Well, I believe that getting there is the hard part in any business. Getting to this point in my career has been very difficult. Now it seems that the doors have automatically opened at country radio and at events, with invitations to play at great festivals.
We applied for the process, as everybody else had done. I felt that we just created a strong case to the jury who selected us, decided, “We'll give our resources and funding to this guy.” There's a very good chance that I might apply for funding at another time and it would go to somebody else. It could go to an aboriginal artist, a francophone artist, a jazz artist.
I feel that the jury making these decisions is a very competent group. I've been lucky to access the funding recently, but I don't believe the viewpoint you mentioned, personally. If you have a strong case, and.... Everyone has the same opportunity. There's a document and you have to apply, which we did, and we were successful, according to the jury.