With the Forum’s third AGM coming up next month (November 3) these are among the things that keep me awake at night. Could our collective wisdom help me get a decent night’s sleep?

With the Forum’s third AGM coming up next month (November 3) these are among the things that keep me awake at night.   Could our collective wisdom help me get a decent night’s sleep?

Would it be helpful to think of ‘Scottish Traditional Music’ as a brand?  What would that brand stand for, if so?

Are there too many performers and not enough gigs?  Does the TMF have an audience development role?

Can we make more of the workshops and courses TRACS offers at the Scottish Storytelling Centre more widely available throughout Scotland?

How do traditional musicians learn?

How can we encourage a culture of reflection among teaching musicians?

Should teaching musicians be formally accredited?

How can the TMF best support artists?

Too many performers, not enough audience?

Are the pathways for people who want a career in traditional music sufficiently coherent?

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What is the place of the traditional arts in our wider culture?

How can we best get the people of Scotland (via its government, civic institutions, and as a society) to definitively recognise traditional music as an asset and to give it value in the modern world?  Who has status and power in this respect?

What is the role of the traditional arts in linking cultural memory, a sense of place and flourishing communities?

Creative Scotland’s Traditional Arts Commissioning fund, the Year of Natural Scotland, Homecoming – how can we best engage with these?

What is the place of traditional music in the Curriculum for Excellence?

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What is the need for organisational and capacity development in our community?  Who is best placed to offer that?  What can we learn from European organisations and practice?

How important is the social enterprise model for the traditional music community?

What is the Forum’s own capacity to lead on complex projects?

Can we handle the lead times for information and projects that the tourist industry requires?

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How should a network work?

Why should people join?

How can TMF policy be best developed and set out?

What’s the best way of keeping the Forum membership informed about what’s going on?

Do people find the website valuable?  Is anyone using the What’s On function to post their own stuff up?

How do we signal the quality of information resources?

Additional questions and of course answers gratefully accepted.  Enough here to keep us blogging until the next AGM.