The retired woman who plays the solo cello parts in our orchestra picked up the instrument for the first time just three years ago. So much for the myth that you have to start a musical instrument early in life, if you want to be any good. The fact is, if you want to learn to play, any time is a good time to begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s how it is with myths. It doesn\u2019t take long before someone debunks them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve been hearing some conference myths lately. They go like this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Couldn\u2019t be more untrue!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can see how those ideas might have gotten their start. Let me explain: ANWG is the Association of North West Weavers Guilds. The association requires that the host of any conference must be a 501 (c) 3 organization or guild. When Oregon hosted the conference in 2023, they didn\u2019t need a guild host because Oregon guilds have formed a non-profit organization under the title WeGO. WeGO was the conference host.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Washington has no such guild organization. For this reason, in order to host the conference, we needed a \u201chost guild,\u201d with non-profit status. We asked many guilds to consider this. The Seattle Weavers Guild was kind enough to agree. They now provide both financial supervision and conference planning support to our committee. While many of our executive committee members happen to be members of the Seattle guild, it it is certainly NOT a requirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our conference committee has volunteers from all over Washington, including Anacortes, Bellingham, Olympia, Tacoma and Puyallup. (We\u2019d love some folks from Eastern Washington to join in. There are many places left to serve!). In fact, our web designer is the president of the Portland Weavers Guild. You can see that we\u2019re open to help from anywhere!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have a harder time understanding the second myth. It\u2019s just plain not true. People from anywhere are WELCOME to attend the 2025 conference. You don\u2019t even have to be a member of an ANWG associated guild. Attendees from non-member guilds pay a slightly higher conference fee, we\u2019d love to have them join us. In fact, both guilds and individuals can join ANWG in order to receive the reduced registration fee\u2014in fact it\u2019s not too late to do just that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, if these myths have been keeping you from joining in on the fun it\u2019s time to know the truth. At ANWG, all are welcome. Period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bette Nordberg,
2025 ANWG Conference Co-Chair <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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