(CelebrityAccess News Service) — The Country Music Association of Australia (CMAA) has a new board.
John Williamson is confirmed as the association's president, now a board appointment following a number of changes to the Association's constitution last year. John Arnold was elected unopposed to the new position of chairman for 2004 while Chris O'Hearn was elected as vice chairman. Joan Douglas and Rod Laing were elected unopposed as secretary and treasurer, respectively. Ron Adsett, Roxanne Brown, Jim Haynes, Dobe Newton, John Nutting, Graham Thompson and Denise Torenbeek were elected as board members.
In looking to the year ahead, Williamson said in his report to the meeting, that, overall, there was a sense of optimism about Australian country music, the genre having a much higher recognition with mainstream media and general public across Australia.
"Many country artists on tour are attracting good audiences throughout the whole range of festivals and events," he said "As the music industry is coming to terms with new technology, we are working to assess the impact this will have on Australian country music and how we can capitalize on it." –Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen
