Folk Alliance Region – West (FAR—West) hosts its 10th annual conference on October10-13, 2013, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Irvine, California. The event – which draws primarily performing artists, presenters, managers, agents and others engaged more than peripherally in the world of folk and acoustic music – will feature lots of acoustic music showcases, Best of the West Awards, educational panel discussions and workshops, one-to-one mentoring sessions, and networking opportunities. Registrants have an opportunity to forge new relationships, renew existing ones, and help build folk community. Several conference events also will be open to the public for nominal fees.

Booking gigs is the primary objective of some musicians and singer-songwriters who attend the conference, while many presenters and folk DJs come primarily to scout out new artists and those whom they have not previously heard and seen in live performance. However, the conference experience is much more than that; it’s really about forging connections, renewing existing relationships, and building community.

Official Showcase artists this year, each of whom will have 25-minute sets on either Friday or Saturday night, were selected by a panel of judges. The showcases, to be held in the hotel’s grand ballroom, will extend from 6:30 to 10 p.m. each evening. Showcasing on Friday night will be Shelby & Tieg, Kerry Patrick Clark, Gypsy Soul, Gary Stockdale, Ke’ale and the DamNatives, Red Moon Road, and Quinn DeVeaux and the Blue Beat Review. Saturday evening’s’ Official Showcase artists include Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen, Kiki Ebsen, John Zipperer & Friends, Cosy Sheridan, Houston & Jones, Vance Gilbert, and Tracy Newman & The Reinforcements. These showcases are open to the public for a $10 fee. Advance tickets can be purchased through Brown Paper Tickets.

The general public also is invited for $10 to join conference attendees on Thursday night, from 7-9:30 p.m. for a Venues’ Choice Concert that also takes place in the grand ballroom.

Following the Venues’ Choice and Official Showcases, from 10:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., there will be late-night guerilla showcases and jam sessions arranged by conference attendees and held in their hotel rooms.

During the daytime hours, conference-goers can choose from among more than 20 panel discussions and workshops focusing on such topics as assessing your brand, demystifying intellectual property law (and how it relates to musicians), the 21st century musician, social media, tools for the performing songwriter, going international, harmony singing, Hawaiian slack key guitar, and best practices for house concert presenters and performers. There also will be a film screening (“The Wrecking Crew”) on Sunday afternoon, followed by a song circle, that also is open to non-registrants for $15.

Chris Hillman, Ed Pearl and the Ash Grove Music Foundation are Best of the West Honorees

The annual Best of the West Awards will be presented during a Saturday afternoon luncheon. Established by FAR-West in 2005, these awards honor individuals — one performing artist and one non-performer — who have maintained an enduring presence in the folk and acoustic music scene in the West and have established themselves as true leaders and inspirations to others through their talents and efforts on behalf of the community. This year’s honorees are Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Chris Hillman, The Ash Grove Music Foundation and its founder, Ed Pearl. As a founding member of The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, Hillman was a pioneer in folk-rock and country-rock. He and longtime friend Herb Pederson, with whom he will perform during the conference, also formed the Desert Rose Band that had a number of country hits during the 1980s and was named Best Vocal Group by both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association. The Ash Grove Foundation is a community-based cultural arts organization that produces and promotes traditional, contemporary, and ground-breaking folk music from diverse cultures to spark social understanding and activism. Ed Pearl was the founder of the Ash Grove, a club in West Hollywood, CA (1958-1973) that helped launch the careers of a number of musical luminaries.

Prior to the official start of the conference on Thursday, two special musical events will take place on Wednesday night, Oct. 9. More than 10 acts who will be heading to the conference the next day will join hosts Brad Colerick and Dana Charnofsky for Brad’s free weekly Wine & Song concert series (www.wineandsong.com) on the enclosed patio of the Firefly Bistro, 1009 El Centro Street, South Pasadena – about 40 miles north of Irvine.. Los Angeles Women in Music (www.lawim.com).also presents a Singer-Songwriter Night featuring artists from FAR-West at M Bar Hollywood at 1253 N. Vine Street, for which admission is $10

FAR-West (www.far-west.org) seeks to create community among musicians, presenters, DJs, support and educational organizations that seek to raise the visibility and expand the influence of folk and acoustic music in the West. As its name implies, FAR-West is part of the larger Folk Alliance International (www.folk.org), an association that aims to foster and promote multicultural, traditional and contemporary folk music, while strengthening and advancing organizational and individual initiatives in folk music and dance through education, networking, advocacy, and professional and field development. The 26th Annual International Folk Alliance Conference is slated for February 19-23 in Kansas City, Missouri and will feature Graham Nash as its keynote speaker.