From the Big Squeeze: Thank You & Stay Tuned

A huge thank you to everyone who participated in the 2018 Big Squeeze Statewide Accordion Contest!

 

We tried something new with this year's extended ages in the Polka Category and in dividing the Conjunto Category into two age categories. And...we are proud to say it was an overwhelming success! Among all the music categories, we saw 47 Big Squeeze Contestants from the 9 cities, including digital submissions. This number of contestants is up a whopping 47% from the total number of Big Squeeze Submissions in 2017!

 

 

 

Thank you for your participation and passion to keep these traditions alive! We are very appreciative of the amazing amount of support we had from our Big Squeeze contestants, collaborators, sponsors and volunteers. 

 

Best of all, we received great feedback from the contestants, audience members, teachers and more! Everyone seemed to enjoy the Big Squeeze Accordion Contest’s fun, novelty, and ability to spark pride, conversations, and passion to continue these traditions we hold dear. 

 

We heard from several of our participants that they got to talk about their passions with people they might otherwise have not met, all stemming from our contest!

 

Throughout the statewide contest, Texas Folklife staff drove approximately 2,800 miles across the state, 34 people volunteered, we passed out hundreds of flyers, showcases drew crowds of hundreds, we saw scores of happy faces and dancing feet, and wonderful music was played across Texas by our young, talented musicians!