richard hurst on receiving the ibma distinguished achievement award

Susan Newberry Remarks

"It is my great privilege to talk to you for a few minutes about my friend and colleague Richard Hurst, and how he has spent his career highlighting the “international” in the International Bluegrass Music Association.

Richard was the Visitor Services Manager at the Ulster American Folk Park, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, for 36 years. He was responsible for the formulation and delivery of the museum’s public programs, the largest of which is its annual Appalachian
and Bluegrass Music-themed festival. This three-day event began in 1992, featuring bluegrass and old-time music from North America and Europe, as well as across the island of Ireland. The award-winning Festival, now known as Bluegrass Omagh, takes place in late May each year, attracting thousands of visitors from near and far, and is a past nominee for the IBMA Event of the Year.

Richard and I first met in the mid-Nineteen Nineties, when he and I began a collaboration between the Ulster American Folk Park and the organization I led for many years, PineCone, the Piedmont Council of Traditional Music, based here in Raleigh. We worked together to showcase North Carolina and other North American musical artists at the Festival, and to bring Irish artists to North Carolina and around the U.S.

Over the years, our programs at the festival grew to include inter-denominational outreach sessions at local churches and schools, instrument workshops, dance and singing classes and a lecture series where visiting greats of the American Folk music tradition share their life stories. Another signature program was the Bluegrass Camp for Kids, which was held for many years at the Folk Park. One of the best-known bands to come out of the Bluegrass Camps for Kids is Cup O Joe, featuring those talented Agnew kids…now all grown up and full-time touring musicians.

Over 30-plus years, Bluegrass Omagh has grown to become one of the largest events of its kind outside North America, attracting on average 7,000 visitors each year from Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Great Britain and Europe. I couldn’t leave you without sharing a personal story that says a lot about Richard Hurst the man and arts administrator. Until a few years ago, the festival was held around Labor Day. In 2001, we were coming off another very successful event…

The American talent that year was the late great Al Batten and his Bluegrass Reunion from Johnston County, N.C., and the Bailey Mountain Cloggers…students from Mars Hill College in Mars Hill, N.C. Everyone was scheduled to fly out after the festival. Al and his band flew out of Dublin on the afternoon of September 10. The cloggers were scheduled to fly out on September 11. (As it turns out, Al’s aircraft was the last one to land at RDU, right before that first plane hit the towers in New York City.) I had gone on to London, and when North American air space was closed, Richard arranged for me to return to Omagh. I arrived to find him putting plans in place to house the cloggers - more than 20 of them - and take care of them until we were able to get them home weeks later. As I mentioned, the cloggers were students, and so Richard coordinated with Mars Hill College to have learning activities in Northern Ireland that would count toward their various courses of study at home. One student who was in the visual arts program went to study with a County Tyrone potter. Other students in the education program worked with teachers there. And so on…

All through those awful and uncertain days, Richard made sure that the students were cared for, and most importantly that their parents knew they were safe. He worked literally from dawn to dusk every day until we were able to get everyone home. He is a mighty good man to have in your corner.

Other organizations recognize Richard’s many abilities. He is an alumnus of the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program. He is a past Chairman of the European Bluegrass Music Association. And, he is a member of the Leadership Bluegrass Class of 2008, claiming of course that it is the “Best Class Ever.”

Richard’s exemplary work and visionary leadership shine a bright light on the power of culture, arts, and music to bridge cultural divides, and to make real changes in the way we see ourselves and the world around us.

So, it is my high honor and great privilege to present the IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award to Richard Hurst."