Performing Arts Presenters Gather in NYC

More than 2,700 performing arts professionals from throughout North America and beyond converged on New York City, Jan. 13-17, 2023 for the annual conference of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) – its first in-person gathering in several years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As in years past, dozens of performers from the folk, roots and singer-songwriter communities were featured among the more than 1,000 showcases during the global multidisciplinary performing arts marketplace and conference.

A number of booking agencies whose rosters include such artists were among the more than 300 exhibitors in the large EXPO Hall. The conference also featured networking opportunities galore, streamlined array of professional development workshops, peer group sessions, and networking opportunities galore.

Since the last in-person APAP conference in NYC in January 2020, the impacts of the pandemic; calls for racial equity, diversity and inclusion; and a shifting economy and workforce continue to have a major impact on the performing arts industry as it seeks to recover and reimagine itself.

For Lisa Richards Toney, who joined APAP as its president and CEO in 2020, the 2023 gathering also marked the first in-person conference of her tenure. As she noted in an email to members and colleagues last November, the conference has evolved to meet the shifting nature of the field and the times we live in. “None of this has been easy. In fact,it’s been downright hard,” she acknowledged during the conference’s opening plenary session. In welcoming people to what she called “the creative capital of the world,” Richards Toney said “We are a resilient community of colleagues from all across North America” and expressed excitement at “the feverish fury to reignite business [in the performing arts].”

APAP embraced the ‘less is more’ philosophy — with considerably fewer professional development sessions during the 2023 conference than in previous years in light of its increased year-round programming. This afforded attendees — more than one-third of whom were first-timers — more time to connect and network with colleagues, visit the exhibit halls, enjoy showcases, and just breathe.

For the first time, APAP did not produce a printed conference program and other printed materials (or a tote bag in which to carry them), relying instead on an online platform called Swapcard that was also available as an app.

Showcases of Note Took Place at the Host Hotel and at Venues Around NYC

Showcases took place both at the New York Hilton Midtown, the conference hotel, and at venues throughout Manhattan. A few also were set in other New York City boroughs and beyond.

As in past years, a roots music variety show at the Manhattan nightclub Don’t Tell Mama was a musical highlight. Ken Waldman, Alaska’s fiddling poet (although he no longer lives there) who also performed (along with banjoist Ilan Moss and others), has been curating and hosting the revue for more than a decade. This year, Danielle Devlin of Canis Major Music, a booking agency, joined him as co-producer and presenter. Participating artists included the Boston-based roots and gypsy jazz-oriented Jason Anick Acoustic Trio; Montreal-based shanty singer and multi-instrumentalist Sean Dagher (who also showcased his talents during a Folquebec Spotlight); New York-based singer-songwriter and guitarist Jefferson Hamer (joined by bassist Rob Jost); Canadian singer, Sephardic artist and flamenco dance Tamar Ilana; NYC-based chanteuse Tamar Korn; master kora player Yacouba Sissoko (based in NYC by way of Mali); and Caitlin Warbelow and Chris Ranney (who were part of the acclaimed Broadway production of Come From Away). As in previous years, each of the participating artists/acts opened with a short intro piece to provide a musical morsel of the evening’s eclectic lineup upfront before their individual 15-minute sets.

“When I talk to presenters, I sometimes tell them I always strive for events that are win/win/win and are successful for the attendees, for the host organization and its community, and for myself and anyone joining me;” Waldman told AcousticMusic Scene.com.

So once I had my mini-preview set to open the evening with Fairbanks native and super fiddler, Caitlin Warbelow, and I playing my ‘Fairbanks Cabin Waltz’ composition, then joined by Ilan Moss on banjo and Jefferson Hammer on guitar, I had my own successful time of it. And, later, I had my couple of tunes, with poems, joined by Ilan. Fun, too, for me, and I heard positive things afterwards… I got very positive feedback from my troupe of musicians and from Danielle, so that all checked the box of ‘me and anyone joining me’.”

Waldman, who has been attending, exhibiting and mentoring at APAP conferences since 2007 and began hosting a Friday night roots music variety show three years later, said that also received very positive feedback from attendees. “One attendee emailed me during the evening to say how much they were enjoying it. Another told me later how inspired they were from being introduced to such a wide range of musicians that were different, yet all fit together.” However, he said that his favorite response came from someone who arrived the earliest, said they were tired and would probably only stay for a half hour, and stayed for the whole three hours (later informing him that they passed word about the evening to their venue’s artistic director). “A number of people stopped me through the week to either say they were there and thoroughly enjoyed it, or weren’t there but heard it was fantastic. With proper follow-up and any luck at all I’ll get work I probably wouldn’t have gotten otherwise– and I hope some also goes to the artists I invited and to Danielle’s artists.”

Echoing his sentiments, Danielle Devlin said: “This was my first time producing a showcase at APAP, and I was happy at the invitation from Ken to co-produce with him.” She noted that in years past, his multi-act folk showcases at Don’t Tell Mama were always a highlight for her as an APAP attendee and exhibitor. “Indeed, there were presenters there who had the intention to only stay through the first intro set where each artist quickly cycles through one quick song or tune, but then were so spellbound that they couldn’t leave — there is no greater compliment than that (well, perhaps hiring the artist in follow up, which I’m sure will happen for folks)!”

“The evening had a beautiful range of artists performing that included flamenco, sea shanties, masterful kora playing, jazz manouche, beautiful song and fiddle tunes, poetry … all complementing each other. One of my artists, Tamar Ilana, who was performing with Shelley Thomas on oud, came to me immediately after her opening single-song [and said] that her heart was so full from the experience and was just loving it. The energy in the room was beautiful and felt like a perfect return to an in-person APAP for all involved, I believe.”

For Sean Dagher, this was only his second APAP conference and the first one at which he showcased his talents as a shanty singer and multi-instrumentalist. He noted that his previous APAP experience was in January 2020. “I had been warned by other musicians that the conference was big, impersonal and intimidating, and I went there not expecting to enjoy myself,” he recalled. “As part of the Cinars/Québec on Stage delegation, I was given space at their booth, along with several other representatives. I spent the first hour or so of the Expo standing there with all of them, waiting for someone to come by and speak to us. Whenever anyone did stop to look at the posters on the wall, we all looked at them hopefully — like shelter dogs hoping to be adopted. I decided that wasn’t how I wanted to spend my time and started to stroll around the Expo halls. This was a great decision. Over the course of the [2020] conference, I stopped in at nearly every booth to chat with whoever was standing there: agents, artists, presenters, regional arts council representatives, etc. I made lots of great contacts and sometimes talked about the shows I was selling, sometimes didn’t, depending on what felt right at the moment. I had meetings with agents and presenters whom I had contacted prior to the conference. I saw showcases, went to cocktail [parties] and meet & greets, and generally found out what it was all about. I spent an entire afternoon at the counter of a bar next to the Hilton and had impromptu meetings with all of the people from the conference who happened to come and sit on either side of me. At the end of it all, I had agents interested in a couple of my projects, I had potential shows lined up with a few presenters, and I felt like I had had a great time. Then Covid.

So three years later, he returned – having lined up two showcases for his new solo shanty show and planning to reconnect with as many of the people he had met in 2020 as possible. Dagher decided to focus less on the Expo Commons and found that the experience of showcasing changed how he interacted with people and how they interacted with him. “After the first showcase [the roots music variety show], random people came up to me to tell me that they had enjoyed my performance… I suddenly felt like less of a beggar and more of a commodity,” he said.

Dagher considered the showcase at Don’t Tell Mama to be great – “despite and because of being chaotic. I heard lots of great artists and met some fascinating people. According to Danielle Devlin, my agent and co-host of the event, I generated some interest from presenters. The venue was intimate and having the other musos there helped create a great atmosphere.”

Folquebec Shines Spotlight on Artists from the Canadian Province

Dagher also performed a short set during a Folquebec Spotlight showcase at the host hotel that he described as “an entirely different, though no-less enjoyable experience.” Comparing it to showcases he had seen and participated in at other conferences, he noted that the hotel room “had a colder feel and the lights made it hared to connect with the public, but I still had fun playing for and with them. The loud altercation between the lighting tech and the maintenance guy during my set actually helped put me at ease. Again, I felt like people were treating me with a little more respect than when I was just a delegate. I hope that I get a lot of work out of the conference, and I will definitely go back next year.”

An active participant at APAP conferences for a decade. Folqubec aims to offer conference attendees and introduction to the Canadian province’s traditional, folk and world music scene, according to Gilles Garand president and artistic director of the 22-year-old nonprofit organization, who served as emcee during the showcase. In addition to Dagher, also on the bill were Grosse Isle (a trio featuring Irish uileann piper Fiochra O’Regan, Quebec fiddler –pianist and singer Sophie Lavoie and noted guitarist Andre Marchand, who blend traditional Irish and Quebecois traditional music with Lavoie’s own compositions), Montreal Guitar Trio (a virtuosic, internationally touring acoustic guitar ensemble comprised of Sebastien Deshaies, Glenn Levesque and Marc Morin) and Cordame (a string sextet).

Garand previously informed AcousticMusicScene.com that Folquebec’s formation stemmed from conversations at a Folk Alliance conference in 2000 and that he views APAP and other conferences as “opportunities to share our knowledge and contribute to the concept of cultural reciprocity among artists. Through its participation in such conferences, Folquebec “looks forward to developing an ongoing partnership with leaders of North American cultural organizations to bring together our strengths, our resources, our complementaries in the advancement of the performing arts sector, and music in particular, of the broad cultural diversity of human expression through the arts,” he said.

Other folk and roots music showcases of note included Yonas Media’s Celebrate Our Folk at Connolly’s Pub and This Land Is Our Land at the New York Hilton Midtown. Celebrate Our Folk featured Kittel and Co. (an acoustic string band with folk and jazz sensibilities, along with bluegrass, Celtic and classical influences, that is fronted by violinist and composer Jeremy Kittel), two-time Grammy Award-winning Zydeco artist Terrance Simien and his soulful singing daughter Marcella Simien, Enrique Chi of Making Movies and Hector Flores of Las Cafeteras, AMERIKANA All Stars, Bulla en el Barrio, and singer-harpist Calvin Arsenia. This Land is Our Land featured American Patchwork Quartet (a NYC-based ensemble that is on a mission to reclaim the immigrant soul of American roots music) and Martha Redbone (a stirring blues and soul singer, whose music bridges her own Native American and African American heritage).

The quartet’s Clay Ross (who also fronts both Matuto and Ranky Tanky) joined with composer, banjoist and producer Jayme Stone — with whom he has previously co-produced Global Routes Music Showcases — to also present an interactive, multi-part Composing Your Career professional development series of workshops for artists. [Editor’s Note: As someone who is often retained by artists and others to write bios for them, I sat in on part of one of their workshops, Tell a Better Story, Book Better Gigs and found that the information and insights that they shared pretty much conformed with mine.]

Among the other folk and roots artists who showcased their talents during the conference were two-time IBMA Entertainers of the Year Balsam Range, Colorado-based folk and Americana duo Bettman & Halpin, Colombian-Panamanian roots duo Calle Sur, bluesician Eli Cook, singer-songwriter and pianist Annie Moscow and her trio, New York-based progressive bluegrass band Nefesh Mountain, Mali Obamsawin Sextet (whose music is a blend of blues, jazz, hymns, folk songs, and native cultures), ebullient New York-based jig-rockers The Prodigals, 2022 International Blues Challenge Winner Eric Ramsey (whose fingerpicking and bottleneck slide playing really impressed this writer), and The Scooches (a band whose spirited and joyful music features an eclectic mix of Roaring ‘20s, global folk, blues, gospel, New Orleans jazz, Americana, and more). Americana-cowboy country outfit Bill & the Belles, banjoist Nora Brown with Stephanie Coleman, and balladeer Phoebe Hunt shared a Concerted Efforts Presents bill at Rockwood Music Hall during the conference. Susan Werner, a very witty and versatile singer-songwriter who accompanies herself on both guitar and piano, played Iridium, a Manhattan nightclub that primarily features jazz artists. There were also musical tributes to such artists as Joni Mitchell and Van Morrison, while Darrah Carr Dance presented “Celidh“ Irish Music & Dance and Allan Harris and others shared excerpts from Cross The River — a musical by him and Pat Harris that relates the story of an escaped slave named Blue who journeys to Texas and becomes one of the first Black Cowboys. Artists in various other musical genres also showcased their talents, while comedy, dance and theatrical showcases also were part of the mix.

About the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP)

Based in Washington, DC, APAP (apap365.org) is a nonprofit national service, advocacy and membership organization dedicated to developing and supporting robust performing arts presenting field and the professionals who work within it.