Southwest Regional Folk Alliance (SWRFA) hosts a 2020 Virtual Conference online from Friday, September 25 – Sunday, September 27. It will feature a dozen official showcases, several workshops, breakout sessions and one-on-ones, open mics, and song assignments.

Along with the other four U.S.-based regional affiliates of Folk Alliance International, SWRFA felt compelled to cancel its annual in-person conference this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, “Dalis Allen, SWRFA’s executive director, and our board members wanted to create a virtual version of our yearly gathering to keep a sense of continuity and gather our community together in these challenging times,” said Brian Kalinec, its board president.

Times shown in the conference schedule above are Central Time.

Times shown in the conference schedule above are Central Time.

Showcasing their talents from 7:30-9 p.m. central time on Friday and Saturday nights will be the following artists (listed alphabetically, not in order of appearance): James Lee Baker, Danny Britt, Randy Lewis Brown, Wes Collins, George Ensle, Rachel Laven, Nobody’s Girl, Grace Pettis, Katherine Rondeau, Ben Shannon, John Sonntag, and David Starr. Alternates are Marc Douglas Berardo and Randy Palmer. These Official Showcases will be open to the public via SWRFA’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Singer-Songwriters Nancy Beaudette and Laura Zucker lead a workshop based on information and insights contained in their book, SongC.R.A.F.T. – Writing in Your Authentic Voice, while Elaine Hayden leads a concurrent session for concert presenters on Friday afternoon. Neale Eckstein, Jeska Forsyth, Jerod Rivers and Eric Schwartz will delve into new techniques in the virtual world. Fosyth and her husband Guy also lead a breakout session on performance, while artist manager Charlie Stewart offers demo evaluations, Emily Pickrell will discuss performing in Mexico, and Jana Pochop explores social media. Liz Sunde of Music to Life will conduct a special presentation prior to the Friday night showcases. She and her father, Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul & Mary fame, co-founded the national nonprofit organization that connects activist artists of all genres with the resources they need to revitalize their communities through music. Veteran folk DJ Rich Warren, who recently stepped down as the longtime host of The Midnight Special, a nationally syndicated radio program emanating from WFMT in Chicago, and others will conduct one-on-ones.

It has been customary during the annual SWRFA conferences for all registered artists to be given a random song topic/prompt. They are expected to write about these during the weekend and perform their songs following Sunday brunch. SWRFA will seek to replicate this song-sharing event virtually on Sunday afternoon.

SWRFA is a regional affiliate of Folk Alliance International (folk.org), a nonprofit organization that aims to serve, strengthen and engage the global folk music community through preservation, presentation and promotion. SWRFA includes the southwestern United States and Mexico. For more information on SWRFA, visit https://swfolkalliance.org. To register online (free) for its virtual conference, click on https://swrfa.wufoo.com/forms/m1uhtpbn08y5xmz/.