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Organiza ional Profile <br /> ConvergeNC Southern Music Festival, a project of UNC's Center for the Study <br /> of the American South (CSAS), was conceived as a nexus—of communities, resources, <br /> and ideas. We recognized that a proud tradition and an evolving culture of music were <br /> among the most significant features of the university and the region to which it belongs: <br /> there was an academic community devoted to exploring and documenting the music, a <br /> network of artists drawing on deep Southern roots and also making paths in innovative <br /> musical directions, a successful and embedded structure of professionals and businesses <br /> working with the music economy, and a grid of thoughtful listeners. Our task was, simply <br /> and challengingly, to connect these dots. <br /> For some time,we debated the inclusion of the word"Southern" in our title— <br /> would it limit the diversity of our programming?But"Southern" became vital to our <br /> mission, because we realized that it provided a powerful,provocative grounding for our <br /> work. This community has a special investment in the meaning of Southern-ness, and <br /> one responsibility attached to that investment is perpetual reexamination—how can we <br /> enrich and complicate our understandings of what it means to be Southern?How can we <br /> recognize the spectrum of often-contradictory understandings? <br /> The recurrence of question marks is no coincidence; always, in our conceptual <br /> framing of ConvergeNC, we strive to pose questions and hypotheses, not declarations or <br /> essential izations. Our goal is dialogue, not resolution. The most important way we work <br /> to foster that dialogue is by bringing a lineup of diverse, high-quality musicians to the <br /> festival. We seek artists whose work is unique, challenging, and engaged with the South <br /> in thought-provoking ways. <br /> Central to ConvergeNC's mission and character is the fact that it is student- <br /> founded and student-run. It offers students at UNC the chance to better understand work <br /> in the arts through hands-on experience.More importantly, it connects students interested <br /> in arts programming to the musicians,businesses, and other professionals who are <br /> already working to support, produce, and propagate great music in this area. <br /> ConvergeNC is connected with the resources, mission, and personnel of the <br /> Center for the American South. Jocelyn Neal,the director of CSAS and a scholar of <br /> country music, and Bill Ferris, a professor in the Center and an esteemed scholar of <br /> Blues and Southern literature, both sit on the ConvergeNC advisory board, helping to <br /> determine the structure of the festival and its lineup of performers. Our advisory board <br /> extends beyond CSAS, as well, to include individuals like Art Menius,the director of <br /> the Carrboro ArtsCenter and founder of the International Bluegrass Music Association; <br /> Duncan Murrell, a professor in the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke who has <br /> written on the South and music;Maxwell George, Assistant Editor of Oxford American <br /> magazine; and David Garcia, UNC professor and expert on music of the Latin diaspora. <br /> CSAS Current Programs and Services <br /> Music On The Porch Series- Music on the Porch is an outdoor music series held <br /> twice a semester at the Center for the Study of the American South.We seek to bring <br /> together an eclectic mix of musicians from around the region to play on the Love <br />