positioned to do just that.
An IBMA reboot
There’s another issue that deserves attention, and it won’t be found in any financial statement. Over the years, I’ve heard from plenty of people in the bluegrass community who have become disillusioned with IBMA. Some believe the organization has lost sight of its original purpose, while others question whether their membership provides any meaningful benefit. Still others feel the association has devoted too much attention to particular interests or initiatives while overlooking the everyday needs of the broader industry.
Certainly, not everyone agrees, and many members remain enthusiastic. But dismissing the dissatisfaction would be a mistake. When longtime supporters question whether an organization still represents them, its leadership ought to listen. Reinventing World of Bluegrass could be part of a broader reset, one that asks what IBMA stands for, whether its programs are helping working professionals, whether its awards recognize genuine excellence, and whether its decisions are guided by principles members understand and trust.
I’d put professionalism at the center: musical excellence, professional achievement, integrity, fairness, and service to the industry. Those principles can unite people with different tastes and opinions. Recognition should follow excellence wherever it occurs, and the association’s resources should serve the membership as a whole.
That takes more than a new executive director or convention schedule. The board should listen to those who stayed, those who walked away, and those who never saw enough value to join. It needs an honest accounting of where IBMA succeeds and where it has fallen short. A balanced budget would be welcome, but an organization that hasn’t regained its members’ confidence still has a serious problem. Reimagining World of Bluegrass may require reimagining IBMA itself.
Grants, sponsors, and financial confidence
A leaner IBMA might also change its prospects for grants and sponsorships. The association depends on dues, grants, sponsorships, donations, and event revenue, and some of that funding is tied directly to the festival and the visitor spending it generates. That support cannot be assumed to survive a change in format.
The Chattanooga agreement, for example, included a Tennessee grant award of approximately $657,000 to support the events. IBMA subsequently learned that comparable state funding would not be available for the following year’s gathering. That illustrates how uncertain event-related funding can be, particularly when an organization’s budget depends on support that may not be repeated.
Eliminating the festival could mean losing some funding, but it might also open opportunities centered on education, cultural preservation, professional development, and advancing bluegrass music. Those possibilities deserve study, not assumption. A clear mission, credible budget, and improving financial condition could make IBMA a more attractive long-term partner for foundations, companies, and individual donors.
Sponsors want to know their support accomplishes something worthwhile and that the organization is managed responsibly. Financial stability doesn’t guarantee a check, but it’s a stronger proposition than repeatedly asking supporters to cover operating deficits.
Lessons from the COVID years
IBMA has already shown that World of Bluegrass can operate without a conventional public festival. COVID forced the 2020 event online, yet educational programming, industry activities, and musical presentations continued. The association reported substantial surpluses during the pandemic and early recovery period, in contrast with the deficits that followed.
But the comparison needs care. Fiscal 2022 included about $444,000 in federal Shuttered Venue Operators Grant revenue, and it would be misleading to credit the favorable results entirely to going virtual. Still, the experience showed that IBMA could serve members without mounting a large public festival. Maybe the answer isn’t an entirely virtual event, but a smaller in-person convention supplemented by online programming and a modest awards ceremony.
A challenge for the next executive director
The next executive director will inherit a proud history and people who care deeply about IBMA’s future. But let’s not pretend the room will be full of enthusiastic supporters. Many are frustrated, believing the association has lost direction, neglected their professional interests, or stopped listening. Some remain involved; others have walked away.
That dissatisfaction comes with the financial problems. Rebuilding trust won’t happen through another fundraising appeal or slogan. It will take listening, clear priorities, difficult decisions, and evidence that IBMA is serving the industry it represents. The association has pursued fundraising and cost controls, and those efforts deserve recognition. But is it trying to raise enough money to preserve the existing model, or is it willing to reconsider the model itself?
One approach assumes the current structure can survive with more revenue. The other asks what IBMA truly needs to accomplish, what it should cost, and how to pay for it without repeatedly risking its future. Neither guarantees success, and contractual obligations can’t be wished away. After years of deficits, though, both approaches deserve scrutiny, and members deserve a voice before the next round of major commitments.
Looking through the glass
None of this diminishes the people who built IBMA or the contributions of World of Bluegrass. The festival has created opportunities, introduced audiences to the music, and brought people together. The awards and annual gathering have produced memories and relationships no balance sheet can measure. But honoring that history doesn’t require preserving every part of the business model forever.
What if IBMA’s next chapter were measured not by the size of its annual event but by the strength of the organization? What if a more affordable gathering, respected awards, useful member services, and rebuilt reserves became its priorities? Those are possibilities worth considering, particularly when the current approach has produced such troubling financial results.
These are questions, not conclusions. We don’t yet have all the financial information needed to evaluate a transformation, and existing obligations matter. But the questions deserve to be asked. The next executive director and board must decide what IBMA can afford to be, what it stands for, whose interests it serves, and how to regain the confidence of those who’ve lost faith. Perhaps it’s time for the membership to have a meaningful voice in deciding not just what World of Bluegrass should look like, but what kind of IBMA it wants to become.
