The 21st Annual International Folk Alliance Conference is slated for next February 18-22 in Memphis, Tennessee, while regional conferences of the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance (Folk Alliance) are shaping up for this fall. The conferences provide useful and enjoyable learning and networking opportunities, not to mention plenty of fine listening and performing opportunities for artists, presenters, agents and managers, folk DJs, folk societies and clubs, media, and others actively engaged in the folk music field; they are not intended for casual folk fans. Booking gigs is the primary objective of some performers who attend these annual conferences, while many presenters and folk DJs come primarily to scout out new artists and those who 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 and building an acoustic community. Although artist showcases and educational workshops and panel discussions are common to all of them, the regional conferences hosted by Southwest Regional Folk Alliance (SWRFA), Folk Alliance Region Midwest (FARM), Folk Alliance Region West (FAR-West), Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA), and the new Southeast Regional Folk Alliance (SERFA) all have their own tenor and style. [To read the entire article, which includes information on each of the regional conferences, click on the headline.]

The Americana Music Association is now accepting showcase applications from artists interested in performing during the 2008 Americana Music Festival and Conference to be held Sept. 17-20 in Nashville, Tennessee. A showcase application form can be downloaded at www.americanamusic.org. Conference registration forms and other information also are posted on the site. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

“Presenting America: New Ground” was the theme of The Association of Performing Arts Presenters’ 51st Annual Member Conference, Jan. 11-15. The conference drew several thousand professionals engaged in the performing arts community to New York City and featured daily plenary sessions and a wide array of professional development workshops and forums. Notable among these were an early morning session hosted by the Future of Music Coalition on why radio consolidation matters and other issues (in which this writer opined on the efforts to save Internet radio) and another on The Role of Global Music in Geo-Political Diplomacy that included the screening of excerpts from a PBS special featuring Israeli folk-rocker David Broza at Masada. Some 1,000 showcases also took place, both at the New York Hilton, the conference’s host hotel, and at venues throughout Manhattan and several in other boroughs of NYC. An exhibition hall was teeming with booking agents and presenters eager to speak with them. And, of course, there was a whole lot of networking going on. [To read the entire article, click on the headline].

Singer-songwriter Eliza Gilkyson and former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno will deliver keynote addresses focusing on the power of music during the 20th Annual International Folk Alliance Conference, February 20-24, 2008 at the Marriott in Memphis, Tennessee. The registration deadline has been extended to January 10. After that date, those wishing to attend the conference without pre-registering will pay an additional $100 and their contact listings will not be included in the conference directory. [To read the entire article, click on the headline].

Some 150 acts, from solo to full band, will be selected to showcase on 15 stages over three nights during Singer Songwriter Cape May, a new music business conference set for March 6-8, 2008 in the historic Victorian-lined New Jersey seaside resort community. December 31 is the deadline for performers in all genres to submit applications via mail or Sonicbids. Presented by the folks behind the annual Millennium Music Conference (February 14-17 in Camp Hill, PA, near Harrisburg), Singer Songwriter Cape May also will feature two afternoons of music business keynotes, panel discussions, songwriting workshops, musician clinics, mentoring and demo-listening sessions, exhibits and performances at Congress Hall Hotel & Harrison Conference Center. The conference also will afford plenty of opportunities for networking with other singer-songwriters, musicians and music industry professionals. [To read the entire article, click on the headline].

by Michael Kornfeld
 

More than 600 folk music aficionados – including performers, presenters and promoters – converged on Kutsher’s in Monticello, New York over the Veterans’ Day weekend for the annual Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) Conference.  The once venerable Catskills resort that was part of the borscht-belt circuit during its heyday was transformed into a veritable folk Mecca during what many considered to be the best NERFA conference they ever attended.

Long Island was well represented at the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance Conference at Kutsher’s Resort in Monticello, New York over the Veterans Day weekend.  Local residents accounted for some five-percent of the 600+ people in attendance and made their presence felt more than ever before – hosting and participating in late-night music showcases and song swaps, serving as workshop panelists, jamming in the lobby,  and, in general, enjoying the esprit de corps that characterized this year’s conference.