Over the past couple of years I have been refining my wording in order to be able to get my point across better. Here is one example. A person across the state has persistently invited me to an event that I love the sound of but do not want to physically travel to. (I have helped them boost their social-media posts as I often do with like-minded people and events.)
I stacked functions by making the response public — responding in a comment to the post instead of responding privately by DM — and tagging other public permaculture people.
Here is what I said:
That’s really nice of you to think of me as an artist that you would want to invite to your event. And extra sweet of you to offer overnight hospitality to a person who does not have a car and would be arriving by public transport.
But that would be a very long and energy-expensive trip for me. (Talking about human energy here, not just fossil energy.)
And, I stay busy with art events & other events in my local area. And also I need to save my carbon/eco-footprint budget for the long train trip to see my family.
However, I will be happy to keep my ears open for local artists for you. If I hear of anyone in your part of the state who is looking to participate in art events I will tell them about your event. And I bet <fellow permie teacher activist person> and <other fellow permie teacher activist person> know lots of potential people as well. Also possibly <yet another FPTAP> would know some artists if he is still living in the area.
And, although I believe both <yet another FPTAP> and <yet another FPTAP> have moved away from the area, I imagine they may still know some people who are artists and /or connected with the art community. Who would probably be very interested!