At our Annual General Meeting in Toronto on December 3, 2011, we elected 6 new members to our board, while 5 were renewed for a second term.  

We’ll update photos and bios soon, but in the meantime, here is the list of the 2011-12 Folk Music Canada Board of Directors.  Welcome to the new board and a big thanks to exiting members Tom Power, Linda Tanaka and Bob Wilson.

Folk Music Canada will soon be building a new plan for the organization.  We need your help to tell us what the community needs – please take a few minutes to fill out this survey and be a part of the future of Folk Music Canada.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/folkmusiccanada

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Dans les prochains mois, Musique Folk du Canada veut bâtir un nouveau plan pour l’organisme. Ce plan couvrira les 3 à 5 prochaines années. Aidez-nous à construire l’avenir de la communauté folk en répondant au sondage ci-dessous.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/musiquefolkducanada

It’s is the OCFF time of year again, and the Folk Music Canada team is getting really excited about seeing so many community members in Niagara Falls!

Cheap Eats in Niagara Falls – Primer

Folk Music Canada is very pleased to announce the appointment of its new Executive Director. Starting November 2011, Tamara Kater will take on the position, spearheading the organization as it continues to foster and support the Canadian folk community.

As the daughter of an instrument-builder father and a community activist mother, Tamara grew up in a bi-lingual cultural environment surrounded by musicians and people building community organizations. A passionate music enthusiast, Tamara has worked in arts management and community outreach for nearly twenty years. Within the folk music circle, Tamara has worn the hat of agent, artist manager, board member and festival executive director.

“I am honored to be offered the opportunity to work with the folk community in building resources that will keep Canadian folk music vibrant, healthy and thriving for many years to come,” said Tamara

“After a comprehensive search and selection process, Folk Music Canada is thrilled to welcome Tamara Kater as our new Executive Director. The FMC Board of Directors values the depth of her experience, enthusiasm and wide-ranging understanding and personal connection to the folk community,” said Bruce Morel, President of Folk Music Canada.

“At the same time, we are tremendously grateful to Erin Barnhardt our out-going ED, who works with dedication, passion and determination in everything she touches. A big thanks to Erin for taking a major role in launching Folk Music Canada and we wish her good fortune in her new position at CAPACOA.”

Over the coming months, Erin and Tamara will work closely with the board to ensure a smooth transition for the organization.

If you have any questions, please direct them to the Board President, Bruce Morel, at mmii@ca.inter.net.

Folk Music Canada Executive Director Job Posting – Deadline: Midnight Pacific, August 22, 2011

Folk Music Canada is a member-driven organization that supports the Canadian folk music community – with artists and their art at the centre of what we do. We are dedicated to raising awareness about the importance, diversity and cultural value of the folk music community in Canada.

We are seeking an energetic, experienced and innovative Executive Director to further its mission and develop our emerging organization.

The Executive Director position offers an excellent opportunity to grow and strengthen an emerging arts organization that is artist-centered and dedicated to strengthening the Canadian folk music community. The successful candidate will be responsible for the day-to-day management, delivery of programs, services and initiatives in keeping with the mandate and strategic plan established by the board of directors of Folk Music Canada.

Click here for the full job description:
ED Job Description PDF

The position is currently part-time (12.5h/w), contractual. The board of directors intends to work with the successful candidate to transition to full-time within three to six months from of the beginning of employment.

Salary: to be negotiated
Start Date: Negotiable – Fall

Applicants must send a letter of interest and curriculum vitae by August 22nd, 2011. All materials can be sent electronically to info@folkmusiccanada.ca. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns.

Hello folks!

We’re so excited to see many of you this summer, see our new favourite performers, sit on the grass watching workshops and jump up and down at festival main stages!

We are planning a series of ‘meet and greets’ at various Canadian folk festivals this summer – and will let you know the details within the next couple of weeks.

We are passionate about this community and this art form, and how we can collaborate at the national level to help support it. Here is another example of a national project – a mighty and beautiful one! Have you heard of the National Parks Project? It is exploration of the 13 National Parks of Canada, through 13 filmmakers and 39 musicians. The short films and songs can be found on their website at http://www.nationalparksproject.ca/. Check this out – it’s really, really inspiring!

What a whirlwind week in Ottawa! FMC participated in CAPACOA’s national presenter network meetings, which was a very important and educational gathering of arts leaders from across the country.  We also had great discussions with other festival organization, we met with various funders to explore options around our national festival study, and took in lots of great music!

Several FMC Members – including Suzie Vinnick, JD Edwards, Del Barber, Carrie Catherine, Matt Epp and Jill Zmud – performed at the National Arts Centre’s Prairie Scene Festival. It was amazing to see them play to receptive, full audiences at various venues in Ottawa and Wakefield, QC.

Congrats to the Winnipeg Folk Festival for their fantastic workshop during the Prairie Scene. It was a great demonstration of how exciting and collaborative festival workshops can be!

Back in the St. John’s office and working away. More news soon!

FMC urges all of its community members to vote! If you didn’t make it to the advance polls, Monday is the big day! Here are some links that might be of interest to you around the different arts advocacy efforts, analysis about the different arts platforms and general election news:

Arts Vote Toolkit and Campaign

http://www.canadianartscoalition.com/2011/03/30/federal-election-2011-2

The Canadian Arts Coalition:

http://www.canadianartscoalition.com/

The Canadian Conference for the Arts

http://www.ccarts.ca/en/

Wishing you a great end-of-April weekend! I’m excited to see several FMC members this weekend at the Prairie Scene Festival in Ottawa!

Erin

Welcome to the new Folk Music Canada website. We’ve been keeping busy trying to get you all the information you need to get involved.

If you look around the site you’ll find information on what we do, and who we are, including our board of directors, artist advisory committee and festivals we’re working with. You’ll also find information on how to donate to help us support Canadian folk musicians and our community.

Don’t forget to sign up to our Newsletter!

Take care and stay tuned,

FMC

FMC is back from the East Coast Music Awards and Conference in Charlottetown, PEI. Holy whirlwind, batman! We had a tremendously busy weekend, full of meetings, conference sessions and a smorgasbord of amazing music. Congratulations to the ECMA staff, board and volunteers for putting on a great conference and awards show. This year’s awards show was great. It wasn’t in an arena, demonstrated a respect for art, celebrated musicianship and recognized artists and groups that have worked so hard to bring their music to audiences. Yay!

Huge congratulations to all of the ECMA winners and nominees this year! There were many FMC member and community wins, including Rose Cousins, Duane Andrews and Dwayne Coté, The Once, Ennis, David Myles, Matt Andersen, Lennie Galant, Meaghan Blanchard and more! For full details about this weekend’s winners, visit: http://www.ecma.ca/news.asp?section=&id=211

There is always more work to do on improving conference events, but some major strides in the right direction were taken by the ECMAs. FMC’s biggest hats off goes to Shelley Nordstrom – who organizes the International Buyer’s Program at the ECMAs. She coordinated 700 (yep!) meetings over the course of the weekend, kept everything tight and still managed to dance on tables to Haywire at 2am!

FMC looks forward to continuing to work with the ECMAs through the Pan-Canadian Initiative and other activities that support our community.

For further information about the ECMAs, check out:
http://www.ecma.ca/