Not bad for a Grade IX dropout – a true Woody Guthrie, the most adventurous soul I ever knew. My mate from the days of nursery school, Mitchell Podolak, is about to receive an honorary doctorate from Brandon University in Manitoba. The citation reads:

Mitch Podolak is a prominent fixture in the North America folk music world and is the creator and past founding artistic director of the Winnipeg Folk Festival, the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, Winnipeg’s West End Cultural Centre, The Winnipeg International Children’s Festival and Home Routes/Chemin Nous, North America’s only house concert network. He is also the co-creator, founding artistic director and team mentor that founded the Stan Rogers Folk Festival in Canso, Nova Scotia. Since 1974, Mr. Podolak has developed and led in the evolution of folk festival culture across Canada, and his efforts have seen hundreds of thousands of folk music fans come together in a common cultural cause. His methodological approach to structuring and motivating a volunteer corps in the art of running a festival has become the Canadian standard. His work is motivated by a love of folk music, of which his knowledge is extraordinary, and by a social view paralleling that of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, Mr. Podolak’s strongest influences. In 2014, he received the Unsung Hero Award, the peer-driven lifetime achievement award of the Canadian Folk Music Awards. Mr. Podolak has had huge influence on the provincial and national cultural funding institutions that now all support folk music. Brandon University is recognizing his work with an honorary doctorate.

“I am pleased to recognize Lisa de Wilde and Mitch Podolak for their contributions to arts and culture as well as the creative industries on the national and international stage,” said Dr. Gervan Fearon, BU President and Vice-Chancellor. “Both have used their talent, leadership, and commitment to excellence to showcase the music, films and ideas of others. They inspire us all to find opportunities to strive for excellence in our own endeavours and to find opportunities to contribute to the success of others on whichever stage we perform.”

The conferring of an honorary Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) at Brandon University bestows honour upon a deserving candidate who has made an outstanding contribution in one or more designated categories including the University, society, professional life, public service and the advancement of knowledge. Nominations are received from both the Brandon University and greater Westman communities.

No award has ever been more deserved. And it may truly be said for us both, aside from learning to play the banjo, all we really needed to know we learned in nursery school.

As for the banjo [and do note it is long-necked, five-stringed and wood-framed, just like mine], I might mention our days at Camp where in 1955, two musicians came to visit, one who played the concertina and the other, none other than Pete Seeger himself, who came and played the banjo [which was, and by no coincidence, long-necked, five-stringed and wood-framed]. I remember virtually nothing else from my camping days – this is, after all, sixty years ago – but I do remember this concert. The result has been that the only two instruments I own and play are the concertina and banjo. So whatever may have separated us in life, whether time, distance or politics, we share a love of folk music that transcends all else.