Sam Loveridge received a Mobility Grant through Ethno World and Margaret A Cargill Philanthropies (MACP) to travel to Ethno India in March 2020.
Read his reflection on this adventure:
"Receiving the Mobility grant to attend Ethno India in 2020 has been a huge privilege filled with new experiences and challenges. I would’ve been unable to have this experience without the financial aid. Getting to travel, meet so many new musicians and play music from cultures around the world was great!
About 6 weeks out from Ethno India I was asked if i would volunteer as a youth leader, as the artistic leader for the string section had dropped out. Arriving in India I still had very little idea of what this role meant but slowly things fell into place. Meeting with the other leaders before we left for Jim Corbett national park was a chance to see how Ethno is structured and organised and having leaders who all had experience and got on with everything was a good learning opportunity.
The travel was hard, with 31hrs between leaving Auckland and arriving through immigration in Delhi, I was exhausted for the first few days. I was also very unsure of my role, as a leader I was staying separately from participants but didn’t really have any direction or input into what was happening yet. This all improved as the journey went on and I connected with more people. I was able to help lead my section and observe so many others and their different teaching and leadership styles.
Everybody at the camp was enthusiastic, friendly and inquisitive and there was so much great music, from impromptu jam sessions to a really diverse set of tunes that we played for the recording. I’d recommend this experience to any musician who has some connection to music from their culture as a great opportunity!"
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