Tom's farewell - Episode 45

It's been my pleasure for the past five years to produce this podcast. It started out as a wild idea, and has evolved into an amazing mode of communication that allows us to more thoroughly tell the Kentucky Arts Council's stories. Today, my time as producer and host comes to an end. I've had a wonderful time on this podcast journey, and now it's time to turn it over to other voices as it continues. There are some people I'd like to thank publicly for their support of this endeavor. When I went to Chris Cathers in 2018 with the idea to start a podcast, it was a half-formed idea. He said yes, though, and backed my efforts to seek out training opportunities. Mark Brown has been a patient teacher and source of advice on audio engineering. I've not always gotten it right, but I've done my best, thanks to Mark's wisdom. If you're a Kentucky Crafted artist, you know Dave Blevins for his work administering that program, and as executive producer/grand poobah/illustrious potentate of The Kentucky Crafted Market, but did you know he's also a composer? He wrote and performed the intro and outro music you hear on each episode. And then there's former coworkers Tammie Williams and Katie Lewis. That's Tammie's voice you hear at the beginning and end of each episode and Katie created the KyArtsCast logo which has served us well the past five years. I still get a kick out of seeing it whenever Apple lets me know a new podcast episode has uploaded (yes, I subscribe to my own podcast). I hate the sound of my own voice, so I'm grateful to the coworkers who have graciously sat in the host's chair for some great episodes. I fear leaving any out, so I'm not listing them here. But they know I appreciate their service, and when you hear them, you should feel free to tell them you appreciate them too. And Sarah Schmitt, most recently my supervisor, has been instrumental in helping come up with a production schedule that helped us get back on regular track coming out of the pandemic. I could go on, but this episode summary might be longer than the actual episode, and I don't want that. Thank you to my coworkers, all the guests over the past five years, and, of course, to you, the listeners. It's been a fun ride.