By 1982 communication systems and networks of contacts in all denominations and areas of expertise were being extensively set up, and artists and participants alike were being challenged to look further than their ‘own small corner’ of Europe to a much wider view. However European artists who were barely making a living, if any money at all, out of their art were loath to join this new movement, to spend much valued summer holidays away from neglected families and not to get paid at all! In fact until recently they had to pay their own travel expenses too.
It was only after experiencing the benefits of meeting fellow artists, widening their own networks of contacts and by that token gaining introduction to new audiences, booking agents or even record companies (which by the late 1980s were regular visitors to the Seminar too) did they begin to realise that perhaps after all it was worth the sacrifice.